Gabon

Gabon, a sparsely populated country known for its dense rainforests and vast petroleum reserves, is one of the most prosperous and stable countries in central Africa. Approximately 40 ethnic groups are represented, the largest of which is the Fang, a group that covers the northern third of Gabon and expands north into Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. From about the early 1300s, various kingdoms emerged in present-day Gabon and the surrounding area, including the Kingdoms of Loango and Orungu. Because most early Bantu languages spoken in these kingdoms did not have a written form, much of Gabon's early history was lost over time. Portuguese traders who arrived in the mid-1400s gave the area its name of Gabon. At that time, indigenous trade networks began to engage with European traders, exchanging goods such as ivory and wood. For a century beginning in the 1760s, trade came to focus mostly on enslaved people. While many groups in Gabon participated in the slave trade, the Fang were a notable exception. As the slave trade declined in the late 1800s, France colonized the country and directed a widespread extraction of Gabonese resources. Anti-colonial rhetoric by Gabon’s educated elites increased significantly in the early 1900s, but no widespread rebellion materialized. French decolonization after World War II led to the country’s independence in 1960. <br><br>Within a year of independence, the government changed from a parliamentary to a presidential system, and Leon M’BA won the first presidential election in 1961. El Hadj Omar BONGO Ondimba was M’BA’s vice president and assumed the presidency after M’BA’s death in 1967. BONGO went on to dominate the country's political scene for four decades (1967-2009). In 1968, he declared Gabon a single-party state and created the still-dominant Parti Democratique Gabonais (PDG). In the early 1990s, he reintroduced a multiparty system under a new constitution in response to growing political opposition. He was reelected by wide margins in 1995, 1998, 2002, and 2005 against a divided opposition and amidst allegations of fraud. After BONGO's death in 2009, a new election brought his son, Ali BONGO Ondimba, to power, and he was reelected in 2016. He won a third term in the August 2023 election but was overthrown in a military coup a few days later. Gen. Brice OLIGUI Nguema led a military group called the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions that arrested BONGO, canceled the election results, and dissolved state institutions. In September 2023, OLIGUI was sworn in as transitional president of Gabon.

Central Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean at the Equator, between Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea

1 00 S, 11 45 E

Africa

slightly smaller than Colorado

885 km

tropical; always hot, humid

narrow coastal plain; hilly interior; savanna in east and south

petroleum, natural gas, diamond, niobium, manganese, uranium, gold, timber, iron ore, hydropower

40 sq km (2012)

Congo Basin

the relatively small population is spread in pockets throughout the country; the largest urban center is the capital of Libreville, located along the Atlantic coast in the northwest, as shown in this population distribution map

none

the country has maintained its pristine rain forest and rich biodiversity

Fang 23.5%, Shira-Punu'Vii 20.6%, Nzabi-Duma 11.2%, Mbede-Teke 5.6%, Myene 4.4%, Kota-Kele 4.3%, Okande-Tsogho 1.6%, other 12.6%, foreigner 16.2% (2021 est.)

French (official), Fang, Myene, Nzebi, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi

Protestant 46.4% (Revival Church 37%, other Protestant 9.4%), Roman Catholic 29.8%, other Christian 4%, Muslim 10.8%, traditional/animist 1.1%, other 0.9%, none 7% (2019-21 est.)

2.35% (2025 est.)

25.51 births/1,000 population (2025 est.)

5.44 deaths/1,000 population (2025 est.)

3.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2025 est.)

the relatively small population is spread in pockets throughout the country; the largest urban center is the capital of Libreville, located along the Atlantic coast in the northwest, as shown in this population distribution map

870,000 LIBREVILLE (capital) (2023)

19.6 years (2012 est.)

233 deaths/100,000 live births (2023 est.)

3.16 children born/woman (2025 est.)

1.56 (2025 est.)

0.52 physicians/1,000 population (2022)

15% (2016)

5.4% (2020 est.)

48.5% (2020 est.)

deforestation from logging; solid-waste disposal; water pollution from oil industry; wildlife poaching

tropical; always hot, humid

29.6 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

166 billion cubic meters (2022 est.)

presidential republic

9 provinces; Estuaire, Haut-Ogooue, Moyen-Ogooue, Ngounie, Nyanga, Ogooue-Ivindo, Ogooue-Lolo, Ogooue-Maritime, Woleu-Ntem

mixed system of French civil law and customary law

has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

Gabonese Democratic Party or PDG <br>Restoration of Republican Values or RV<br>The Democrats or LD

ACP, AfDB, AU (suspended), BDEAC, CEMAC, FAO, FZ, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MINUSCA, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

17 August 1960 (from France)

Independence Day, 17 August (1960)

<strong>description:</strong> three equal horizontal bands of green (top), yellow, and blue<br><br><strong>meaning:</strong> green stands for the country's forests and natural resources, gold for the equator and the sun, and blue for the sea

black panther

green, yellow, blue

the panthers represent vigilance and courage, and they support a shield with a ship and an okoume tree, which is a symbol of the timber trade; the ribbon below the shield has the national motto in French, <em>Union, Travail, Justice</em> ("Union, Work, Justice"), and the ribbon above the shield has the Latin phrase <em>Uniti Progrediemur</em> ("We shall go forward united")

natural-resource-rich, upper-middle-income, Central African economy; significant reliance on oil and mineral exports; highly urbanized population; high levels of poverty and unemployment; uncertainty on institutional and development reform progress following 2023 military coup

$20.867 billion (2024 est.)

oil palm fruit, plantains, cassava, sugarcane, yams, taro, vegetables, maize, groundnuts, game meat (2023)

petroleum extraction and refining; manganese, gold; chemicals, ship repair, food and beverages, textiles, lumbering and plywood, cement

2.8% (2024 est.)

824,400 (2024 est.)

33.4% (2017 est.)

9.5% (of GDP) (2021 est.)

China 26%, Indonesia 8%, Spain 7%, Israel 6%, Congo, Republic of the 5% (2023)

crude petroleum, ships, manganese ore, refined petroleum, wood (2023)

France 14%, China 13%, S. Korea 13%, USA 7%, India 4% (2023)

ships, refined petroleum, iron pipes, cars, packaged medicine (2023)

2 state-run TV stations and 2 state-run radio stations; a few private radio and TV stations; transmissions of at least 2 international broadcasters are accessible; satellite service subscriptions are available

.ga

TR

42 (2025)

Gabonese Armed Forces (Force Armées Gabonaise or FAG; aka National Defense and Security Forces of Gabon or des Forces Nationales de Défense et de Sécurité (FNDS) du Gabon): Army, Navy, Air Force, Light Aviation, Fire Brigade; Gabon National Gendarmerie (GENA); Republican Guard (GR); Military Health Service; Military Engineering (2025)

approximately 7,000 active-duty Armed Forces including the Republican Guard and Gendarmerie (2025)

the Gabonese military has a mix of older and limited quantities of more modern armaments; suppliers include Brazil, China, France, Germany, Russia/former Soviet Union, South Africa, and Spain (2025)

18-24 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription (2025)

the Gabonese military is a small and lightly armed force that is responsible for both external and internal security; the military may also participate in the economic and social development work of the nation; key defense priorities include securing the country's borders and maritime domain; it has contributed to regional peacekeeping and joint security operations; in August 2023, officers from the Republican Guard seized control of the government and placed the president under arrest (2025)

Gabonese Studies and Space Observations Agency (Agence Gabonaise d&rsquo;Etudes et d&rsquo;Observations Spatiales or AGEOS; established 2015) (2025)

has a small space program focused on using data from remote sensing (RS) satellites for environmental and natural-resource management, mapping, land-use planning, maritime surveillance, and research; member of the African Space Agency; has relationships with Brazil, China, the ESA, individual ESA member states (particularly France), and the US, as well as African countries such as Kenya, Niger, Rwanda, and South Africa; shares RS satellite data with neighboring countries (2025)

1986 - ESA established a ground station in Gabon<br><br>2018 - completed mapping Gabon’s forests<br><br>2019 - founding member of the Space Climate Observatory<br><br>2021 - began acquisition process for first satellite in joint project with Japan, known as BIRDs <br><br>2025 - became member of new African Space Agency