What is the capital of Libya?

The capital of Libya is Tripoli.

What is the population of Libya?

Libya has a population of about 7.46 million, the #106 largest of 225 countries in YearMaps. Source: World Bank, 2025.

Libya covers 1.76M km², ranking #18 by area, with about 4 people per square kilometre.

Which countries border Libya?

Libya shares a land or maritime border with Egypt, Algeria, Chad, Tunisia, Niger, Sudan.

What is the largest city in Libya?

Tripoli is the largest city in Libya, with a metropolitan population of about 2.19 million.

What is the highest mountain in Libya?

The highest summit recorded for Libya in YearMaps is Pic Bette at 2,266 m (7,434 ft). Summits on a border are counted for both countries.

Country · Africa · LY

Map of Libya

Libya is a country in Africa with its capital at Tripoli, home to about 7.46 million people across 1.76M km². The interactive map below plots 35 cities and towns, 1 mountain summits and 10 ports recorded for Libya in YearMaps.

Population: 7.46 million
Area: 1.76M km²
Capital: Tripoli
Continent: Africa

About Libya

Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad to the south, Niger to the southwest, Algeria to the west, and Tunisia to the northwest. With an area of almost 1.8 million km2 (700,000 sq mi), Libya is the fourth-largest country in Africa and the Arab world, and the 16th-largest in the world. The country claims 32,000 square kilometres of southeastern Algeria, south of the Libyan town of Ghat. The capital and largest city is Tripoli, located in the northwest and containing over a million of Libya's seven million people.

Libya has been inhabited by Berbers since the late Bronze Age as descendants from Iberomaurusian and Capsian cultures. In classical antiquity, the Phoenicians established city-states and trading posts in western Libya, while several Greek cities were established in the East. Parts of Libya were variously ruled by Carthaginians, Numidians, Persians, and Greeks before the entire region became a part of the Roman Empire. Libya was an early centre of Christianity. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the area of Libya was mostly occupied by the Vandals until the 7th century when invasions brought Islam to the region. From then on, centuries of Arab migration to the Maghreb shifted the demographic scope of Libya in favour of Arabs. In the 16th century, the Spanish Empire and the Knights Hospitaller occupied Tripoli until Ottoman rule began in 1551. Libya was involved in the Barbary Wars of the 18th and 19th centuries. Ottoman rule continued until the Italo-Turkish War in 1911, which resulted in Italy occupying Libya and establishing two colonies: Italian Tripolitania and Italian Cyrenaica, later unified in the Italian Libya colony from 1934 to 1943.

During World War II, Libya was an area of warfare in the North African Campaign. The Italian population then went into decline and Libya became independent as a kingdom in 1951. A bloodless military coup in 1969, initiated by a coalition led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, overthrew King Idris I and created a republic. Gaddafi was often described by critics as a dictator, and was one of the world's longest serving non-royal leaders. He ruled for 42 years until being overthrown and killed in the 2011 civil war, which was part of the wider Arab Spring, with authority transferred to the National Transitional Council then to the elected General National Congress.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia: Libya (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Geography and Climate of Libya

Berbers have inhabited central north Africa since ancient times, but Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Persians, Egyptians, Romans, and Vandals have all settled and ruled the region. In the 7th century, Islam spread through the area. In the mid-16th century, Ottoman rule began; the Italians supplanted the Ottoman Turks in the area around Tripoli in 1911 and held it until 1943, when they were defeated in World War II. Libya then came under UN administration and achieved independence in 1951. Col. Muammar al-QADHAFI assumed leadership with a military coup in 1969 and began to espouse a political system that combined socialism and Islam. During the 1970s, QADHAFI used oil revenues to promote his ideology outside Libya, supporting subversive and terrorist activities that included the downing of two airliners -- one over Scotland and another in Northern Africa -- and a discotheque bombing in Berlin. UN sanctions in 1992 isolated QADHAFI politically and economically; the sanctions were lifted in 2003 when Libya accepted responsibility for the bombings and agreed to claimant compensation. QADHAFI also agreed to end Libya's program to develop weapons of mass destruction, and he made significant strides in normalizing relations with Western nations. Unrest that began in several Middle Eastern and North African countries in 2010 erupted in Libyan cities in 2011. QADHAFI's brutal crackdown on protesters spawned an eight-month civil war that saw the emergence of a National Transitional Council (NTC), UN authorization of air and naval intervention by the international community, and the toppling of the QADHAFI regime. In 2012, the NTC handed power to an elected parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), which was replaced two years later with the House of Representatives (HoR). In 2015, the UN brokered the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) among a broad array of political parties and social groups, establishing an interim executive body. However, hardliners continued to oppose and hamper the LPA implementation, leaving Libya with eastern and western-based rival governments. In 2018, the international community supported a recalibrated plan that aimed to break the political deadlock with a National Conference in 2019. These plans, however, were derailed when the eastern-based, self-described Libyan National Army (LNA) launched an offensive to seize Tripoli. The LNA offensive collapsed in 2020, and a subsequent UN-sponsored cease-fire helped formalize the pause in fighting between rival camps. In 2021, the UN-facilitated Libyan Political Dialogue Forum selected a new prime minister for an interim government -- the Government of National Unity (GNU) -- and a new presidential council charged with preparing for elections and uniting the country’s state institutions. The HoR approved the GNU and its cabinet the same year, providing Libya with its first unified government since 2014, but the parliament then postponed the planned presidential election to an undetermined date in the future. In 2022, the HoR voted to replace GNU interim Prime Minister, Abdul Hamid DUBAYBAH, with another government led by Fathi BASHAGHA. GNU allegations of an illegitimate HoR vote allowed DUBAYBAH to remain in office and rebuff BASHAGHA's attempts to seat his government in Tripoli. In 2023, the HoR voted to replace BASHAGHA with Osma HAMAD. Special Representative of the UN Security-General for Libya, Abdoulaye BATHILY, is leading international efforts to persuade key Libyan political actors to resolve the core issues impeding elections.

Location: Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria.
Climate: Mediterranean along coast; dry, extreme desert interior.
Terrain: Mostly barren, flat to undulating plains, plateaus, depressions.
Highest point: Bikku Bitti 2,267 m.
Lowest point: Sabkhat Ghuzayyil -47 m.
Coastline: 1,770 km.
Land borders: Total: 4,339 km; border countries: Algeria 989 km; Chad 1,050 km; Egypt 1,115 km; Niger 342 km; Sudan 382 km; Tunisia 461 km.
Natural resources: Petroleum, natural gas, gypsum.
Land use: Agricultural land: 8.7% (2023 est.); arable land: 1% (2023 est.); permanent crops: 0.2% (2023 est.); permanent pasture: 7.6% (2023 est.); forest: 0.1% (2023 est.); other: 91.2% (2023 est.)
Natural hazards: Hot, dry, dust-laden ghibli is a southern wind lasting one to four days in spring and fall; dust storms, sandstorms.
Geographic note: Note 1: more than 90% of the country is desert or semidesert note 2: the volcano Waw an Namus lies in south central Libya in the middle of the Sahara; the caldera is an oasis -- the name means "oasis of mosquitoes" -- containing several small lakes that host many species of insects and birds.
Languages: Arabic (official), Italian, English (all widely understood in the major cities); Tamazight (Nafusi, Ghadamis, Suknah, Awjilah, Tamasheq)
Religions: Muslim (official; virtually all Sunni) 96.6%, Christian 2.7%, Buddhist <1%, Hindu <1%, Jewish <1%, folk religion <1%, other <1%, unaffiliated <1% (2020 est.)
Ethnic groups: Amazigh and Arab 97%, other 3% (includes Egyptian, Greek, Indian, Italian, Maltese, Pakistani, Tunisian, and Turkish)
Economy: Upper middle-income, fossil fuel-based North African economy; 31% economic contraction due to COVID-19 and 2020 oil blockade; reduced government spending; central bank had to devalue currency; public wages are over 60% of expenditures.

From the CIA World Factbook (public domain), archived edition of 2026-01-22. The Factbook is no longer updated, so figures reflect that edition.

Libya in Numbers

Population: 7.46 million
GDP: US$48.1 billion
GDP per person: US$6,449
Life expectancy: 71.1 years
Population growth: 1.04% a year
Population density: 4 per km²
Urban population: 87.9%
Surface area: 1,759,540 km²
Forest cover: 0.1%
Arable land: 1.0%
Access to electricity: 77.4%
Internet users: 82.0%

Indicators from World Bank Open Data (CC BY 4.0). The year under each figure is its reference year.

Libya in Depth

History

The coastal plain of Libya was inhabited by Neolithic peoples from as early as 8000 BC. The Afroasiatic ancestors of the Berber people are assumed to have spread into the area by the Late Bronze Age. The earliest known name of such a tribe was the Garamantes, based in Germa. The Phoenicians were the first to establish trading posts in Libya. By the 5th century BC, the greatest of the Phoenician colonies, Carthage, had extended its hegemony across much of North Africa, where a distinctive civilisation, known as Punic, came into being.

In 630 BC, the ancient Greeks colonised the area around Barca in Eastern Libya and founded the city of Cyrene. Within 200 years, four more important Greek cities were established in the area that became known as Cyrenaica.

Geography

Libya extends over 1,759,540 square kilometres (679,362 sq mi), making it the 16th-largest nation in the world by size. Libya is bounded to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, the northwest by Tunisia, the west by Algeria, the southwest by Niger, the south by Chad, the southeast by Sudan, and the east by Egypt, as well as maritime borders with Greece, Italy and Malta to the north. Libya lies between latitudes 19° and 34°N, and longitudes 9° and 26°E. Libya comprises three historical regions: Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica.

At 1,770 kilometres (1,100 mi), Libya's coastline is the longest of any African country bordering the Mediterranean. The portion of the Mediterranean Sea north of Libya is often called the Libyan Sea. The climate is mostly extremely dry and desertlike in nature.

Economy

The Libyan economy depends primarily upon revenues from the oil sector, which account for over half of GDP and 97% of exports. Libya holds the largest proven oil reserves in Africa and is an important contributor to the global supply of light, sweet crude. During 2010, when oil averaged at $80 a barrel, oil production accounted for 54% of GDP. Apart from petroleum, the other natural resources are natural gas and gypsum. The International Monetary Fund estimated Libya's real GDP growth at 122% in 2012 and 16.7% in 2013, after a 60% plunge in 2011.

In 2023 Libya emitted around 23.77 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, about 0.17% of the world's total emissions.

Demographics

Libya is a large country with a relatively small population concentrated very narrowly along the coast. Its population density is about 50 inhabitants per square kilometre (130/sq mi) in the two northern regions of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, but falls to less than 1 inhabitant per square kilometre (2.6/sq mi) elsewhere. 90% of the people live along the coast in less than 10% of the area.

About 88% of the population is urban, mostly concentrated in the three largest cities, Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Libya (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Libya: Key Facts

Key facts about Libya
Currency	Libyan dinar
Official language	Arabic
Head of state	Mohamed al-Menfi
Head of government	Abd al-Hamid Dbeibeh
Form of government	republic
Calling code	+218
Internet domain	.ly
Highest point	Bikku Bitti
Lowest point	Sabkhat Ghuzayyil
Established	15 August 1551

Facts from Wikidata Q1016 (CC0).

History of Libya: Empires and States

The atlas records 35 polities whose mapped territory included part of Libya, from Greek City-States in 630 BCE to 2024 CE. They are listed in the order they first appear.

Polities that held Libya, in chronological order
Polity	Period here	Extent
Greek City-States	630–501 BCE	A small part
Achaemenid Empire	500–332 BCE	A small part
Achaemenid Persian Empire	500–332 BCE	A small part
Carthage	500–198 BCE	A small part
Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt	383–338 BCE	A small part
Cyrenaica	331–92 BCE	A small part
Ptolemaic Kingdom	291–31 BCE	A small part
Roman Republic	91–32 BCE	A large part
The Roman Empire	31 BCE – 476 CE	A large part
Eastern Roman Empire	395–632 CE	A large part
The Byzantine Empire	395–673 CE	A large part
Rashidun Caliphate	647–655 CE	A large part
The Umayyad Caliphate	666–750 CE	Most
Fihrids	750–756 CE	A small part
Kharijites	751–762 CE	A small part
The Abbasid Caliphate	751–959 CE	A large part
Rustamid dynasty	778–910 CE	A small part
Aghlabid Dynasty	800–910 CE	A small part
Tulunids	875–910 CE	A small part
Fatimid Caliphate	911–1168 CE	A large part
Zengid dynasty	1169–1176 CE	A small part
Ayyubid Sultanate	1177–1249 CE	A small part
Mamluk Sultanate	1250–1518 CE	A small part
The Ottoman Empire	1519–1839 CE	A large part
Karamanli Dynasty	1713–1839 CE	A large part
Ottoman Tripolitania	1840–1911 CE	Most
British Africa	1905–1952 CE	A large part
The British Empire	1905–1952 CE	A large part
Italian Africa	1912–1943 CE	Most
French Africa	1944–1952 CE	A large part
The French Colonial Empire	1944–1952 CE	A large part
French Fourth Republic	1945–1952 CE	A large part
Kingdom of Libya	1953–1968 CE	Most
Libyan Arab Republic	1969–2013 CE	Most
State of Libya	2014–2024 CE	Most

Historical Maps of Libya

Libya on the world map in each year one of these states held it:

Derived by testing mapped cities against dated territorial polygons. Dates are when the polygons cover this place, not the polity's whole lifespan, and polities absent from the source dataset are not listed.

Visiting Libya

Libya (Arabic: ‏ليبيا, Lībiyā) is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa and a part of the Arab world. Although the country is rich in history and culture and has great tourism potential, the country has been in the news for all the wrong reasons since the 1960s. Since the 2010s, the country has been in a state of flux and is rather dangerous to travel to.

However, under less extreme circumstances, this vast country has a lot to offer to the adventurous, thrill-seeking traveller, from deserts to historical ruins from various historical periods. Libya is a difficult country to get around, but the rewards for the persistent visitor are unforgettable.

If you do decide to visit, know that there's a lot to do and see in Libya; in fact, you might be showered with a lot of hospitality and care, even if you unintentionally make a few cultural blunders.

Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: Libya (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Largest Cities in Libya

35 cities recorded. Ranked by metropolitan population. A port city's harbour is written up on the page of its sea.

Largest Cities in Libya
#	Name	Population	Region	Role
1	Tripoli	2.19 million	Tajura' wa an Nawahi al Arba	National capital
2	Banghazi	1.18 million	Benghazi	Admin-1 capital
3	Misratah	386,120	Misratah	Admin-1 capital
4	Tubruq	263,527	Al Butnan	Populated place
5	Al Khums	201,943	Al Marqab	Admin-1 capital
6	Az Zawiyah	200,000	Az Zawiyah	Admin-1 capital
7	Zuwarah	180,310	An Nuqat al Khams	Populated place
8	Al Marj	169,540	Al Hizam Al Akhdar	Populated place
9	Gharyan	146,810	Mizdah	Admin-1 capital
10	Ajdabiya	143,833	Ajdabiya	Admin-1 capital
11	Surt	128,123	Surt	Populated place
12	Darnah	127,974	Al Qubbah	Admin-1 capital
13	Sabha	100,249	Sabha	Admin-1 capital
14	Nalut	66,609	Ghadamis	Populated place
15	Bani Walid	65,392	Bani Walid	Populated place
16	Marzuq	55,071	Murzuq	Populated place
17	Birak	45,421	Ash Shati'	Populated place
18	Shahhat	45,000	Al Jabal al Akhdar	Populated place
19	Mizdah	26,107	Mizdah	Populated place
20	Ghat	24,347	Ghat	Populated place
21	Al Jawf	24,132	Al Kufrah	Populated place
22	Hun	18,878	Al Jufrah	Admin-1 capital
23	Ghadamis	6,623	Ghadamis	Populated place
24	Awjilah	6,610	Ajdabiya	Populated place
25	Qaminis	5,348	Benghazi	Populated place

The other 10 (population, region, role)

Maradah · 2,500 · Ajdabiya · Populated place
Al Bayda · 1,794 · Al Jabal al Akhdar · Populated place
Al Jaghbub · 1,744 · Al Butnan · Populated place
Tajarhi · 1,500 · Murzuq · Populated place
Dirj · 931 · Ghadamis · Populated place
Tmassah · 500 · Murzuq · Populated place
Umm al Abid · 300 · Sabha · Populated place
El Agheila · 100 · Ajdabiya · Populated place
As Sidr · 50 · Surt · Populated place
Zillah · 10 · Al Jufrah · Populated place

Highest Mountains in Libya

1 mountain recorded. Ranked by summit elevation above sea level. A summit on a border is listed under both countries.

Highest Mountains in Libya
#	Name	Elevation	Feet	Region
1	Pic Bette	2,266 m	7,434 ft	Africa

Ports in Libya

10 ports recorded. Ranked by approach channel depth, the figure that limits which ships can call. Harbours link to their write-up on the page of the sea or coast they lie on.

Ports in Libya
#	Name	Channel Depth	Class	Sea	Max Vessel
1	Marsa Sabratah	53 m	Very Small	Eastern Mediterranean	medium vessels
2	Abu Khammash	42.1 m	Very Small	Eastern Mediterranean	point_of_interest
3	Darnah	38.4 m	Very Small	Eastern Mediterranean	medium vessels
4	Banghazi	31.1 m	Minor	Eastern Mediterranean	large vessels
5	Misratah	31.1 m	Very Small	Eastern Mediterranean	large vessels
6	Ras Lanuf	23.8 m	Very Small	Eastern Mediterranean	medium vessels
7	Ez Zueitina	16.5 m	Very Small	Eastern Mediterranean	large vessels
8	As Sidr	5.5 m	Very Small	Eastern Mediterranean	large vessels
9	Bouri Oil Field	—	Very Small	Eastern Mediterranean	medium vessels
10	al Burayqah	—	Small	Eastern Mediterranean	medium vessels

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Libya

5 World Heritage Sites recorded. Listed by year of inscription, earliest first. Sites shared with another country appear under each.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Libya
#	Name	Inscribed	Type	Criteria
1	Archaeological Site of Sabratha	1982	Cultural	(iii)
2	Cyrene	1982	Cultural	(ii) (iii) (vi)
3	Leptis Magna	1982	Cultural	(i) (ii) (iii)
4	Tadrart Acacus	1985	Cultural	(iii)
5	Old Town of Ghadamès	1986	Cultural	(v)

Mountain Ranges, Deserts and Landforms of Libya

16 mountain ranges, deserts and other landforms recorded. Ranked by mapped area. Covers mountain ranges, deserts, plateaus, named glaciers, plains, basins, peninsulas and capes. One that crosses a border is listed under every country it lies in, with the area of the whole feature.

See all 16 mountain ranges, deserts and other landforms →

Mountain Ranges, Deserts and Landforms of Libya
#	Name	Area	Type	Region
1	Africa	29.41M km²	Continent	Africa
2	Sahara	4.73M km²	Desert	Africa
3	Grand Erg Oriental	127,027 km²	Desert	Africa
4	Tassili-n-Ajjer	123,986 km²	Desert	Africa
5	TIBESTI Mountains	123,521 km²	Range/mtn	Africa
6	Hamada de Tinrhert	120,350 km²	Desert	Africa
7	Idhän Murzuq	71,380 km²	Desert	Africa
8	Jabal bin Ghunaymah	65,977 km²	Range/mtn	Africa
9	Jilf al Kabir Plateau	57,545 km²	Plateau	Africa
10	Al Harüj al Aswad	43,983 km²	Plateau	Africa

States and Provinces of Libya

1 first-level divisions with their own map.

Ajdabiya map4 cities

Countries Bordering Libya

Land and maritime neighbours.

More Maps in Africa

Libya: Quick Answers

What is the capital of Libya?: The capital of Libya is Tripoli.
What is the population of Libya?: Libya has a population of about 7.46 million, the #106 largest of 225 countries in YearMaps. Source: World Bank, 2025.
How big is Libya?: Libya covers 1.76M km², ranking #18 by area, with about 4 people per square kilometre.
Which continent is Libya in?: Libya is in Africa.
Which countries border Libya?: Libya shares a land or maritime border with Egypt, Algeria, Chad, Tunisia, Niger, Sudan.
What is the largest city in Libya?: Tripoli is the largest city in Libya, with a metropolitan population of about 2.19 million.
What is the highest mountain in Libya?: The highest summit recorded for Libya in YearMaps is Pic Bette at 2,266 m (7,434 ft). Summits on a border are counted for both countries.

Interactive Map of Libya