AFRICA

Africa is the world's second largest and second most-populous continent (behind Asia in both categories). At about 30.3 million km² (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area and 20% of its land area.^[3] With 1.2 billion people^[1] as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the world's human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

Africa's average population is the youngest amongst all the continents;^[5][6] the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4.^[7] Algeria is Africa's largest country by area, and Nigeria is its largest by population.

Africa hosts a large diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century, European countries colonised almost all of Africa; most present states in Africa originated from a process of decolonisation in the 20th century. African nations cooperate through the establishment of the African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa in ETHIOPIA