Sudan
Sudan: population and cities
Population
Population
According to Countryaah website, an estimated 43.5 million people currently live in Sudan. Unfortunately, the
information about the population figures often contradict each other.

Around 39% of Sudanese live in the country's cities, most of them of course in
the metropolitan area of Khartoum. Almost 40% of the residents are younger
than 15 years.
And the average age of 18.3 years also clearly shows how young the Sudanese
population is.
The population growth in Sudan is around 2.1%; life expectancy for men at 57.7
and for women at 60.2 years. The low life expectancy is due, among other things,
to the fact that Sudan is one of the poorest developing countries in Africa and
does not have social security or adequate medical care.
Sudan is one of the most ethnically and linguistically mixed countries on
earth. About 570 ethnic groups speak with each other in more than 900 languages
and dialects. It is therefore not surprising that many Sudanese speak several
languages.
Ethnic composition
The population of Sudan is predominantly made up of Arabs and Arabized ethnic
groups.
About 9% belong to the so-called Kushitic peoples - especially the Bedscha - and
3% to foreigners or other affiliations.
There are more than 570 different African ethnic groups throughout Sudan, mostly
Nilotic peoples.
Religion
Sunni Islam is the state religion in Sudan. The majority of the people in the
country are committed to him.
The non-Muslims are about 25% animists and about 5% Christians. These last two
groups live mainly in the south of the country and in the capital Khartoum.
Both Islam and Christianity in Sudan are not free from influences from African
religions. This also explains the diverse ways of living and interpreting faith.
There are numerous Sufi orders called Tariqa among the Muslims. These include
the Qadiriyya, the brotherhood of the Sammaniya and the brotherhood of the
Khatmiyya. The popular Islamic tsar cult is also widespread.
Most of the country's Christians are Catholics. In recent years, however, more
and more American evangelical groups have been gaining ground among them.
In the north, on the other hand, one encounters a minority of Coptic Christians
whose roots lie in Egypt.
National language
The official language of the country is Sudanese Arabic, which is spoken by
around 50% of the population. 42% of them have it as their mother tongue.
These Arabic-speaking Sudanese live mostly in the north of the country.
English is the language of education and the second official language in the
country.
The other Sudanese speak African languages.
Nuer-Dinka (12% Dinka and 6% Nuer) is mainly spoken in South Sudan.
Nubian (9%) is spoken in the middle of the Nile, Bedscha (8%) in the north-east
of Sudan, Azande (5%) mainly in the south-west and Bari (3%) especially in the
south-east.
Capital and other cities
Khartoum
The capital of Sudan is Khartoum, a Moloch in the state of al-Chartum, in which
about 8 million people live. The city is located at the confluence of the White
and Blue Nile and, together with Omdurman and Al-Chartum Bahri, forms a tri-city
with 8,364,000 residents. According to Abbreviation Finder, SDN stands for Sudan in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.
The city is the seat of such important educational institutions as the
University of Khartoum and the University of Sudan for Science and Technology
and has numerous imposing mosques, a Roman Catholic cathedral, the national
museum and a botanical garden.
Al-Chartum Bahri
Al-Chartum Bahri forms a tri-city with Khartoum and Omdurman. All three places
are separated by the confluence of the White and Blue Nile. Al-Chartum Bahri is
subdivided by a railway line that runs from north to south.
The little worth seeing city offers as one of its few attractions a large
cemetery, which spreads in the Hilat Khogali Maghabat Khogali district. Sheikh
Khogali bin Abdar-Rahman (died 1743), a Sufi scholar of the Schadhiliyya order,
is buried there.
Bur Sudan
The capital of the state of al-Bahr al-ahmar is also called Port Sudan because
it has the country's only seaport. The ferry to the Saudi Arabian Jeddah, which
is mainly used by Mecca pilgrims and migrant workers, also leaves from
there. The city extends right on the Red Sea and has a business center dominated
by banks and administrative institutions that goes back to the British. Right
next to it is the colonial part of the city with its arcades, round arches and
two-story buildings.
Nyala
In the western part of Sudan, Nyala, the largest city in Sudan, lies outside the
capital region. About 570,000 people live there. Quite a few fled Darfur to
Nyala in connection with the war atrocities, where refugee camps have formed on
the outskirts of the city.
Omdurman
With almost 2.5 million residents, the largest city in Sudan by far is located
in the state of al-Chartum and, together with Khartoum and Al-Chartum Bahri,
forms a tri-city separated by the Nile.
If the economy is flourishing in Khartoum, Omdurman is mainly used as a place of
residence. Omdurman is something like the religious center of Sudan, because
here is taught at the Islamic University and here the various Sufi brotherhoods
are active.
In addition, numerous mosques shape the image of the city, the center of
which is Suq Omdurman, the largest market in Sudan. The main mosque is also
located there. Other important buildings worth seeing are the white Nilein
Mosque, the Coptic Church and the two-tower Khalifa Mosque with its silver
dome. The city is surrounded by slum-like residential areas.
Sudan: geography, map
The Sudan is located in northeastern Africa on the Red Sea and was up to the
secession of South Sudan, the largest country in Africa. Check
topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of Sudan.

The two areas in the north-east of Sudan are interesting:
- The Hala`ib triangle with an area of 20,580 km², which is
claimed by both Sudan and Egypt.
- The neighboring Bir Tawil with an area of 2,000 km² is
strange because it is not claimed by either Sudan or Egypt and is a kind of no
man's land.
Area and boundaries
Sudan covers a total area of 1,886,068 km². Thereof:
- Forest
Around 18% of the country are forest and scrubland.
- Meadow, pasture land
Around 22% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land.
- Fields and fields
Around 5% of the land is used as arable land or fields, especially for
growing cotton, as well as wheat, millet, peanuts, sesame, sorghum and sugar
cane.
Sudan shares a border with the following ten countries, which together is
6,764 km long.
- Egypt with a length of 1,273 km
- Ethiopia with a length of 723 km
- Eritrea with a length of 605 km
- Kenya with a length of 232 km
- Democratic Republic of the Congo with a length of 628
km
- Libya with a length of 383 km
- South Sudan with a length of 1,937 km
- Chad with a length of 1,360 km
- Uganda with a length of 435 km
- Central Africa with a length of 483 km
Sudan also has a coast to the Red Sea with a length of around 855 km.
Longitude and latitude
Sudan extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and
geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):
Δφ = from around 9.5 ° to 23 ° north latitude
Δλ = from around 22 ° to 38 ° east longitude |
You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and
Latitude.
Legal time
For Sudan, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e.
the time (without summer time) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A minus
sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than CET:
Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones,
time.
Highest sun level in Khartoum
Khartoum lies at a northern latitude of around φ = 15.5 °.
If the declination δ of the sun has a value of 15.5 ° and the image point of
the sun is therefore exactly above the city, the sun is perpendicular
there. This happens exactly twice a year, roughly 1 month before June 21st and 1
month after June 21st.
Attention
If the image point of the sun and thus the declination is north of the latitude
of Khartoum, the sun is not in the south at noon, as in our latitudes, but in
the north. In this case, the sun moves from east to north to west, where, like
us, it sets.
mountains
Marra
The highest mountain in Sudan is the Marra (Arabic: Jabal Marra) with a height
of 3,042 m. The volcano belongs to the Marra Plateau and rises in the west of
Sudan and is surrounded by a stone desert (= Hammada).
Jebel Lotuke
The second highest mountain is the Jebel Lotuke with a height of 2,963 m.
Rivers
Nile
The longest river in the country is the Nile with a length of about 6,690
km. The White and Blue Nile converge near the capital Khartoum.
Other rivers
Other rivers in the country are the Ghazal and Atbara.
Lakes
Khazzân ar-Rusayris
A larger lake is the Khazzân ar-Rusayris with an area of approx. 450 km².
Red Sea
Sudan borders the Red Sea in the north-east of the country with a length of
around 855 km.
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