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Sudan Geography Profile

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Locationnorth-eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Egypt and Eritrea
Geographic coordinates15 00 N, 30 00 E
Map referencesAfrica
Areatotal: 1,861,484 sq km

land: 1,731,671 sq km

water: 129,813 sq km
Area - comparativeslightly less than one-fifth the size of the US
Land boundariestotal: 6,819 km

border countries (7): Central African Republic 174 km, Chad 1403 km, Egypt 1276 km, Eritrea 682 km, Ethiopia 744 km, Libya 382 km, South Sudan 2158 km

note: Sudan-South Sudan boundary represents 1 January 1956 alignment; final alignment pending negotiations and demarcation; final sovereignty status of Abyei region pending negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan
Coastline853 km
Maritime claimsterritorial sea: 12 nm

contiguous zone: 18 nm

continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Climatehot and dry; arid desert; rainy season varies by region (April to November)
Terraingenerally flat, featureless plain; desert dominates the north
Elevation extremeshighest point: Jabal Marrah 3,042 m

lowest point: Red Sea 0 m

mean elevation: 568 m
Natural resourcespetroleum; small reserves of iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold; hydropower
Land useagricultural land: 100% (2018 est.)

arable land: 15.7% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.2% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 84.2% (2018 est.)

forest: 0% (2018 est.)

other: 0% (2018 est.)
Irrigated land18,900 sq km (2012)
Total renewable water resources37.8 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)
Natural hazardsdust storms and periodic persistent droughts
Geography - notethe Nile is Sudan's primary water source; its major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, meet at Khartoum to form the River Nile which flows northward through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea

Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021

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