AFRICA

Mauritania

Where the Sahara meets the Atlantic, Mauritania runs one of the world's last great desert railways - an iron-ore train several kilometres long that people ride across the dunes.

WHAT THE FLAG MEANS ◢

A green field with a gold crescent and star, bordered top and bottom by red stripes added in 2017. The constitutional text names the emblem as a flag with a crescent and a gold star on a green field, assigning it no meaning. The green, the gold and the crescent and star are conventionally read as symbols of Islam, and the red stripes as the blood shed by those who fought for independence.

Mauritania FACTS ◢

Capital	Nouakchott
Continent	Africa
Population	5,315,065 (2025)
Area	1,030,700 km²
Population density	5/km²
Currency	Mauritanian ouguiya (MRU)
Official language	Arabic
Calling code	+222
Internet TLD	.mr
Time zone	UTC±00:00
Drives on the	Right
ISO codes	MR / MRT

DID YOU KNOW? ◢

One of the world's longest and heaviest trains hauls iron ore across the desert here, often stretching over two kilometres.
The vast majority of the country is covered by the Sahara Desert.
The Richat Structure, a giant bullseye formation in the desert, is so large it's used as a landmark from space.
It has a long Atlantic coastline whose rich waters draw fishing fleets from around the world.