View source for Equatorial Guinea

{{Short description|Country in Central Africa}}
{{hatnote group| {{Distinguish|Guinea-Bissau|Guinea|Western New Guinea|Papua New Guinea}} {{for|similar terms|Guinea (disambiguation)}} }}
{{Redirect|EqG|other topics|EQG (disambiguation){{!}}EQG}} <!-- As long as "EqG" redirects to this article, this hatnote should be here. DO NOT DELETE. -->
{{Pp-move}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Republic of Equatorial Guinea
| common_name            = Equatorial Guinea
| native_name            = {{unbulleted list|{{native name|es|República de Guinea Ecuatorial}}|{{native name|fr|République de Guinée Équatoriale}}|{{native name|pt|República da Guiné Equatorial}}}}
| image_flag             = Flag of Equatorial Guinea.svg
| image_coat             = Coat of arms of Equatorial Guinea.svg
| symbol_type            = Coat of arms
| national_motto         = {{native name|es|Unidad, Paz, Justicia}}<br />"Unity, Peace, Justice"
| national_anthem        = {{native name|es|Himno Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial|nolink=yes}}<br />"[[National Anthem of Equatorial Guinea]]"<br />{{center|[[File:Equatorial Guinea's national anthem, performed by the United States Navy Band.oga]]}}
| image_map              = {{Switcher|[[File:GNQ orthographic.svg|frameless]]|Show globe|[[File:Location Equatorial Guinea AU Africa.svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Show map of Africa|default=1}}
| map_caption            = 
| image_map2             = Equatorial Guinea-CIA WFB Map.png
| capital                = [[Malabo]] (''current'')<br /> {{Coord|3|45|N|8|47|E|type:city_region:GQ}}<br>[[Ciudad de la Paz]] (''under construction'')
| largest_city           = [[Bata, Equatorial Guinea|Bata]], Malabo
| official_languages     = {{Plain list|
* [[Equatoguinean Spanish|Spanish]]
* [[French language|French]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldtravelguide.net/guides/africa/equatorial-guinea/history-language-culture/|title=History, language and culture in Equatorial Guinea|access-date=13 September 2021|archive-date=13 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913122636/https://www.worldtravelguide.net/guides/africa/equatorial-guinea/history-language-culture/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Equatoguinean Portuguese|Portuguese]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://appablog.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/equatorial-guinea-adds-portuguese-as-the-countrys-third-official-language/|title=Equatorial Guinea Adds Portuguese as the Country's Third Official Language|date=14 October 2011|access-date=26 September 2022|archive-date=26 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926213007/https://appablog.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/equatorial-guinea-adds-portuguese-as-the-countrys-third-official-language/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
| regional_languages     = {{Collapsible list
|framestyle=border:none; padding:0;                   |[[Fang language|Fang]]       |[[Bube language|Bube]]      |[[Annobonese Creole]]      |[[Kombe language|Kombe]] |[[Kwasio language|Kwasio]]}}
| ethnic_groups          = {{unbulleted list| 85.7% [[Fang people|Fang]]| 6.5% [[Bubi people|Bubi]]| 3.6% [[Demographics of Equatorial Guinea#Peoples considered as natives|Ndowe]]| 1.6% Annobon| 1.1% [[Kwasio people|Bujeba]]| 1.1% others}}
| ethnic_groups_year     = 2020<ref name=CIA>[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/equatorial-guinea/ Equatorial Guinea]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109235259/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/equatorial-guinea |date=9 January 2021 }}. Cia World Factbook.</ref>
| religion               = {{ublist |item_style=white-space:nowrap;|88.7% [[Christianity]]|5.0% [[Irreligious|no religion]]|4.0% [[Islam]]|1.7% [[African Traditional Religion|traditional faiths]]|0.6% [[Religion in Equatorial Guinea|other]]s}}
| religion_year          = 2020
| religion_ref           = <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/equatorial-guinea#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&affiliations_year=2020&region_name=All+Countries&restrictions_year=2016|title=Religions in Equatorial Guinea &#124; PEW-GRF|website=Global Religious Futures|access-date=19 April 2022|archive-date=9 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409020658/http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/equatorial-guinea#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&affiliations_year=2020&region_name=All+Countries&restrictions_year=2016}}</ref>
| demonym                = {{unbulleted list|[[Demographics of Equatorial Guinea|Equatoguinean]]|[[Demographics of Equatorial Guinea|Equatorial Guinean]]}}
| government_type        = Unitary [[presidential republic]] under an authoritarian [[Dynasty#Hereditary dictatorship|hereditary dictatorship]]<ref>{{Cite web|first=Paul|last=Melly|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57176712|title=Africa's political dynasties: How presidents groom their sons for power|date=2021-05-30|access-date=2025-04-20|work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite report|title=Equatorial Guinea 2020 Human Rights Report|url=https://gq.usembassy.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/194/EQUATORIAL-GUINEA-2020-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf|website=U.S. Embassy in Equatorial Guinea|access-date=8 August 2021|section=Section 3. Freedom to Participate in the Political Process|page=15|date=2020|archive-date=16 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210716074830/https://gq.usembassy.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/194/EQUATORIAL-GUINEA-2020-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Democracy Index 2020|url=https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2020/|access-date=17 December 2021|website=Economist Intelligence Unit|language=en-GB|archive-date=3 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303040250/https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2020/|url-status=live}}</ref>
| leader_title1          = [[List of Presidents of Equatorial Guinea|President]]
| leader_name1           = [[Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo]]
| leader_title2          = [[Vice President of Equatorial Guinea|Vice President]]
| leader_name2           = [[Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue]]
| leader_title3          = [[List of Prime Ministers of Equatorial Guinea|Prime Minister]]
| leader_name3           = [[Manuel Osa Nsue Nsua]]
| leader_title4          = [[Chief Justice]]
| leader_name4           = Joaquín Asong Owono Mbang
| legislature            = [[Parliament of Equatorial Guinea|Parliament]]
| upper_house            = [[Senate (Equatorial Guinea)|Senate]]
| lower_house            = [[Chamber of Deputies (Equatorial Guinea)|Chamber of Deputies]]
| sovereignty_type       = Independence
| sovereignty_note       = from [[Francoist Spain|Spain]]
| established_event1     = Declared
| established_date1      = 12 October 1968
| area_km2               = 28,050
| area_rank              = 141st <!-- Area rank should match [[List of countries and dependencies by area]] -->
| area_sq_mi             = 10,830 <!--Do not remove per [[WP:MOSNUM]]-->
| percent_water          = negligible
| population_estimate    = 1,795,834 <ref name="CIAWorldFactbook">{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Equatorial Guinea|access-date=2 September 2024|year=2024}}</ref>
| population_estimate_year = 2025
| population_estimate_rank = 154th
| population_density_km2 = 67
| population_density_sq_mi = <!--Do not remove per [[WP:MOSNUM]]-->
| population_density_rank = 147th
| GDP_PPP                = {{increase}} $33.001 billion<ref name="auto">{{cite web |title=World Economic Outlook Database, April 2025 |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2025/april |language=en}}</ref>
| GDP_PPP_year           = 2025
| GDP_PPP_rank           = 149th
| GDP_PPP_per_capita     = {{increase}} $20,017<ref name="auto"/>
| GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = 92nd
| GDP_nominal            = {{increase}} $12.680 billion<ref name="auto"/>
| GDP_nominal_year       = 2025
| GDP_nominal_rank       = 149th
| GDP_nominal_per_capita = {{increase}} $7,750<ref name="auto"/>
| GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = 95th
| Gini                   = <!--number only-->
| Gini_year              = 
| Gini_change            = <!--increase/decrease/steady-->
| Gini_ref               = 
| Gini_rank              = 
| HDI                    = 0.674 <!--number only-->
| HDI_year               = 2023<!-- Please use the year to which the data refers, not the publication year-->
| HDI_change             = increase <!--increase/decrease/steady-->
| HDI_ref                = <ref name="UNHDR" />
| HDI_rank               = 133rd
| currency               = [[Central African CFA franc]]
| currency_code          = XAF
| time_zone              = [[West Africa Time|WAT]]
| utc_offset             = +1
| utc_offset_DST         = 
| time_zone_DST          = 
| calling_code           = [[+240]]
| cctld                  = [[.gq]]
| footnote_a             = Including [[Equatoguinean Spanish]] (''Español ecuatoguineano'').
| today                  = 
}}
'''Equatorial Guinea''',{{efn|({{langx|es|Guinea Ecuatorial}} {{IPA|es|giˈnea ekwatoˈɾjal||Pronunciation_of_Guinea_Ecuatorial_in_Spanish.ogg}}; {{langx|fr|Guinée équatoriale}}; {{langx|pt|Guiné Equatorial}}).}} officially the '''Republic of Equatorial Guinea''',{{efn|({{langx|es|link=no|República de Guinea Ecuatorial}}, {{langx|fr|link=no|République de Guinée équatoriale}}, {{langx|pt|link=no|República da Guiné Equatorial}}), Local pronunciation:
*{{langx|es|link=no|República de Guinea Ecuatorial}} {{IPA|es|reˈpuβlika ðe ɣiˈnea ekwatoˈɾjal|-|Es-republica guinea ecuatorial.ogg}}
*{{langx|fr|link=no|République de Guinée équatoriale}} {{IPA|fr|ʁepyblik d(ə) ɡine ekwatoʁjal|}}
*{{langx|pt|link=no|República da Guiné Equatorial}} {{IPA|pt|ʁɛˈpuβlikɐ ðɐ ɣiˈnɛ ˌekwɐtuɾiˈal}}}} is a country on the west coast of [[Central Africa]]. It has an area of {{convert|28000|km2}}. Formerly the colony of [[Spanish Guinea]], its post-independence name refers to its location both near the [[Equator]] and in the [[Guinea (region)|African region of Guinea]]. {{As of|2024}}, the country had a population of 1,795,834,<ref name="CIAWorldFactbook"/> over 85% of whom are members of the [[Fang people]], the country's dominant ethnic group. The [[Bubi people]], indigenous to [[Bioko]], are the second largest group at approximately 6.5% of the population.

Equatorial Guinea consists of two parts. The mainland region, [[Río Muni]], is bordered by [[Cameroon]] to the north and [[Gabon]] to the south and east. It has the majority of the population and is the location of [[Bata, Equatorial Guinea|Bata]], Equatorial Guinea's largest city, and [[Ciudad de la Paz]], the country's planned future capital. Río Muni's small offshore islands include [[Corisco]], [[Elobey Grande]], and [[Elobey Chico]]. The [[Islands of Equatorial Guinea|insular region]] consists of the islands of [[Bioko]] (formerly Fernando Po) in the [[Gulf of Guinea]] and [[Annobón Province|Annobón]]. Bioko Island is the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea and is the site of the country's capital, [[Malabo]]. The Portuguese-speaking island nation of [[São Tomé and Príncipe]] is located between Bioko and Annobón.

[[African Pygmies|Pygmies]] are the first confirmed inhabitants to settle in the area of present-day Equatorial Guinea, followed by a migration of [[Bantu expansion|Bantu-speaking groups]] in the 6th century BC. The Portuguese explorer [[Fernão do Po|Fernando Pó]] explored the area in 1472. Via the 1778 [[Treaty of El Pardo (1778)|Treaty of El Pardo]], [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]] ceded territories in the [[Bight of Biafra]] to [[Spanish Empire|Spain]]; the new territory was declared [[Spanish Guinea]] during the [[Scramble for Africa]]. Nearly 200 years later, it gained independence in 1968 under the bloody dictatorship of President [[Francisco Macías Nguema]]. He declared himself [[president for life]] in 1972, but was overthrown in a [[1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état|coup in 1979]] by his nephew, [[Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo]], who has served as the country's president since. Obiang's regime has also been widely characterized as a dictatorship by foreign observers. 

Since the mid-1990s, Equatorial Guinea has become one of [[sub-Saharan Africa]]'s largest oil producers.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Appel|first=Hannah|title=The Licit Life of Capitalism|date=13 December 2019|publisher=Duke University Press|doi=10.1515/9781478004578|isbn=978-1-4780-0457-8|s2cid=242248625}}</ref> It has subsequently become the richest country per capita in Africa;<ref>[http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=mr&v=67 GDP – per capita (PPP) – Country Comparison] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510072850/http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=mr&v=67 |date=10 May 2011 }}. Indexmundi.com. Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref> however, the wealth is extremely unevenly distributed, with few people benefiting from the oil riches. The country ranks 133rd on the 2023 [[Human Development Index]],<ref name="UNHDR">{{Cite web |date=6 May 2025 |title=Human Development Report 2025 |url=https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2025reporten.pdf|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250506051232/https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2025reporten.pdf |archive-date=6 May 2025 |access-date=6 May 2025 |publisher=[[United Nations Development Programme]]}}</ref> with less than half the population having access to clean drinking water and 7.9% of children dying before the age of five.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.DYN.MORT?most_recent_value_desc=true|title=Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births) {{pipe}} Data|website=data.worldbank.org|access-date=27 March 2021|archive-date=10 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410120106/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.DYN.MORT?most_recent_value_desc=true|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Equatorial Guinea profile">{{cite web|title=Equatorial Guinea profile |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13317174 |publisher=BBC |access-date=23 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140921201513/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13317174 |archive-date=21 September 2014 |date=21 March 2014}}</ref> 

Since Equatorial Guinea is a former Spanish colony, Spanish is the main official language. French and ({{as of|2010|lc=y}}) Portuguese have also been made official.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dn.pt/inicio/portugal/interior.aspx?content_id=1622890|title=Guiné Equatorial oficializa português – Portugal – DN|access-date=11 November 2020|date=19 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819184519/http://www.dn.pt/inicio/portugal/interior.aspx?content_id=1622890|archive-date=19 August 2011|via=web.archive.org}}</ref> It is the only sovereign country in Africa where Spanish is an official language.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20160316/40485022377/guinea-ecuatorial-se-convierte-en-el-valedor-del-espanol-en-africa.html|title=Guinea Ecuatorial se convierte en el valedor del español en África|access-date=11 November 2020|website=La Vanguardia|date=16 March 2016|language=es|archive-date=24 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024162433/https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20160316/40485022377/guinea-ecuatorial-se-convierte-en-el-valedor-del-espanol-en-africa.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Equatorial Guinea's government is [[authoritarian]] and [[Sultanism|sultanist]]<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YqeTEAAAQBAJ | isbn=978-1-4875-3692-3 | title=Comparing Political Regimes: A Thematic Introduction to Comparative Politics, Fourth Edition | date=31 December 2022 | publisher=University of Toronto Press }}</ref> and has one of the [[Human rights in Equatorial Guinea|worst human rights records in the world]], consistently ranking among the "worst of the worst" in [[Freedom House]]'s [[Freedom in the World|annual survey of political and civil rights]].<ref>[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20110131191445/http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/special_report/88.pdf Worst of the Worst 2010. The World's Most Repressive Societies]. freedomhouse.org</ref> [[Reporters Without Borders]] ranks Obiang among its "predators" of press freedom.<ref>[http://en.rsf.org/equatorial-guinea.html Equatorial Guinea – Reporters Without Borders] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101015033438/http://en.rsf.org/equatorial-guinea.html|date=15 October 2010}}. En.rsf.org. Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref> [[Human trafficking in Equatorial Guinea|Human trafficking]] is a significant problem, with the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report identifying Equatorial Guinea as a source and destination country for [[unfree labor|forced labour]] and sex trafficking.<ref>"Equatorial Guinea". [https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-trafficking-in-persons-report/equatorial-guinea/ ''Trafficking in Persons Report 2020''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217234055/https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-trafficking-in-persons-report/equatorial-guinea/|date=17 February 2021}}. U.S. Department of State (16 June 2020). This source is in the public domain.</ref> The country is a member of the [[United Nations]], [[African Union]], [[Organisation internationale de la Francophonie|Francophonie]], [[OPEC]], and the [[Community of Portuguese Language Countries|CPLP]].

== History ==
{{Main|History of Equatorial Guinea}}
[[African Pygmies|Pygmies]] likely once lived in the continental region that is now Equatorial Guinea, but are today found only in isolated pockets in southern Río Muni. [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] migrations likely started around 2,000 BC from between south-east Nigeria and north-west Cameroon (the Grassfields).<ref>Bostoen (K.), Clist (B.), Doumenge (C.), Grollemund (R.), Hombert (J.-M.), Koni Muluwa (J.) & Maley (J.), 2015, Middle to Late Holocene Paleoclimatic Change and the Early Bantu Expansion in the Rain Forests of Western Central Africa, Current Anthropology, 56 (3), pp.354–384.</ref> They must have settled continental Equatorial Guinea around 500 BC at the latest.<ref>Clist (B.). 1990, Des derniers chasseurs aux premiers métallurgistes : sédentarisation et débuts de la métallurgie du fer (Cameroun, Gabon, Guinée-Equatoriale). In Lanfranchi (R.) & Schwartz (D.) éds. Paysages quaternaires de l'Afrique Centrale Atlantique. Paris : ORSTOM, Collection didactiques : 458–478</ref><ref>Clist (B.). 1998. Nouvelles données archéologiques sur l'histoire ancienne de la Guinée-Equatoriale. L'Anthropologie 102 (2) : 213–217</ref> The earliest settlements on Bioko Island are dated to AD 530.<ref>Sánchez-Elipe Lorente (M.). 2015. Las comunidades de la eda del hierro en África Centro-Occidental: cultura material e identidad, Tesi Doctoral, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid</ref> The [[Annobonese Creole|Annobón]] population, originally native to [[Angola]], was introduced by the Portuguese via [[São Tomé island]].<ref>Skutsch, Carl, ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge. p. 107. ISBN 1-57958-468-3.</ref>

=== First European contact and Portuguese rule (1472–1778) ===
[[File:1729 West Africa map (Cameroon & Nigeria).jpg|thumb|left|[[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] rule in Equatorial Guinea lasted from the arrival of [[Fernão do Pó]] (Fernando Pó) in 1472 until the [[Treaty of El Pardo (1778)|1778 Treaty of El Pardo]]]]

The [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese explorer]] [[Fernão do Pó|Fernando Pó]], seeking a path to India, is credited as being the first European to see the island of Bioko, in 1472. He called it ''Formosa'' ("Beautiful"), but it quickly took on the name of its European discoverer. [[Fernando Pó (island)|Fernando Pó]] and Annobón were colonized by Portugal in 1474. The first factories were established on the islands around 1500 as the Portuguese quickly recognized the positives of the islands including volcanic soil and disease-resistant highlands. Despite natural advantages, initial Portuguese efforts in 1507 to establish a sugarcane plantation and town near what is now Concepción on Fernando Pó failed due to Bubi hostility and fever.<ref>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 5. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref>

===Early Spanish rule and lease to Britain (1778–1844)===
[[File:África Ecuatorial Española.svg|thumb|left|Evolution of Spanish possessions and claims in the Gulf of Guinea, 1778–1968 (in Spanish)]]

In 1778, Spain and Portugal signed the [[Treaty of El Pardo (1778)|Treaty of El Pardo]]. The treaty ceded [[Bioko]] and adjacent islets along with commercial rights to the [[Bight of Bonny|Bight of Biafra]] between the [[Niger River|Niger]] and [[Ogoue River|Ogoue rivers]] to Spain in exchange for large areas of modern-day western [[Brazil]] being ceded to Portugal. [[Brigadier]] [[Felipe José, Count of Arjelejos]] of the [[Spanish Navy]] formally took possession of Bioko from Portugal on 21 October 1778. While sailing to Annobón to take possession of it, Arjelejos died from a tropical disease contracted on Bioko and his fever-ridden crew mutinied. The crew, after having lost over 80% of their men to sickness, instead landed on São Tomé where they were imprisoned by Portuguese colonial authorities.<ref>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 6. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref> 

As a result of this disaster, Spain was subsequently hesitant to invest heavily in its new possession. However, despite such a setback, Spanish merchants began to use the island as a base for engaging in the [[Atlantic slave trade]]. Between 1778 and 1810, the territory of what became Equatorial Guinea was administered by the [[Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata]], based in [[Buenos Aires]].<ref name="Fegley, Randall 1989 p. 6-7">Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 6–7. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref> Unwilling to significantly invest in the development of Fernando Pó, from 1827 to 1843 the Spanish leased a base in [[Bioko]] to the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]], which the British had sought as part of their efforts to suppress the slave trade.<ref>"Fernando Po", Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911.</ref> 

In the same year the Spanish leased the base in Bioko, Britain unilaterally moved the headquarters of the [[Mixed Commission for the Suppression of Slave Traffic]] to Fernando Pó in 1827, before moving it back to [[Sierra Leone]] under an agreement with Spain in 1843. Spain's decision to abolish its involvement in the slave trade under British pressure in 1817 damaged the colony's perceived value to the Spanish and so leasing naval bases was an effective revenue earner from an otherwise unprofitable possession.<ref name="Fegley, Randall 1989 p. 6-7" /> Plans by Spain to sell its African colony to Britain was cancelled in 1841 due to opposition from Spanish politicians and the public.<ref>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 7–8. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref>

=== Late 19th century (1844–1900) ===
[[File:(1897) Golfo de Guinea.jpg|thumb|Map of the Spanish possessions in 1897, before the [[Treaty of Paris (1900)]]]]

In 1844, the British returned the island to Spanish control and the area became known as the "Territorios Españoles del Golfo de Guinea". Due to epidemics, Spain did not invest much in the colony, and in 1862, an outbreak of [[yellow fever]] killed many of the whites that had settled on the island. Despite this, plantations continued to be established by private citizens through the second half of the 19th century.<ref name=autogenerated3>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 13. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref>

The [[plantation]]s of [[Bioko|Fernando Pó]] were mostly run by a black [[Creole elite]], later known as [[Fernandino peoples|Fernandinos]]. The British settled some 2,000 Sierra Leoneans and freed slaves there during their rule, and a trickle of immigration from West Africa and the West Indies continued after the British left. A number of freed Angolan slaves, Portuguese-African creoles and immigrants from Nigeria, and Liberia also began to be settled in the colony, where they quickly began to join the new group.<ref name=autogenerated1>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 9. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref> To the local mix were added Cubans, Filipinos, Jews and Spaniards of various colours, many of whom had been deported to Africa for political or other crimes, as well as some settlers backed by the government.<ref>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 8–9. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref>

By 1870, the prognosis of whites that lived on the island was much improved after recommendations that they live in the highlands, and by 1884 much of the minimal administrative machinery and key plantations had moved to [[Pico Basilé|Basile]] hundreds of meters above sea level. [[Henry Morton Stanley]] had labeled Fernando Pó "a jewel which Spain did not polish" for refusing to enact such a policy. Despite the improved survival chances of Europeans living on the island, [[Mary Kingsley]], who was staying on the island, still described Fernando Pó as "a more uncomfortable form of execution" for Spaniards appointed there.<ref name=autogenerated3 />

There was also a trickle of immigration from the neighboring Portuguese islands, escaped slaves, and prospective planters. Although a few of the [[Fernandino peoples|Fernandinos]] were Catholic and Spanish-speaking, about nine-tenths of them were Protestant and English-speaking on the eve of the First World War, and [[pidgin English]] was the ''[[lingua franca]]'' of the island. The Sierra Leoneans were particularly well placed as planters while labor recruitment on the [[Ivory Coast|Windward coast]] continued. The Fernandinos became traders and middlemen between the natives and Europeans.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> A freed slave from the West Indies by way of [[Sierra Leone]] named William Pratt established the cocoa crop on Fernando Pó.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clarence-Smith |first=William Gervase |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1WGAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22William+Pratt%22+cocoa&pg=PA104 |title=Cocoa and Chocolate, 1765–1914 |date=2 September 2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-60778-5 |page=104 |language=en |access-date=6 September 2022 |archive-date=23 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223193836/https://books.google.com/books?id=-1WGAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22William+Pratt%22+cocoa&pg=PA104#v=onepage&q=%22William%20Pratt%22%20cocoa&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Early 20th century (1900–1945) ===
{{Main|Spanish Guinea}}
[[File:Eq Guinea 1900 ES.PNG|thumb|Borders after the agreement of 1900 on the land that would become [[Spanish Guinea]], until the independence of 1968]]

Spain had not occupied the large area in the [[Bight of Biafra]] to which it had right by [[treaty]], and the French had expanded their occupation at the expense of the territory claimed by Spain. Madrid only partly backed the explorations of men like [[Manuel Iradier]] who had signed treaties in the interior as far as Gabon and Cameroon, leaving much of the land out of "effective occupation" as demanded by the terms of the 1885 [[Berlin Conference]]. Minimal government backing for mainland annexation came as a result of public opinion and a need for labour on Fernando Pó.<ref>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 18. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref>

The eventual [[Treaty of Paris (1900)|treaty of Paris]] in 1900 left Spain with the continental [[enclave and exclave|enclave]] of Río Muni, only 26,000&nbsp;km{{sup|2}} out of the 300,000km{{sup|2}} stretching east to the [[Ubangi River|Ubangi river]] which the Spaniards had initially claimed.<ref name=Clarence-Smith>Clarence-Smith, William Gervase (1986) [http://es.scribd.com/doc/63545279/The-Cambridge-History-of-Africa-Volume-7-From-1905-to-1940-0521225051-1986 "Spanish Equatorial Guinea, 1898–1940"] in ''The Cambridge History of Africa: From 1905 to 1940'' Ed. J. D. Fage, A. D. Roberts, & Roland Anthony Oliver. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220142411/http://es.scribd.com/doc/63545279/The-Cambridge-History-of-Africa-Volume-7-From-1905-to-1940-0521225051-1986 |date=20 February 2014 }}</ref> The humiliation of the Franco-Spanish negotiations, combined with the disaster in Cuba led to the head of the Spanish negotiating team, [[Pedro Gover y Tovar]], committing suicide on the voyage home on 21 October 1901.<ref name=autogenerated2>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 19. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref> Iradier himself died in despair in 1911; decades later, the port of [[Cogo, Equatorial Guinea|Cogo]] was renamed Puerto Iradier in his honour.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

Land regulations issued in 1904–1905 favoured Spaniards, and most of the later big planters arrived from Spain after that.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} An agreement was made with Liberia in 1914 to import cheap labor. Due to malpractice however, the Liberian government eventually ended the treaty after revelations about the state of Liberian workers on Fernando Pó in the Christy Report which brought down the country's president [[Charles D. B. King]] in 1930.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

[[File:Corisco-Saliendo de misa-1910.jpg|thumb|[[Corisco]] in 1910]]By the late nineteenth century, the Bubi were protected from the demands of the planters by Spanish [[Claretians|Claretian]] missionaries, who were very influential in the colony and eventually organised the Bubi into little mission theocracies reminiscent of the famous [[Jesuit]] [[Reducciones|reductions]] in [[Paraguay]]. Catholic penetration was furthered by two small insurrections in 1898 and 1910 protesting [[conscription]] of [[Forced labor|forced labour]] for the plantations. The Bubi were disarmed in 1917, and left dependent on the missionaries.<ref name="Clarence-Smith" /> Serious labour shortages were temporarily solved by a massive influx of refugees from German [[Kamerun]], along with thousands of white German soldiers who stayed on the island for several years.<ref name=autogenerated2 />

Between 1926 and 1959, Bioko and Río Muni were united as the colony of [[Spanish Guinea]]. The economy was based on large [[cocoa bean|cacao]] and [[coffee]] plantations and [[logging]] concessions and the workforce was mostly immigrant [[contract labour]] from [[Liberia]], [[Nigeria]], and [[Cameroun]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Martino, Enrique|title=Clandestine Recruitment Networks in the Bight of Biafra: Fernando Pó's Answer to the Labour Question, 1926–1945|journal=International Review of Social History|volume=57|pages=39–72|url=http://www.opensourceguinea.org/2013/03/enrique-martino-clandestine-recruitment.html|doi=10.1017/s0020859012000417|year=2012|doi-access=free|access-date=22 September 2013|archive-date=24 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024192516/http://www.opensourceguinea.org/2013/03/enrique-martino-clandestine-recruitment.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Between 1914 and 1930, an estimated 10,000 Liberians went to Fernando Po under a labour treaty that was stopped altogether in 1930.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 7|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1986|editor-last=Roberts|editor-first=A. D.|page=540}}</ref> With Liberian workers no longer available, planters of Fernando Po turned to Río Muni. Campaigns were mounted to subdue the [[Fang people]] in the 1920s, at the time that Liberia was beginning to cut back on recruitment. There were garrisons of the colonial guard throughout the enclave by 1926, and the whole colony was considered 'pacified' by 1929.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1080/14636204.2013.790703|title=La última selva de España: Antropófagos, misioneros y guardias civiles. Crónica de la conquista de los Fang de la Guinea Española, 1914–1930|journal=Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies|volume=13|issue=3|page=315|year=2012|last1=Castillo-Rodríguez|first1=S.|s2cid=145077430}}</ref>

[[File:Iberia- vuelo inaugural a Bata (Guinea) (1941) (5811105541).jpg|thumb|right|Inaugural flight with [[Iberia (airline)|Iberia]] from [[Madrid]] to [[Bata, Equatorial Guinea|Bata]], 1941]]

The [[Spanish Civil War]] had a major impact on the colony. A group of 150 Spanish whites, including the Governor-General and Vice-Governor-General of Río Muni, created a socialist party called the Popular Front in the enclave which served to oppose the interests of the Fernando Pó plantation owners. When the War broke out [[Francisco Franco]] ordered Nationalist forces based in the Canaries to ensure control over Equatorial Guinea. In September 1936, Nationalist forces backed by Falangists from Fernando Pó took control of Río Muni, which under Governor-General Luiz Sanchez Guerra Saez and his deputy Porcel had backed the Republican government. By November, the Popular Front and its supporters had been defeated and Equatorial Guinea secured for Franco. The commander in charge of the occupation, Juan Fontán Lobé, was appointed Governor-General by Franco and began to exert more Spanish control over the enclave interior.<ref>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy''. New York: Peter Lang. pp. 20–21. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}.</ref>

Río Muni officially had a little over 100,000 people in the 1930s; escape into [[Cameroun]] or [[Gabon]] was easy. Fernando Pó thus continued to suffer from labour shortages. The French only briefly permitted recruitment in Cameroun, and the main source of labour came to be [[Igbo people|Igbo]] smuggled in canoes from [[Calabar]] in [[Nigeria]]. This resolution led to Fernando Pó becoming one of Africa's most productive agricultural areas after the [[Second World War]].<ref name="Clarence-Smith" />

=== Final years of Spanish rule (1945–1968) ===
[[File:Naval Infantry in Spanish Guinea 1964.jpg|thumb|[[Civil Guard (Spain)|Guardia Civil]] and [[Spanish Marine Infantry|Marine Infantry]] in [[Spanish Guinea]] in 1964]]
[[File:Fraga na sinatura da independencia de Guinea Ecuatorial.jpg|thumb|Signing of the independence of Equatorial Guinea by the Spanish minister [[Manuel Fraga]] together with the new Equatorial Guinean president [[Macías Nguema]] on 12 October 1968]]

Politically, post-war colonial history has three fairly distinct phases: up to 1959, when its status was raised from "colonial" to "provincial", following the approach of the [[Portuguese Empire]]; between 1960 and 1968, when Madrid attempted a partial [[decolonisation]] aimed at keeping the territory as part of the Spanish system; and from 1968 on, after the territory became an independent [[republic]]. The first phase consisted of little more than a continuation of previous policies; these closely resembled the policies of Portugal and France, notably in dividing the population into a vast majority governed as 'natives' or non-citizens, and a very small minority (together with whites) admitted to civic status as ''[[emancipados]]'', [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]] to the metropolitan culture being the only permissible means of advancement.<ref>Crowder, Michael, ed. (1984). ''The Cambridge History of Africa: Volume 8, from C. 1940 to C. 1975''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-22409-8}}.</ref>

This "provincial" phase saw the beginnings of [[nationalism]], but chiefly among small groups who had taken refuge from the ''[[Caudillo]]''{{'}}s paternal hand in Cameroun and Gabon. They formed two bodies: the [[Atanasio Ndongo Miyone|Movimiento Nacional de Liberación de la Guinea]] (MONALIGE), and the [[Idea Popular de Guinea Ecuatorial]] (IPGE). By the late 1960s, much of the African continent had been granted independence. Aware of this trend, the Spanish began to increase efforts to prepare the country for independence. The [[Gross national income|gross national product]] per capita in 1965 was $466, which was the highest in black Africa; the Spanish constructed an international airport at Santa Isabel, a television station and increased the literacy rate to 89%. In 1967, the number of hospital beds per capita in Equatorial Guinea was higher than Spain itself, with 1637 beds in 16 hospitals. By the end of colonial rule, the number of Africans in higher education was in only the double digits.<ref>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', pp. 59–60. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref>

A decision of 9 August 1963, approved by a referendum of 15 December 1963, gave the territory a measure of autonomy and the administrative promotion of a 'moderate' group, the {{Interlanguage link|Movimiento de Unión Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial|es}} (MUNGE). This was unsuccessful, and, with growing pressure for change from the UN, Madrid was gradually forced to give way to the currents of nationalism. Two General Assembly resolutions were passed in 1965 ordering Spain to grant independence to the colony, and in 1966, a UN Commission toured the country before recommending the same thing. In response, the Spanish declared that they would hold a constitutional convention on 27 October 1967 to negotiate a new constitution for an independent Equatorial Guinea. The conference was attended by 41 local delegates and 25 Spaniards. The Africans were principally divided between Fernandinos and Bubi on one side, who feared a loss of privileges and 'swamping' by the Fang majority, and the Río Muni Fang nationalists on the other. At the conference, the leading Fang figure, the later first president [[Francisco Macías Nguema]], gave a controversial speech in which he claimed that [[Adolf Hitler]] had "saved Africa".<ref>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 51–52. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref> After nine sessions, the conference was suspended due to deadlock between the "unionists" and "separatists" who wanted a separate Fernando Pó. Macías resolved to travel to the UN to bolster international awareness of the issue, and his firebrand speeches in New York contributed to Spain naming a date for both independence and general elections. In July 1968 virtually all Bubi leaders went to the UN in New York to try and raise awareness for their cause, but the world community was uninterested in quibbling over the specifics of colonial independence. The 1960s were a time of great optimism over the future of the former African colonies, and groups that had been close to European rulers, like the Bubi, were not viewed positively.<ref>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 55. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref>

=== Independence under Macías (1968–1979) ===
[[File:Don Francisco Macias.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Francisco Macías Nguema]], first [[president of Equatorial Guinea]] in 1968, became a dictator until he was overthrown in a coup d'état in 1979.]]
Independence from Spain was gained on 12 October 1968, at noon in the capital, Malabo. The new country became the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (the date is celebrated as the country's [[List of national independence days|Independence Day]]<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=16378 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022184931/https://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=16378 |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 October 2020 |title=Congratulations marking Independence Day continue to arrive |date=10 September 2020 |publisher=Equatorial Guinea Press and Information Office |access-date=10 September 2020 }}</ref>). Macías became president in the country's [[1968 Spanish Guinean general election|only free and fair election to date]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Campos, Alicia|title=The decolonization of Equatorial Guinea: the relevance of the international factor|journal=Journal of African History|year=2003|pages=95–116|volume=44|issue=1|url=http://www.egjustice.org/publications/decolonization-equatorial-guinea-relevance-international-factor|doi=10.1017/s0021853702008319|hdl=10486/690991|s2cid=143108720|hdl-access=free|access-date=3 February 2014|archive-date=20 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820182226/http://www.egjustice.org/publications/decolonization-equatorial-guinea-relevance-international-factor}}</ref> The Spanish (ruled by [[Francisco Franco|Franco]]) had backed Macías in the election; much of his campaigning involved visiting rural areas of Río Muni and promising that they would have the houses and wives of the Spanish if they voted for him.{{cn|date=March 2025}} He had won in the second round of voting.

During the [[Nigerian Civil War]], Fernando Pó was inhabited by many Biafra-supporting Ibo migrant workers and many refugees from the breakaway state fled to the island. The [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] began running relief flights out of Equatorial Guinea, but Macías quickly shut the flights down, refusing to allow them to fly diesel fuel for their trucks nor oxygen tanks for medical operations. The Biafran separatists were starved into submission without international backing.<ref>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 60. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref>

After the Public Prosecutor complained about "excesses and maltreatment" by government officials, Macías had 150 alleged coup-plotters executed in a purge on Christmas Eve 1969, all of whom were political opponents.<ref name=tufts>{{cite web|title=Equatorial Guinea – Mass Atrocity Endings|work=Tufts University|date=7 August 2015|url=https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2015/08/07/equatorial-guinea/#_edn27|access-date=12 November 2018|archive-date=10 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910163306/https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2015/08/07/equatorial-guinea/#_edn27|url-status=live}}</ref> Macias Nguema further consolidated his [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian powers]] by [[One-party state|outlawing opposition political parties]] in July 1970 and making himself [[president for life]] in 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.egjustice.org/post/equatorial-guinea|title=Equatorial Guinea – EG Justice|website=www.egjustice.org|access-date=17 April 2019|archive-date=17 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417075119/http://www.egjustice.org/post/equatorial-guinea}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/08/07/equatorial-guineas-president-said-to-be-retired-not-ousted/b21f82be-7401-4b7c-b6ea-1774dc0639e5/|title=Equatorial Guinea's President Said to Be Retired, Not Ousted|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=17 December 2019|archive-date=25 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225105319/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/08/07/equatorial-guineas-president-said-to-be-retired-not-ousted/b21f82be-7401-4b7c-b6ea-1774dc0639e5/|url-status=live}}</ref> He broke off ties with Spain and the West. In spite of his condemnation of [[Marxism]], which he deemed "[[Neo-colonialism|neo-colonialist]]", Equatorial Guinea maintained special relations with [[communist state]]s, notably China, Cuba, [[East Germany]] and the [[USSR]]. Macias Nguema signed a preferential [[trade agreement]] and a shipping treaty with the Soviet Union. The Soviets also made loans to Equatorial Guinea.<ref name="aworawo103">{{cite journal|last=Aworawo|first=David|title=Decisive Thaw: The Changing Pattern of Relations between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, 1980–2005|journal=Journal of International and Global Studies|volume=1|issue=2|page=103|url=http://www.lindenwood.edu/jigs/docs/volume1Issue2/essays/89-109.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124030353/http://www.lindenwood.edu/jigs/docs/volume1Issue2/essays/89-109.pdf|archive-date=24 January 2013}}</ref> The shipping agreement gave the Soviets permission for a pilot [[fishery]] development project and also a naval base at [[Luba, Equatorial Guinea|Luba]]. In return, the USSR was to supply fish to Equatorial Guinea. China and Cuba also gave different forms of financial, military, and technical assistance to Equatorial Guinea, which got them a measure of influence there. For the USSR, there was an advantage to be gained in the [[Angola Civil War|war in Angola]] from access to Luba base and later on to [[Malabo International Airport]].<ref name="aworawo103" />

In 1974, the [[World Council of Churches]] affirmed that large numbers of people had been murdered since 1968 in an ongoing [[revolutionary terror|reign of terror]]. A quarter of the entire population had fled abroad, they said, while 'the prisons are overflowing and to all intents and purposes form one vast concentration camp'. Out of a population of 300,000, an estimated 80,000 were killed.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2530772.ece|title=Coup plotter faces life in Africa's most notorious jail|publisher=News.independent.co.uk|date=11 May 2007|access-date=3 May 2010|location=London|first=Kim|last=Sengupta|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229043459/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2530772.ece|archive-date=29 December 2007}}</ref> Apart from allegedly committing [[genocide]] against the ethnic minority [[Bubi people]], Macias Nguema ordered the deaths of thousands of suspected opponents, closed down churches and presided over the economy's collapse as skilled citizens and foreigners fled the country.<ref>{{cite news|last=Daniels|first=Anthony|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3610187/If-you-think-this-ones-bad-you-should-have-seen-his-uncle.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3610187/If-you-think-this-ones-bad-you-should-have-seen-his-uncle.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=If you think this one's bad you should have seen his uncle|publisher=The Telegraph|date=29 August 2004|access-date=22 May 2014|location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

=== Obiang (1979–present) ===
[[File:Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo with Obamas 2014.jpg|thumb|Obiang and U.S. president [[Barack Obama|Obama]] with their wives in 2014]]
The nephew of Macías Nguema, [[Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo|Teodoro Obiang]] deposed his uncle on 3 August 1979, in a bloody ''[[1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état|coup d'état]]''; over two weeks of civil war ensued until Macías Nguema was captured. He was tried and executed soon afterward, with Obiang succeeding him as a less bloody, but still authoritarian president.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2012/02/09/the-five-worst-leaders-in-africa/ |title=The Five Worst Leaders In Africa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816201630/https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2012/02/09/the-five-worst-leaders-in-africa/ |archive-date=16 August 2017 |work=[[Forbes]] |date=9 February 2012}}</ref>

In 1995, [[Mobil]], an American oil company, discovered oil in Equatorial Guinea. The country subsequently experienced rapid economic development, but earnings from the country's oil wealth have not reached the population and the country ranks low on the UN human development index. 7.9% of children die before the age of 5, and more than 50% of the population lacks access to clean [[drinking water]].<ref name="Equatorial Guinea profile" /> Obiang is widely suspected of using the country's oil wealth to enrich himself<ref name=global>{{cite web |title=DC Meeting Set with President Obiang as Corruption Details Emerge |work=Global Witness |date=15 June 2012 |url=http://www.globalwitness.org/library/dc-meeting-set-president-obiang-corruption-details-emerge |access-date=18 July 2014 |archive-date=3 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403050646/http://www.globalwitness.org/library/dc-meeting-set-president-obiang-corruption-details-emerge |url-status=live}}</ref> and his associates. In 2006, ''Forbes'' estimated his personal wealth at $600 million.<ref>{{cite web |work=Forbes |date=5 March 2006 |url=https://www.forbes.com/2006/05/03/cz_forbes_0522_royals_slide_8.html |title=Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President/Equatorial Guinea |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171029180012/https://www.forbes.com/2006/05/03/cz_forbes_0522_royals_slide_8.html |archive-date=29 October 2017 }}</ref>

In 2011, the government announced it was planning a new capital for the country, named [[Ciudad de la Paz|Oyala]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120112084455/http://www.africa21digital.com/noticia.kmf?cod=12634524&canal=404 Empresas portuguesas planeiam nova capital da Guiné Equatorial]. africa21digital.com (5 November 2011).</ref><ref>[http://www.boasnoticias.pt/noticias_Atelier-luso-desenha-futura-capital-da-Guin%C3%A9-Equatorial_8697.html Atelier luso desenha futura capital da Guiné Equatorial] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015221744/http://www.boasnoticias.pt/noticias_Atelier-luso-desenha-futura-capital-da-Guin%C3%A9-Equatorial_8697.html |date=15 October 2015 }}. Boasnoticias.pt (5 November 2011). Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.piniweb.com.br/construcao/urbanismo/arquitetos-portugueses-projetam-nova-capital-para-guine-equatorial-240902-1.asp Arquitetos portugueses projetam nova capital para Guiné Equatorial] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510212439/http://www.piniweb.com.br/construcao/urbanismo/arquitetos-portugueses-projetam-nova-capital-para-guine-equatorial-240902-1.asp |date=10 May 2013 }}. Piniweb.com.br. Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.greensavers.pt/2011/11/04/atelie-portugues-desenha-futura-capital-da-guine-equatorial/ Ateliê português desenha futura capital da Guiné Equatorial] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122153733/http://www.greensavers.pt/2011/11/04/atelie-portugues-desenha-futura-capital-da-guine-equatorial/ |date=22 January 2012 }}. Greensavers.pt (14 December 2011). Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref> The city was renamed [[Ciudad de la Paz]] ("City of Peace") in 2017.

{{as of|2016|February|}}, Obiang was Africa's second-longest serving dictator.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/equatorial-guinea-human-rights-africa-dictatorship-tutu-alicante|title=Equatorial Guinea: One man's fight against dictatorship|last=Simon|first=Allison|date=11 July 2014|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=9 May 2017|archive-date=5 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305010320/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/equatorial-guinea-human-rights-africa-dictatorship-tutu-alicante|url-status=live}}</ref> Equatorial Guinea was elected as a non-permanent member of the [[United Nations Security Council]] 2018–2019.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/international-news-general-news-f44f66bb37c44cd7811f8230532b0bec|title=Equatorial Guinea wins UN Security Council seat despite rights groups' concerns|first=Edith M.|last=Lederer|work=[[Associated Press]]|date=2 June 2017|access-date=16 January 2024|archive-date=16 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116230607/https://apnews.com/international-news-general-news-f44f66bb37c44cd7811f8230532b0bec|url-status=live}}</ref> On 7 March 2021, there were [[2021 Bata explosions|munition explosions]] at a military base near the city of [[Bata, Equatorial Guinea|Bata]], causing 107 deaths.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bariyo |first=Nicholas |date=8 March 2021 |title=Equatorial Guinea Takes Stock After Giant Explosions |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/equatorial-guinea-takes-stock-after-giant-explosions-11615221995 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308205756/https://www.wsj.com/articles/equatorial-guinea-takes-stock-after-giant-explosions-11615221995 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |access-date=9 March 2021 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660}}</ref> In November 2022, Obiang was re-elected in the [[2022 Equatorial Guinean general election]] with 99.7% of the vote amid accusations of fraud by the opposition.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://elpais.com/internacional/2022-11-21/obiang-obtiene-el-997-de-los-votos-en-las-elecciones-de-guinea-ecuatorial-entre-denuncias-de-fraude-masivo.html |title=Obiang obtiene el 99,7% de los votos en las elecciones de Guinea Ecuatorial entre denuncias de fraude masivo |language=es |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130110000/https://elpais.com/internacional/2022-11-21/obiang-obtiene-el-997-de-los-votos-en-las-elecciones-de-guinea-ecuatorial-entre-denuncias-de-fraude-masivo.html |archive-date=30 November 2022 |work=El País |date=21 November 2022 |url-access=subscription |first=José |last=Naranjo}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.heraldo.es/noticias/internacional/2022/11/21/primeros-resultados-obiang-votos-guinea-ecuatorial-1613752.html |title=Primeros resultados dan a Obiang casi el 100 % de votos en Guinea Ecuatorial |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122063001/https://www.heraldo.es/noticias/internacional/2022/11/21/primeros-resultados-obiang-votos-guinea-ecuatorial-1613752.html |archive-date=22 November 2022 |work=Heraldo |language=es |date=21 November 2022}}</ref>

In 2024 it was published that mercenaries from the [[Wagner Group]] (now called "Africa Corps") had entered Equatorial Guinea at the request of Teodoro Obiang.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.epe.es/es/internacional/20240922/soldados-rusos-wagner-guinea-ecuatorial-obiang-108292512 |title=Soldados rusos de Wagner entran por centenares en Guinea Ecuatorial para proteger a los Obiang |work=El Periódico de España |language=es |last=Saavedra |first=Mario |date=22 September 2024 |access-date=31 October 2025}}</ref> According to opponents, the objective of the mercenaries was to help consolidate a hypothetical succession of Obiang's power to his son "[[Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue|Teodorín]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.es/internacional/oposicion-guinea-ecuatorial-pide-onu-intervenga-ante-20241001185900-nt.html |title=La oposición de Guinea Ecuatorial pide a la ONU que intervenga ante la «intromisión» de mercenarios extranjeros en el país |language=es |work=ABC International |date=3 October 2024 |access-date=31 October 2025}}</ref>

On 19 May 2025 the [[International Court of Justice]] (ICJ) granted Equatorial Guinea sovereignty over [[Mbanie Island]], Cocoteros Island, and Conga Island in response to territorial claims that neighboring [[Gabon]] had been making since 1972.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2025/05/19/claves-del-fallo-de-la-cij-sobre-la-disputa-territorial-entre-guinea-ecuatorial-y-gabon/ |title=Claves del fallo de la CIJ sobre la disputa territorial entre Guinea Ecuatorial y Gabón |work=Infobae |language=es |date=19 May 2025 |access-date=31 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rfi.fr/fr/en-bref/20250519-%C3%AElots-disput%C3%A9s-la-cour-internationale-de-justice-donne-raison-%C3%A0-la-guin%C3%A9e-%C3%A9quatoriale-face-au-gabon  |title=Îlots disputés: la Cour internationale de justice donne raison à la Guinée équatoriale face au Gabon |work=Radio France International |language=fr |date=19 May 2025 |access-date=31 October 2025}}</ref>

On 10 November 2025 it was reported that the [[second Trump administration]] had sent $7.5M to the government of Equatorial Guinea to accept non-citizen deportees from the United States,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/nov/10/us-government-shutdown-record-donald-trump-syria-president-ahmed-al-sharaa-rudy-giuliani-pardon-politics-live-news-updates|title=Schumer faces calls to resign as minority leader after some Democrats work with Republicans to end shutdown – live|first1=Coral Murphy|last1=Marcos|first2=Shrai|last2=Popat|first3=Lucy|last3=Campbell|first4=Frances|last4=Mao|first5=Coral Murphy Marcos (now); Shrai|last5=Popat|first6=Frances|last6=Mao (earlier)|date=11 November 2025|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> an amount far exceeding the total amount of U.S. aid sent to the country in the past eight years according to Sen. [[Jeanne Shaheen]] of New Hampshire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/equatorial-guinea-payment-marco-rubio-82335605d00326d59f9464d4e6c1c018|title=Senate Democrat questions Trump administration's $7.5M payment to Equatorial Guinea|date=10 November 2025|website=AP News}}</ref>

== Government and politics ==
{{Main|Politics of Equatorial Guinea|Foreign relations of Equatorial Guinea}}

[[File:Autobahnbau in Oyala.JPG|thumb|Highway construction in [[Ciudad de la Paz]] in 2010. Ciudad de la Paz will be the future [[Capital city|capital]] of Equatorial Guinea.]]
[[File:Presidential palace in malabo equatorial guinea.png|thumb|Presidential palace of Teodoro Obiang in Malabo]]

The current president of Equatorial Guinea is Teodoro Obiang. The 1982 constitution of Equatorial Guinea gives him extensive powers, including naming and dismissing members of the cabinet, making laws by decree, dissolving the Chamber of Representatives, negotiating and ratifying treaties and serving as commander in chief of the armed forces.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} The constitution defines the nation as a unitary state.<ref>Article 1, Constitution of Equatorial Guinea https://constitutionnet.org/sites/default/files/Equatorial%20Guinea%20Constitution.pdf</ref> According to [[Human Rights Watch]], the dictatorship of President Obiang used an [[oil boom]] to entrench and enrich itself further at the expense of the country's people.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13317174 BBC News – Equatorial Guinea country profile – Overview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716225956/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13317174|date=16 July 2018}}. Bbc.co.uk (11 December 2012). Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref> Since August 1979, some 12 perceived unsuccessful coup attempts have occurred.<ref name="HRW">{{cite web |author=Vines, Alex |date=9 July 2009 |title=Well Oiled |url=https://www.hrw.org/en/node/84252/section/3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204205408/http://www.hrw.org/en/node/84252/section/3 |archive-date=4 February 2011 |access-date=21 January 2011 |website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref> According to a March 2004 BBC profile,<ref>{{cite news |last=Shaxson |first=Nicholas |date=17 March 2004 |title=Profile: Equatorial Guinea's great survivor |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3516588.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040612221158/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3516588.stm |archive-date=12 June 2004 |access-date=3 December 2004 |work=BBC News}}</ref> politics within the country were dominated by tensions with Obiang's son, [[Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue]].

[[File:Equatorial Guinea Map.png|thumb|left|Map of Equatorial Guinea made by the [[CIA]] in 1992]]

In 2004, a planeload of suspected mercenaries was intercepted in [[Zimbabwe]] while allegedly on the way to overthrow Obiang. A November 2004 report<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/26/1093518010003.html|title=Thatcher faces 15 years in prison|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=27 August 2004|access-date=20 February 2020|archive-date=27 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227001157/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/26/1093518010003.html|url-status=live}}</ref> named [[Mark Thatcher]] as a financial backer of the [[2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt]] organized by [[Simon Mann]]. Various accounts also named the United Kingdom's [[Secret Intelligence Service|MI6]], the United States' [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], and Spain as tacit supporters of the coup attempt.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20040829/ai_n12590798/?tag=content;col1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514042718/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20040829/ai_n12590798/?tag=content%3Bcol1|archive-date=14 May 2011|title=The US knew, Spain knew, Britain knew. Whose coup was it?|newspaper=Sunday Herald|date=29 August 2004|first=Neil|last=MacKay}}</ref> Nevertheless, the [[Amnesty International]] report released in June 2005 on the ensuing trial of those allegedly involved highlighted the prosecution's failure to produce conclusive evidence that a coup attempt had actually taken place.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR240052005?open&of=ENG-GNQ|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060212211811/http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR240052005?open&of=ENG-GNQ|archive-date=12 February 2006|title=Equatorial Guinea, A trial with too many flaws|publisher=Amnesty International|date=7 June 2005}}</ref> Simon Mann was released from prison on 3 November 2009 for humanitarian reasons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.republicofequatorialguinea.net/news/?newsID=730|title=Presidential Decree|publisher=Republicofequatorialguinea.net|access-date=3 May 2010|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100426172517/http://www.republicofequatorialguinea.net/News/?NewsID=730|archive-date=26 April 2010}}</ref>

Since 2005, [[Military Professional Resources Inc.]], a US-based international [[private military company]], has worked in Equatorial Guinea to train police forces in appropriate human rights practices. In 2006, [[United States Secretary of State|US Secretary of State]] [[Condoleezza Rice]] hailed Obiang as a "good friend" despite repeated criticism of his human rights and civil liberties record. The [[US Agency for International Development]] entered into a [[memorandum of understanding]] (MOU) with Obiang in April 2006 to establish a social development fund in the country, implementing projects in the areas of health, education, women's affairs and the environment.<ref>{{cite web|author=Heather Layman, LPA|url=http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2006/pr060411_2.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605153348/http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2006/pr060411_2.html|archive-date=5 June 2011|title=USAID and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea Agree to Unique Partnership for Development|publisher=[[USAID]]|date=11 April 2006|access-date=3 May 2010}}</ref>

In 2006, Obiang signed an anti-torture decree banning all forms of abuse and improper treatment in Equatorial Guinea, and commissioned the renovation and modernization of Black Beach prison in 2007 to ensure the humane treatment of prisoners.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090802044807/http://www.mpri.com/esite/index.php/content/services/organizational_reform_amp_institutional_capacity_building/ Organizational Reform & Institutional Capacity-Building]. MPRI. Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref> However, human rights abuses have continued. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International among other non-governmental organizations have documented severe human rights abuses in prisons, including torture, beatings, unexplained deaths and illegal detention.<ref>[https://www.amnesty.org/en/region/equatorial-guinea/report-2009 Equatorial Guinea | Amnesty International]. Amnesty.org. Retrieved on 5 May 2013. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101024443/http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/equatorial-guinea/report-2009 |date=1 November 2014 }}</ref><ref>[https://www.hrw.org/en/world-report-2009/equatorial-guinea Equatorial Guinea | Human Rights Watch] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028011820/http://www.hrw.org/en/world-report-2009/equatorial-guinea |date=28 October 2014 }}. Hrw.org. Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref> Obiang was re-elected to serve an additional term in 2009 in [[Equatorial Guinean presidential election, 2009|an election]] the [[African Union]] deemed "in line with electoral law".<ref>{{cite web|author=Factoria Audiovisual S.R.L.|url=http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=259|title=Declaración de la Unión Africana, sobre la supervisión de los comicios electorales – Página Oficial de la Oficina de Información y Prensa de Guinea Ecuatorial|publisher=Guineaecuatorialpress.com|access-date=3 May 2010|archive-date=15 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515072505/http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=259|url-status=live}}</ref> Obiang re-appointed Prime Minister Ignacio Milam Tang in 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://af.reuters.com/article/equatorialGuineaNews/idAFLDE60B26H20100112|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323123726/http://af.reuters.com/article/equatorialGuineaNews/idAFLDE60B26H20100112|archive-date=23 March 2010|title=UPDATE 1-Tang renamed as Equatorial Guinea PM {{pipe}} News by Country|publisher=Af.reuters.com|date=12 January 2010|access-date=3 May 2010}}</ref>[[File:Teodoro Obiang detail, 1650FRP051.jpg|thumb|upright|According to the BBC, President [[Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo|Obiang Nguema]] "has been described by rights organisations as one of Africa's most brutal dictators."<ref>"[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13317174 Equatorial Guinea country profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140921201513/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13317174 |date=21 September 2014 }}". BBC News. 8 May 2018.</ref>]]

In November 2011, a new constitution was approved. The vote on the constitution was taken, though neither the text nor its content was revealed to the public before the vote. Under the new constitution, the president was limited to a maximum of two seven-year terms and would be both the head of state and head of the government, therefore eliminating the prime minister. The new constitution also introduced the figure of a vice president and called for the creation of a 70-member senate with 55 senators elected by the people and the 15 remaining designated by the president. In the following cabinet reshuffle, it was announced that there would be two vice-presidents in clear violation of the constitution that was just taking effect.<ref>[http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=2668&lang=en Ignacio Milam Tang, new Vice President of the Nation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225150053/http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=2668&lang=en |date=25 February 2021 }}. guineaecuatorialpress.com. 22 May 2012.</ref>

In October 2012, during an interview with [[Christiane Amanpour]] on [[CNN]], Obiang was asked whether he would step down at the end of the current term (2009–2016) since the new constitution limited the number of terms to two and he has been reelected at least 4 times. Obiang answered he refused to step aside because the new constitution was not retroactive and the two-term limit would only become applicable from 2016.<ref>[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1210/05/ampr.01.html Interview with President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601125433/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1210/05/ampr.01.html |date=1 June 2013 }}. CNN. 5 October 2012.</ref>

The [[2013 Equatorial Guinean parliamentary election|elections on 26 May 2013]] combined the senate, lower house and mayoral contests in a single package. Like all previous elections, this was denounced by the opposition, and it too was won by Obiang's PDGE. During the electoral contest, the ruling party hosted internal elections, which were later scrapped. Clara Nsegue Eyi and Natalia Angue Edjodjomo, coordinators of the Movimiento de Protesta Popular (People's Protest Movement), were arrested. They were detained on 13 May. They called for a peaceful protest at the Plaza de la Mujer square on 15 May. Coordinator Enrique Nsolo Nzo was also arrested and taken to Malabo Central Police Station. Nsolo Nzo was released later that day without charge.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 May 2013 |title=Equatorial Guinea targets opposition ahead of elections |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2013/05/equatorial-guinea-targets-opposition-ahead-elections/ |access-date=11 October 2024 |website=Amnesty International |language=en}}</ref>

Shortly after the elections, opposition party Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS) announced that they were going to protest peacefully against the 26 May elections on 25 June.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cpds-gq.org/attachments/article/269/Comunicado_convocatoria_manifestacion.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221031810/http://www.cpds-gq.org/attachments/article/269/Comunicado_convocatoria_manifestacion.pdf |archive-date=21 February 2014|title=Convocatorial de Manifestacion, 25 de Junio 2013|work=cpds-gq.org}}</ref> Interior minister Clemente Engonga refused to authorise the protest on the grounds that it could "destabilize" the country and CPDS decided to go forward, claiming constitutional right. On the night of 24 June, the CPDS headquarters in Malabo were surrounded by heavily armed police officers to keep those inside from leaving and thus effectively blocking the protest. Several leading members of CPDS were detained in Malabo and others in Bata were kept from boarding several local flights to Malabo.<ref>{{cite web |title=Opposition protest dispersed by security forces |url=https://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?articleid=1690653953&Country=Equatorial+Guinea&topic=Politics&subtopic=Forecast&subsubtopic=Political+stability |website=country.eiu.com |publisher=Economist Intelligence Unit |access-date=8 December 2022 |date=26 June 2013 |archive-date=8 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208221526/https://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?articleid=1690653953&Country=Equatorial+Guinea&topic=Politics&subtopic=Forecast&subsubtopic=Political+stability |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Владимир Путин с Президентом Экваториальной Гвинеи.jpg|thumb|Obiang with Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] on 26 September 2024]]
In 2016, Obiang [[2016 Equatorial Guinean presidential election|was reelected]] for an additional seven-year term in an election that, according to [[Freedom House]], was plagued by police violence, detentions and torture against opposition factions.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://freedomhouse.org/country/equatorial-guinea/freedom-world/2021|title=Equatorial Guinea:Freedom in the World 2022|author=[[Freedom House]]|newspaper=Freedom House|access-date=2 April 2022|archive-date=5 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405033416/https://freedomhouse.org/country/equatorial-guinea/freedom-world/2021|url-status=live}}</ref>

Following the [[2022 Equatorial Guinean general election|2022 general elections]], President Obiang's [[Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea]] holds all of the 100 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and all of those in the Senate. The opposition is almost non-existent in the country and is organized from Spain mainly within the social-democratic Convergence for Social Democracy. Most of the media are under state control; the private television channels, those of the Asonga group, belong to the president's family.<ref name="mondediplo.com">{{Cite web|url = https://mondediplo.com/2021/11/11equatorialguinea|title = Equatorial Guinea, one dictatorship to the next|date = November 2021|access-date = 24 November 2021|archive-date = 24 November 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211124023142/https://mondediplo.com/2021/11/11equatorialguinea|url-status = live}}</ref>

In their 2024 publishing, [[Transparency International]] awarded Equatorial Guinea a total score of 13 on their [[Corruption Perceptions Index]] (CPI). CPI ranks countries by their perceived level of public corruption where zero is very corrupt and 100 is extremely clean. Equatorial Guinea was ranked 173rd out of a total of 180 countries.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Corruption Perception Index (2024) |url=https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024/index/gnq |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925190234/https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2020/index/gnq |archive-date=25 September 2021 |access-date=21 April 2025 |website=Transparency International}}</ref> Freedom House, a pro-democracy and human rights NGO, described Obiang as one of the world's "most [[Kleptocracy|kleptocratic]] living [[Autocracy|autocrats]]", and complained about the US government welcoming his administration and buying oil from it.<ref>{{cite web |date=13 June 2012 |title=Equatorial Guinea: Ignorance worth fistfuls of dollars. |url=https://freedomhouse.org/blog/equatorial-guinea-ignorance-worth-fistfuls-dollars |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623093439/https://freedomhouse.org/blog/equatorial-guinea-ignorance-worth-fistfuls-dollars |archive-date=23 June 2012 |access-date=19 January 2017 |work=Freedom House}}</ref> According to 2023 [[V-Dem Democracy indices]], Equatorial Guinea is the 7th least [[democracy in Africa|democratic country in Africa]].<ref name="vdem_dataset">{{cite web |last=V-Dem Institute |date=2023 |title=The V-Dem Dataset |url=https://www.v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208183458/https://www.v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/ |archive-date=8 December 2022 |access-date=14 October 2023}}</ref>

=== Armed forces ===
[[File:Antonov An-72P, Equatorial Guinea - Air Force AN1593110.jpg|thumb|An [[Antonov An-72]]P of the [[Armed Forces of Equatorial Guinea]] on lift off]]
The [[Armed Forces of Equatorial Guinea]] consists of approximately 2,500 service members.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Equatorial Guinea (01/02) |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/equatorialguinea/26446.htm |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=U.S. Department of State |archive-date=25 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220425103344/https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/equatorialguinea/26446.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The army has almost 1,400 soldiers, the police 400 paramilitary men, the navy 200 service members, and the air force about 120 members. There is also a [[gendarmerie]], but the number of members is unknown.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Equatorial Guinea (06/08) |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/equatorialguinea/106170.htm |access-date=11 October 2024 |website=U.S. Department of State |archive-date=1 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201022235/https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/equatorialguinea/106170.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to the 2024 [[Global Peace Index]], Equatorial Guinea is the 94th most peaceful country in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2024 Global Peace Index |url=https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GPI-2024-web.pdf |access-date=18 August 2024 |archive-date=19 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819091540/https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GPI-2024-web.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Geography ==
{{Main|Geography of Equatorial Guinea}}
Equatorial Guinea is on the west coast of [[Central Africa]]. The country consists of a mainland territory, [[Río Muni]], which is bordered by Cameroon to the north and Gabon to the east and south, and five small islands, [[Bioko]], [[Corisco]], [[Annobón]], [[Elobey Chico]] (Small Elobey), and [[Elobey Grande]] (Great Elobey). Bioko, the site of the capital, [[Malabo]], lies about {{convert|40|km|sp=us}} off the coast of Cameroon. Annobón Island is about {{convert|350|km|sp=us}} west-south-west of [[Cape Lopez]] in Gabon. Corisco and the two Elobey islands are in Corisco Bay, on the border of Río Muni and Gabon.

Equatorial Guinea lies between latitudes [[4th parallel north|4°N]] and [[2nd parallel south|2°S]], and longitudes [[5th meridian east|5°]] and [[12th meridian east|12°E]]. Despite its name, no part of the country's territory lies on the equator—it is in the northern hemisphere, except for the insular [[Annobón Province]], which is about {{convert|155|km|abbr=on}} south of the equator.

=== Climate ===
{{Unreferencedsect|date=March 2025}}
[[File:Koppen-Geiger Map GNQ present.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Köppen climate classification]] of Equatorial Guinea]]

Equatorial Guinea has a tropical climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. From June to August, Río Muni is dry and Bioko wet; from December to February, the reverse occurs. In between it, there is a gradual transition. Rain or mist occurs daily on Annobón, where a cloudless day has never been registered. The temperature at Malabo, Bioko, ranges from {{convert|16|C}} to {{convert|33|C}}, though on the southern Moka Plateau, normal high temperatures are only {{convert|21|C}}. In Río Muni, the average temperature is about {{convert|27|C}}. Annual [[rainfall]] varies from {{convert|1930|mm|abbr=on}} at Malabo to {{convert|10920|mm|abbr=on}} at [[San Antonio de Ureca|Ureka]], Bioko, but Río Muni is somewhat drier.

=== Ecology ===
[[File:Share_Of_Forest_Area_In_Total_Land_Area,_Top_Countries_(2021).svg|thumb|Share of forest area in total land area, top countries (2021). Equatorial Guinea has the seventh highest percentage of forest cover in the world.]]
Equatorial Guinea spans several [[ecoregion]]s. Río Muni region lies within the [[Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests]] ecoregion except for patches of [[Central African mangroves]] on the coast, especially in the [[Muni River]] estuary. The [[Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests]] ecoregion covers most of Bioko and the adjacent portions of [[Cameroon]] and [[Nigeria]] on the African mainland, and the [[Mount Cameroon and Bioko montane forests]] ecoregion covers the highlands of Bioko and nearby [[Mount Cameroon]]. The [[São Tomé, Príncipe, and Annobón moist lowland forests]] ecoregion covers all of Annobón, as well as São Tomé and Príncipe.<ref name="DinersteinOlson2017">{{cite journal|last1=Dinerstein|first1=Eric|author-link1=:de:Eric Dinerstein|last2=Olson|first2=David|last3=Joshi|first3=Anup|last4=Vynne|first4=Carly|last5=Burgess|first5=Neil D.|last6=Wikramanayake|first6=Eric|author-link6=Eric Wikramanayake|last7=Hahn|first7=Nathan|last8=Palminteri|first8=Suzanne|last9=Hedao|first9=Prashant|last10=Noss|first10=Reed|last11=Hansen|author-link10=Reed Noss|first11=Matt|last12=Locke|first12=Harvey|author-link12=Harvey Locke|last13=Ellis|first13=Erle C.|author-link13=Erle Ellis|last14=Jones|first14=Benjamin|last15=Barber|first15=Charles Victor|last16=Hayes|first16=Randy|last17=Kormos|first17=Cyril|last18=Martin|first18=Vance|author-link18=Vance Martin|last19=Crist|first19=Eileen|last20=Secrest|first20=Wes|last21=Price|first21=Lori|last22=Baillie|first22=Jonathan E. M.|last23=Weeden|first23=Don|last24=Suckling|first24=Kierán|author-link24=Kieran Suckling|last25=Davis|first25=Crystal|last26=Sizer|first26=Nigel|last27=Moore|first27=Rebecca|last28=Thau|first28=David|last29=Birch|first29=Tanya|last30=Potapov|first30=Peter|last31=Turubanova|first31=Svetlana|last32=Tyukavina|first32=Alexandra|last33=de Souza|first33=Nadia|last34=Pintea|first34=Lilian|last35=Brito|first35=José C.|last36=Llewellyn|first36=Othman A.|last37=Miller|first37=Anthony G.|last38=Patzelt|first38=Annette|last39=Ghazanfar|first39=Shahina A.|author-link39=Shahina A. Ghazanfar|last40=Timberlate|first40=Jonathan|last41=Klöser|first41=Heinz|last42=Shennan-Farpón|first42=Yara|last43=Kindt|first43=Roeland|last44=Lillesø|first44=Jens-Peter Barnekow|last45=van Breugel|first45=Paulo|last46=Graudal|first46=Lars|last47=Voge|first47=Maianna|last48=Al-Shammari|first48=Khalaf F.|last49=Saleem|first49=Muhammad|display-authors=3|date=5 April 2017|title=An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm|journal=[[BioScience]]|volume=67|issue=6|pages=534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b|doi=10.1093/biosci/bix014|doi-access=free|pmc=5451287|pmid=28608869|issn=0006-3568}}</ref>

The country had a 2018 [[Forest Landscape Integrity Index]] mean score of 7.99/10, ranking it 30th globally out of 172 countries.<ref name="FLII-Supplementary">{{cite journal|last1=Grantham|first1=H. S.|last2=Duncan|first2=A.|last3=Evans|first3=T. D.|last4=Jones|first4=K. R.|last5=Beyer|first5=H. L.|last6=Schuster|first6=R.|last7=Walston|first7=J.|last8=Ray|first8=J. C.|last9=Robinson|first9=J. G.|last10=Callow|first10=M.|last11=Clements|first11=T.|last12=Costa|first12=H. M.|last13=DeGemmis|first13=A.|last14=Elsen|first14=P. R.|last15=Ervin|first15=J.|last16=Franco|first16=P.|last17=Goldman|first17=E.|last18=Goetz|first18=S.|last19=Hansen|first19=A.|last20=Hofsvang|first20=E.|last21=Jantz|first21=P.|last22=Jupiter|first22=S.|last23=Kang|first23=A.|last24=Langhammer|first24=P.|last25=Laurance|first25=W. F.|last26=Lieberman|first26=S.|last27=Linkie|first27=M.|last28=Malhi|first28=Y.|last29=Maxwell|first29=S.|last30=Mendez|first30=M.|last31=Mittermeier|first31=R.|last32=Murray|first32=N. J.|last33=Possingham|first33=H.|last34=Radachowsky|first34=J.|last35=Saatchi|first35=S.|last36=Samper|first36=C.|last37=Silverman|first37=J.|last38=Shapiro|first38=A.|last39=Strassburg|first39=B.|last40=Stevens|first40=T.|last41=Stokes|first41=E.|last42=Taylor|first42=R.|last43=Tear|first43=T.|last44=Tizard|first44=R.|last45=Venter|first45=O.|last46=Visconti|first46=P.|last47=Wang|first47=S.|last48=Watson|first48=J. E. M.|title=Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity – Supplementary Material|journal=Nature Communications|volume=11|issue=1|year=2020|page=5978|issn=2041-1723|doi=10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3|pmid=33293507|pmc=7723057|bibcode=2020NatCo..11.5978G }}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Ecology of Equatorial Guinea">
File:Annobon Island Equatorial Guinea.jpg|[[Annobon]]
File:Islotes Horacio 1.JPG|[[Islote Horacio]]
File:Dschungel bei Oyala.JPG|Near [[Ciudad de la Paz]]
File:Nationalpark Monte Alén.jpg|[[Monte Alén National Park]]
File:The Great Bioko mountain.jpg|[[Pico Basilé]]
</gallery>

==== Wildlife ====
{{Main|Wildlife of Equatorial Guinea}}
Equatorial Guinea is home to [[gorilla]]s, [[chimpanzee]]s, various monkeys, [[leopard]]s, [[African Buffalo|buffalo]], [[antelope]], [[elephant]]s, [[hippopotamus]]es, [[crocodile]]s, and various [[snake]]s, including [[Pythonidae|pythons]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Equatorial-Guinea|title=Equatorial Guinea – Plant and animal life|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=29 November 2023|access-date=1 August 2020|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126031136/https://www.britannica.com/place/Equatorial-Guinea|url-status=live}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Wildlife of Equatorial Guinea">
File:Dissotis sp Bioko201310.jpg|[[Dissotis]]
File:Soja en Mongomo.png|[[Soybean]]
File:Rhampholeon spectrum 63850438.jpg|[[Spectral pygmy chameleon]]
File:Yellow-billed Turacos in Equatorial Guinea 2006.jpg|[[Yellow-billed turaco]]
File:Gorilla 019.jpg|[[Western gorilla]]
</gallery>

=== Administrative divisions ===
{{Main|Subdivisions of Equatorial Guinea}}
{{Provinces of Equatorial Guinea Image Map}}

Equatorial Guinea is divided into eight [[Provinces of Equatorial Guinea|provinces]].<ref name=statoids>{{cite web |last=Law |first=Gwillim |url=http://www.statoids.com/ugq.html |title=Provinces of Equatorial Guinea |website=Statoids |date=22 March 2016 |access-date=25 September 2017 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010185255/http://www.statoids.com/ugq.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pdge-guineaecuatorial.com/gobierno-inicia-actividades-djibloho/ |title=El Gobierno inicia sus actividades en Djibloho |language=es |publisher=[[PDGE]] |date=7 February 2017 |access-date=25 September 2017 |archive-date=26 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926102956/http://www.pdge-guineaecuatorial.com/gobierno-inicia-actividades-djibloho/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The newest province is [[Djibloho]], created in 2017 with its headquarters at [[Ciudad de la Paz]], the country's future capital.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=9945 |title=La Presidencia de la República sanciona dos nuevas leyes |language=es |date=23 June 2017 |publisher=Equatorial Guinea Press and Information Office |access-date=25 September 2017 |archive-date=25 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170625100844/http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=9945 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38911573 |title=Equatorial Guinea government moves to new city in rainforest |date=8 February 2017 |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=25 September 2017 |archive-date=28 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170928104720/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38911573 |url-status=live }}</ref> The eight provinces are as follows (numbers correspond to those on the map; provincial capitals appear in parentheses):<ref name=statoids />

# [[Annobón]] ([[San Antonio de Palé]])
# [[Bioko Norte]] ([[Malabo]])
# [[Bioko Sur]] ([[Luba, Equatorial Guinea|Luba]])
# [[Centro Sur]] ([[Evinayong]])
# [[Djibloho]] ([[Ciudad de la Paz]])
# [[Kié-Ntem]] ([[Ebebiyín]])
# [[Litoral (Equatorial Guinea)|Litoral]] ([[Bata, Equatorial Guinea|Bata]])
# [[Wele-Nzas]] ([[Mongomo]])

The provinces are further divided into 19 districts and 37 [[Municipalities of Equatorial Guinea|municipalities]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Law |first=Gwillim |url=http://www.statoids.com/ygq.html |title=Districts of Equatorial Guinea |website=Statoids |date=22 April 2016 |access-date=25 September 2017 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010185256/http://www.statoids.com/ygq.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Economy ==
{{Main|Economy of Equatorial Guinea}}

Before the nation's independence from Spain, Equatorial Guinea exported [[cocoa bean|cocoa]], coffee and timber, mostly to its colonial ruler, Spain, but also to Germany and the UK. On 1 January 1985, the country became the first non-[[wikt:Francophone|Francophone]] African member of the [[franc zone]], adopting the [[CFA franc]] as its currency. The national currency, the [[ekwele]], had previously been linked to the [[Spanish peseta]].<ref name="web.archive.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.equatorialguinea.org/information1387/information.htm|title=Equatorial Guinea|publisher=equatorialguinea.org|access-date=3 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991003081314/http://www.equatorialguinea.org/information1387/information.htm|archive-date=3 October 1999}}</ref>
[[File:Gepetrol HQ Malabo 2013.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Gepetrol Tower in Malabo, 2013]]
The discovery of large [[oil reserves]] in 1996 and its subsequent exploitation contributed to a dramatic increase in government revenue. {{As of|2004}},<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1101-2004Sep6.html|title=U.S. Oil Firms Entwined in Equatorial Guinea Deals|newspaper=[[Washington Post]]|author=Justin Blum|date=7 September 2004|access-date=9 July 2008|archive-date=25 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125204645/https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?next_url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1101-2004Sep6.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Equatorial Guinea is the third-largest [[List of countries by oil production|oil producer]] in [[Sub-Saharan Africa]]. Its oil production has risen to {{convert|360000|oilbbl/d}}, up from 220,000 only two years earlier. Oil companies operating in Equatorial Guinea include [[ExxonMobil]], [[Marathon Oil]], [[Kosmos Energy]] and [[Chevron Corporation|Chevron]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Equatorial Guinea grants two year extensions on oil & gas exploration |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-equatorialguinea-idUSKBN22G1XG |work=[[Reuters]] |date=4 May 2020 |access-date=22 January 2022 |archive-date=22 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122143326/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-equatorialguinea-idUSKBN22G1XG |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Chevron, Equatorial Guinea sign production-sharing agreement for offshore block |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chevron-equatorial-guinea-sign-production-sharing-agreement-offshore-oil-block-2021-12-09/ |work=Reuters |date=10 December 2021 |access-date=22 January 2022 |archive-date=22 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122143324/https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chevron-equatorial-guinea-sign-production-sharing-agreement-offshore-oil-block-2021-12-09/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In July 2004, the [[United States Senate]] published an investigation into [[Riggs Bank]], a [[Washington, D.C.]]-based bank into which most of Equatorial Guinea's oil revenues were paid until recently, and which also banked for [[Chile]]'s [[Augusto Pinochet]]. The Senate report showed at least $35 million siphoned off by Obiang, his family and regime senior officials. The president has denied any wrongdoing. Riggs Bank in February 2005 paid $9 million in restitution for Pinochet's banking, no restitution was made with regard to Equatorial Guinea.<ref>{{cite web |title=Inner City Press / Finance Watch: "Follow the Money, Watchdog the Regulators" |url=http://www.innercitypress.org/finwatch.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511083001/http://www.innercitypress.org/finwatch.html |archive-date=11 May 2011 |access-date=3 May 2010 |publisher=[[Inner City Press]]}}</ref>

Forestry, farming, and fishing are also major components of the country's [[gross domestic product]] (GDP). Subsistence farming predominates. Agriculture is the country's main source of employment, providing income for 57% of rural households and employment for 52% of the workforce.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Overview|url=https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/guinea/overview|access-date=16 October 2021|website=[[World Bank]]|language=en|archive-date=16 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016021820/https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/guinea/overview|url-status=live}}</ref> From 2000 to 2010, Equatorial Guinea had the highest average annual increase in GDP, 17%.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Glenday |first=Craig |url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/123 |title=Guinness Book of Records 2014 |publisher=Guinness World Records Limited |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-908843-15-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/123]}}</ref>

Equatorial Guinea is a member of the [[Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa]] (OHADA).<ref name="ohada.com">{{cite web|title=OHADA.com: The business law portal in Africa|url=http://www.ohada.com/index.php|access-date=22 March 2009|archive-date=26 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326033744/http://www.ohada.com/index.php|url-status=live}}</ref> Equatorial Guinea is also a member of the [[Central African Monetary and Economic Union]] (CEMAC), a subregion that comprises more than 50 million people.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Equatorial Guinea|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-investment-climate-statements/equatorial-guinea/|access-date=16 October 2021|website=[[United States Department of State]]|language=en-US|archive-date=18 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210618024722/https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-investment-climate-statements/equatorial-guinea/|url-status=live}}</ref> Equatorial Guinea tried to be validated as an [[Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative]] (EITI)-compliant country. The country obtained candidate status on 22 February 2008; when Equatorial Guinea applied to extend the deadline for completing EITI's validation, the EITI Board did not agree to the extension.<ref>[http://www.eitransparency.org/EquatorialGuinea Equatorial Guinea | EITI] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513205556/http://www.eitransparency.org/EquatorialGuinea |date=13 May 2010 }}. Eitransparency.org (27 September 2007). Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref>

[[File:Torre de la Libertad.jpg|thumb|[[Torre de La Libertad]] ("Freedom Tower")]]
According to the [[World Bank]], Equatorial Guinea has the highest [[gross national income]] (GNI) per capita of any African country, 83 times larger than the GNI per capita of [[Burundi]], the poorest country.<ref>{{cite web|title=50 Things You Didn't Know About Africa|work=[[World Bank]]|url=http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/polsc325-4.1-50-Things-you-didnt-know-about-Africa.pdf|access-date=7 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725192911/http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/polsc325-4.1-50-Things-you-didnt-know-about-Africa.pdf|archive-date=25 July 2013}}</ref> However, Equatorial Guinea has extreme poverty brought about by [[wealth inequality]].<ref name="CIA 2024 h869">{{cite web | title=The World Factbook: Equatorial Guinea | website=CIA | date=16 April 2024 | url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/equatorial-guinea/ | access-date=23 April 2024 | archive-date=9 January 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109235259/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/equatorial-guinea | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="The New York Times 2011 m648">{{cite news |last=Hicks |first=Tyler | title=A Wealth Gap in Equatorial Guinea | website=The New York Times | date=31 May 2011 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/05/30/world/africa/20110531-GUINEA/s/20110531-GUINEA-slide-BKHR.html | access-date=23 April 2024}}</ref> According to the 2016 United Nations Human Development Report, Equatorial Guinea had a GDP per capita of $21,517, one of the highest levels of wealth in Africa. However, it is one of the most unequal countries in the world according to the [[Gini index]], with 70 per cent of the population living on one dollar a day.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.playgroundmag.net/now/documental-prohibido-guinea-ecuatorial-obiang-franquismo-africa_42978422.html |title=El franquismo resiste en algún lugar de África &#124; PlayGround |access-date=24 November 2021 |archive-date=27 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127091730/https://www.playgroundmag.net/now/documental-prohibido-guinea-ecuatorial-obiang-franquismo-africa_42978422.html }}</ref> The country ranks 145th out of 189 on the [[United Nations Human Development Index]] in 2019.<ref name="mondediplo.com" />

Hydrocarbons account for 97% of the state's exports, and it is a member of the [[African Petroleum Producers' Organization|African Petroleum Producers Organization]]. In 2020, it faces its eighth year of recession, due in part to endemic [[Corruption in Equatorial Guinea|corruption]].<ref name="mondediplo.com" /> The economy of Equatorial Guinea was expected to grow about 2.6% in 2021, a projection that was based on the successful completion of a large gas project and the recovery of the world economy by the second half of the year. But the country is expected to return to recession in 2022, with a real GDP decline of about 4.4%.<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 March 2019 |title=Equatorial Guinea Economic Outlook |url=https://www.afdb.org/en/countries/central-africa/equatorial-guinea/equatorial-guinea-economic-outlook |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016021328/https://www.afdb.org/en/countries/central-africa/equatorial-guinea/equatorial-guinea-economic-outlook |archive-date=16 October 2021 |access-date=16 October 2021 |website=[[African Development Bank]] |language=en}}</ref> In 2022, the country's [[Gini coefficient]] was 58.8.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Guinea |url=https://www.worldeconomics.com/Inequality/Gini-Coefficient/Guinea.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230712052718/https://www.worldeconomics.com/Inequality/Gini-Coefficient/Guinea.aspx |archive-date=12 July 2023 |access-date=12 July 2023 |website=World Economics}}</ref>

== Transportation ==
{{Main|Transport in Equatorial Guinea}}
[[File:Aerial view of Malabo Airport.jpeg|thumb|left|[[Malabo International Airport]] (''Aeropuerto de Malabo'' in Spanish), in [[Punta Europa (Ecuatorial Guinea)|Punta Europa]], island of [[Bioko]]]]
[[File:Malabo a 13-oct-01.jpg|thumb|The port of [[Malabo]]]]

Due to the large oil industry in the country, internationally recognized carriers flew to [[Malabo International Airport]], which, in May 2014, had several direct connections to Europe and [[West Africa]]. There are three airports in Equatorial Guinea—[[Malabo International Airport]], [[Bata Airport]] and [[Annobón Airport]] on the island of [[Annobón]]. Malabo International Airport is the only international airport.

Every airline registered in Equatorial Guinea appears on the list of air carriers prohibited in the [[European Union]] (EU), which means that they are banned from operating services of any kind within the EU.<ref>[http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/doc/list_en.pdf List of banned EU air carriers] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404114740/http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/doc/list_en.pdf |date=4 April 2012 }}. Ec.europa.eu. Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref> However, freight carriers provide service from European cities to the capital.<ref>(source?)</ref>

== Demographics ==
{{Main|Demographics of Equatorial Guinea}}
[[File:Equatorial Guinea population.svg|thumb|left|Timeline of the Equatoguinean population between 1960 and 2017. Population in thousands of inhabitants.]]

{|class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px"
|+Population in Equatorial Guinea{{UN Population|ref}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=UNData app: Ecuatorial Guinea population 2020|url=http://data.un.org/en/iso/gq.html|access-date=23 September 2021|website=UN Data|archive-date=11 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811193236/http://data.un.org/en/iso/gq.html}}</ref>
! Year
! Million
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1950 ||style="text-align:right;"|0.2
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|2000 ||style="text-align:right;"|0.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|2020 ||style="text-align:right;"|1.4
|}

The majority of the people of Equatorial Guinea are of [[Bantu people|Bantu]] origin.<ref>{{cite book|title=Well Oiled: Oil and Human Rights in Equatorial Guinea|first=Alex|last=Vines|page=9|publisher=Human Rights Watch|year=2009|isbn=978-1-56432-516-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CnlkA-QBizAC&pg=PA9|access-date=19 December 2012|archive-date=16 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216172501/https://books.google.com/books?id=CnlkA-QBizAC&pg=PA9|url-status=live}}</ref> The largest ethnic group, the [[Fang people|Fang]], is indigenous to the mainland, but substantial migration to [[Bioko Island]] since the 20th century means the Fang population exceeds that of the earlier [[Bubi people|Bubi]] inhabitants. The Fang constitute 80% of the population<ref>{{cite news|title=Equatorial Guinea's God|access-date=26 May 2011|newspaper=BBC|date=26 July 2003|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3098007.stm|archive-date=28 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728131339/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3098007.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> and comprise around 67 clans. Those in the northern part of [[Río Muni]] speak Fang-Ntumu, while those in the south speak Fang-Okah; the two dialects have differences but are mutually intelligible. Dialects of Fang are also spoken in parts of neighboring Cameroon (Bulu) and Gabon. These dialects, while still intelligible, are more distinct. The Bubi, who constitute 15% of the population, are indigenous to Bioko Island. The traditional demarcation line between Fang and 'Beach' (inland) ethnic groups was the village of [[Niefang]] (limit of the Fang), east of Bata.

Coastal ethnic groups, sometimes referred to as [[Ndowe]] or "Playeros" (''Beach People'' in Spanish): [[Combe people|Combes]], [[Bujeba people|Bujebas]], [[Balengue people|Balengues]], and [[Benga people|Bengas]] on the mainland and small islands, and [[Fernandinos]], a [[Sierra Leone Krio people|Krio]] community on Bioko Island together comprise 5% of the population. Europeans (largely of Spanish or [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] descent, some with partial African ancestry) also live in the country, but most ethnic Spaniards left after independence.{{cn|date=June 2025}}

[[File:Bubi children from Equatorial Guinea.jpg|thumb|Equatorial Guinean children of [[Bubi people|Bubi]] descent]]

A growing number of foreigners from neighboring [[Cameroon]], Nigeria, and [[Gabon]] have immigrated to the country. According to the ''Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations'' (2002) 7% of Bioko islanders were [[Igbo people|Igbo]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C|first=James|last=Minahan|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2002|isbn=0-313-32109-4|page=330}}</ref> Equatorial Guinea received [[Asians]] and native Africans from other countries as workers on cocoa and coffee plantations. Other black Africans came from [[Liberia]], Angola, and [[Mozambique]]. Most of the Asian population is [[Overseas Chinese|Chinese]], with small numbers of [[Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin|Indians]].

=== Languages ===
{{Main|Equatoguinean Spanish|Academia Ecuatoguineana de la Lengua Española}}
[[File:Malabo (16511251451).jpg|thumb|left|Floral inscription with the name of the country in Spanish in [[Malabo]]]]

Since its independence in 1968, the main official language of Equatorial Guinea has been Spanish (the local variant is [[Equatoguinean Spanish]]), which acts as a lingua franca among its different ethnic groups. In 1970, during Macías' rule, Spanish was replaced by [[Fang language|Fang]], the language of its [[Fang people|majority ethnic group]], to which Macías belonged. That decision was reverted in 1979 after Macías' fall. Spanish remained as its lone official language until 1998, when French was added as its second one, as it had previously joined the [[Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa]] (CEMAC), whose founding members are French-speaking nations, two of them (Cameroon and Gabon) surrounding its continental region.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_09/gil_otero/p05.htm|title=5. Guinea Ecuatorial – Centro Virtual Cervantes|language=es|access-date=25 January 2022|archive-date=26 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126002920/https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_09/gil_otero/p05.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=CIA /> Portuguese was adopted as its third official language in 2010.<ref name="CPLP">{{cite web|url=http://www.cplp.org/id-258.aspx|title=Guiné Equatorial|publisher=CPLP|access-date=28 November 2014|language=pt|archive-date=27 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141127113041/http://www.cplp.org/id-258.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="sol">{{cite web|url=http://www.sol.pt/noticia/99354|title=Formação de professores e programas televisivos introduzem português na Guiné-Equatorial|language=pt|trans-title=Teacher formation and television programs introduce Portuguese in Equatorial Guinea|publisher=Sol|date=5 February 2014|access-date=27 November 2014|archive-date=1 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101000230/http://www.sol.pt/noticia/99354|url-status=live}}</ref> Spanish has been an official language since 1844. It is still the language of education and administration. 67.6% of Equatorial Guineans can speak it, especially those living in the capital, [[Malabo]].<ref name=obi>{{cite web |url=http://actualidad.terra.es/internacional/articulo/obiang_comunidad_naciones_1710388.htm |title=Obiang convierte al portugués en tercer idioma oficial para entrar en la Comunidad lusófona de Naciones |work=Terra |date=13 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216191116/http://actualidad.terra.es/internacional/articulo/obiang_comunidad_naciones_1710388.htm |archive-date=16 February 2008 |lang=es}}</ref> Spanish is spoken as a native language by a small minority usually in larger cities.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Victor |last=Kiprop |date=2018-09-24 |title=What Languages Are Spoken In Equatorial Guinea? |url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-languages-are-spoken-in-equatorial-guinea.html |access-date=2025-09-21 |website=WorldAtlas |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gomashie |first=Grace A. |title=Language Vitality of Spanish in Equatorial Guinea: Language Use and Attitudes |url=https://www.cervantes.es/imagenes/file/biblioteca/situacion_espanol/guinea_ecuatorial_humanities.pdf |journal=Humanities |year=2019 |volume=8 |issue=1 |page=33 |doi=10.3390/h8010033 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

French was only made official in order to join the [[Organisation internationale de la Francophonie|Francophonie]], and it is not locally spoken, except in some border towns; and Portuguese was only made official in order to join the [[Community of Portuguese Language Countries]], so it too is not locally spoken, although the Annobonese and local Catholics have links to the language.

Aboriginal languages are recognised as integral parts of the "national culture" (Constitutional Law No. 1/1998, 21 January). Indigenous languages (some of them [[Creole language|creoles]]) include [[Fang language|Fang]], [[Bube language|Bube]], [[Benga language|Benga]], [[Combe language|Ndowe]], [[Balengue language|Balengue]], [[Bujeba language|Bujeba]], Bissio, Gumu, [[Igbo language|Igbo]], [[Pichinglis]], [[Annobonese language|Fa d'Ambô]] and the nearly extinct [[Baseke language|Baseke]]. Most African ethnic groups speak [[Bantu languages]].<ref name="GEpress_noticia134en">[http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=134&lang=en Oficina de Información y Prensa de Guinea Ecuatorial, Ministerio de Información, Cultura y Turismo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109193517/http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=134&lang=en |date=9 January 2014 }}. Guineaecuatorialpress.com. Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref>

[[File:Lenguas de Guinea Ecuatorial.png|thumb|African languages of Equatorial Guinea and its environment]]

[[Annobonese language|Fa d'Ambô]], a Portuguese creole, is in use in [[Annobón Province]], in Malabo, and on Equatorial Guinea's mainland. Many residents of Bioko can also speak Spanish, particularly in the capital, and the local trade language, [[Pichinglis]], an English-based creole. Spanish is not spoken much in Annobón. In government and education, Spanish is used. Noncreolized Portuguese is used as a liturgical language by local Catholics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/language/fab|title=Fa d'Ambu|work=Ethnologue (Free All) |publisher=Ethnologue|access-date=15 November 2010|archive-date=7 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407195306/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/fab|url-status=live}}</ref> The Annobonese ethnic community tried to gain membership in the [[Community of Portuguese Language Countries]] (CPLP). The government financed an [[International Portuguese Language Institute|Instituto Internacional da Língua Portuguesa]] (IILP) sociolinguistic study in Annobón. It documented strong links with the Portuguese creole populations in São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau.<ref name="sol" />

Due to historical and cultural ties, in 2010, the legislature amended Article 4 of the [[Constitution of Equatorial Guinea]] to establish Portuguese as an official language of the Republic. This was an effort by the government to improve its communications, trade, and bilateral relations with Portuguese-speaking countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/equatorial-guinea-adds-portuguese-as-the-countrys-third-official-language-131882808.html|title=Equatorial Guinea Adds Portuguese as the Country's Third Official Language|publisher=PRNewsWire|date=14 October 2011|access-date=15 November 2010|archive-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612163747/https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/equatorial-guinea-adds-portuguese-as-the-countrys-third-official-language-131882808.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="GuineEqGov">{{cite web|url=http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=703l|title=El portugués será el tercer idioma oficial de la República de Guinea Ecuatorial|publisher=Gobierno de la Republica de Guinea Ecuatoria|access-date=15 November 2010|language=es|archive-date=3 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903222205/http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=703l}}</ref><ref name="GuineEqGovPDF">{{cite web|url=http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/imgdb/2010/20-7-2010Decretosobreelportuguescomoidiomaoficial.pdf|title=Proyecto de Ley Constitucional|publisher=Gobierno de la Republica de Guinea Ecuatorial|date=14 October 2011|access-date=15 November 2010|archive-date=3 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103202646/http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/imgdb/2010/20-7-2010Decretosobreelportuguescomoidiomaoficial.pdf}}</ref> It also recognises long historical ties with Portugal and with Portuguese-speaking peoples of Brazil, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Cape Verde.

Some of the motivations for Equatorial Guinea's pursuit of membership in the [[Community of Portuguese Language Countries]] (CPLP) included access to several professional and academic exchange programmes and facilitated cross-border circulation of citizens.<ref name=obi /> The adoption of Portuguese as an official language was the primary requirement to apply for CPLP acceptance. In addition, the country was told it must adopt political reforms allowing effective democracy and respect for human rights.<ref>[http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=703 "Portuguese will be the third official language of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104083320/http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=703 |date=4 November 2011 }}. ''Guinea Ecuatorial Press'', (20 July 2010). Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref> The national parliament discussed this law in October 2011.<ref name="GEpress_noticia1980">{{cite web|url=http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=1980|title=S. E. Obiang Nguema Mbasogo clausura el Segundo Periodo Ordinario de Sesiones del pleno de la Cámara de Representantes del Pueblo|language=es|trans-title=President Obiang closes second session period of parliament|author=María Jesús Nsang Nguema (Prensa Presidencial)|publisher=Oficina de Información y Prensa de Guinea Ecuatorial (D. G. Base Internet)|date=15 October 2011|access-date=27 March 2012|archive-date=7 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107084939/http://guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=1980|url-status=live}}</ref>

In February 2012, Equatorial Guinea's foreign minister signed an agreement with the IILP on the promotion of Portuguese in the country.<ref name="IILP_Blog2012-02-07">{{cite web|url=http://iilp.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/assinado-termo-de-cooperacao-entre-iilp-e-guine-equatorial/|title=Assinado termo de cooperação entre IILP e Guiné Equatorial|language=pt|trans-title=Protocol signed on cooperation between IILP and Guinea Equatorial|publisher=Instituto Internacional de Língua Portuguesa|date=7 February 2012|access-date=27 March 2012|archive-date=22 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222061328/http://iilp.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/assinado-termo-de-cooperacao-entre-iilp-e-guine-equatorial/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="CPLP_News1875">{{cite web|url=http://www.cplp.org/Default.aspx?ID=316&M=News&PID=304&NewsID=1875|title=Protocolo de Cooperação entre a Guiné-Equatorial e o IILP|language=pt|trans-title=Protocol on cooperation between IILP and Guinea Equatorial|publisher=CPLP|date=7 February 2012|access-date=27 March 2012|archive-date=13 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713062429/http://www.cplp.org/Default.aspx?ID=316&M=News&PID=304&NewsID=1875|url-status=live}} This note contains a link to the text of the protocol in PDF format.</ref> In July 2012, the CPLP refused Equatorial Guinea full membership, primarily because of its continued serious violations of human rights. The government responded by legalising political parties, declaring a moratorium on the death penalty, and starting a dialog with all political factions.<ref name="sol" /><ref name="expr">{{cite web|url=https://expresso.sapo.pt/cplp-vai-ajudar-guine-equatorial-a-assimilar-valores=f890337|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141124094752/http://expresso.sapo.pt/cplp-vai-ajudar-guine-equatorial-a-assimilar-valores=f890337|archive-date=24 November 2014|title=CPLP vai ajudar Guiné-Equatorial a "assimilar valores"|language=pt|publisher=Expresso|date=20 September 2014|access-date=24 November 2012}}</ref> Additionally, the IILP secured land from the government for the construction of Portuguese language cultural centres in Bata and Malabo.<ref name="sol" /> At its tenth summit in [[Dili]] in July 2014, Equatorial Guinea was admitted as a CPLP member. Abolition of the death penalty and the promotion of Portuguese as an official language were preconditions of the approval.<ref name="CPLP_NewsID1635">{{cite web|url=http://www.cplp.org/Default.aspx?ID=316&M=News&PID=304&NewsID=1635|title=Nota informativa: Missão da CPLP à Guiné Equatorial|language=pt|publisher=CPLP|date=3 May 2011|access-date=27 March 2012|archive-date=12 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111212105328/http://www.cplp.org/Default.aspx?ID=316&M=News&PID=304&NewsID=1635|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in Equatorial Guinea}}
{{bar box
|title= Religion in Equatorial Guinea
|titlebar=#ddd|left1=Religion |right1=per cent |float=right
|bars=
{{bar percent|[[Roman Catholicism in Equatorial Guinea|Roman Catholic]]|Blue|88}}
{{bar percent|Other (indigenous beliefs / [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼí]])|Gray|5}}
{{bar percent|[[Protestantism|Protestant]]|green|5}}
{{bar percent|[[Islam in Equatorial Guinea|Muslim]]|Green|2}}}}
[[File:Santa Isabel Malabo 20131224 140204.jpg|thumb|upright|Santa Isabel Cathedral in Malabo]]

The principal religion in Equatorial Guinea is [[Christianity]], the faith of 93% of the population. [[Roman Catholicism in Equatorial Guinea|Roman Catholics]] make up the majority (88%), while a minority are Protestants (5%). Of the population, 2% follows [[Islam in Equatorial Guinea|Islam]] (mainly [[Sunni]]). The remaining 5% practise [[Animism]], [[Baháʼí Faith in Equatorial Guinea|Baháʼí]], and other beliefs,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2017&dlid=280736#wrapper|title=International Religious Freedom Report for 2017|access-date=22 May 2019|archive-date=26 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226044051/https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2017&dlid=280736#wrapper}}</ref> and traditional animist beliefs are often mixed with Catholicism.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Matt |first1=Phillips |title=The Africa Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the Continent |last2=Andrew |first2=David |last3=Bainbridge |first3=James |last4=Bewer |first4=Tim |last5=Bindloss |first5=Joe |last6=Carillet |first6=Jean-Bernard |last7=Clammer |first7=Paul |last8=Cornwell |first8=Jane |last9=Crossan |first9=Rob |date=September 2007 |publisher=[[Lonely Planet]] |editor=Matt Phillips |isbn=978-1-74104-602-1 |location=[[Footscray, Victoria|Footscray]], Australia |page=116 |oclc=144596621}}</ref>

=== Health ===
{{Main|Health in Equatorial Guinea}}

Equatorial Guinea's [[malaria]] programs in the early 21st century achieved success in reducing [[malaria]] infection and [[mortality rate|mortality]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Steketee|first1=R. W.|title=Good news in malaria control... Now what?|journal=The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene|volume=80|issue=6|pages=879–880|year=2009|doi=10.4269/ajtmh.2009.80.879|pmid=19478241|doi-access=free}}</ref> Their program consists of twice-yearly indoor residual spraying (IRS), the introduction of [[Antimalarial medication|artemisinin]] combination treatment (ACTs), the use of [[Intermittent preventive therapy|intermittent preventive treatment]] in pregnant women (IPTp), and the introduction of long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets (LLINs). Their efforts resulted in a reduction in all-cause under-five mortality from 152 to 55 deaths per 1,000 live births (down 64%), a drop that coincided with the launch of the program.<ref>[http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/abstract/80/6/882?ijkey=42e57e2ed496ad1cc91ad3c34a8636edd294d458&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha Marked Increase in Child Survival after Four Years of Intensive Malaria Control] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510015151/http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/abstract/80/6/882?ijkey=42e57e2ed496ad1cc91ad3c34a8636edd294d458&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha |date=10 May 2011 }}. Ajtmh.org. Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref>

In June 2014, four cases of [[Poliomyelitis|polio]] were reported, making it the country's first outbreak of that disease.<ref name="EquatorialGuinea">{{cite news|title=Detection of poliovirus in São Paulo airport sewage: WHO|url=http://www.brazilnews.net/index.php/sid/223187509/scat/24437442923341f1/ht/Detection-of-poliovirus-in-Sao-Paulo-airport-sewage-WHO|access-date=23 June 2014|publisher=Brazil News.Net|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140710234957/http://www.brazilnews.net/index.php/sid/223187509/scat/24437442923341f1/ht/Detection-of-poliovirus-in-Sao-Paulo-airport-sewage-WHO|archive-date=10 July 2014}}</ref>

=== Education ===
{{Further|Education in Equatorial Guinea}}
[[File:Ministerio de Educación, Ciencia y Deportes (Malabo) (6510104101).jpg|thumb|Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (''Ministerio de Educación, Ciencia y Deportes'' in Spanish)]]

Among sub-Saharan African countries, Equatorial Guinea has one of the highest literacy rates.<ref name="cia.gov">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/literacy/|title=Literacy – The World Factbook|website=www.cia.gov|access-date=13 April 2022|archive-date=1 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401014237/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/literacy/|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook, {{as of|2015|lc=y}}, 95.3% of the population age 15 and over were able to read and write in the country.<ref name="cia.gov"/> Under [[Francisco Macias]], few children received any type of education. Under President Obiang, the illiteracy rate dropped from 73% to 13%,<ref name=CIA /> and the number of primary school students rose from 65,000 in 1986 to more than 100,000 in 1994. Education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 14.<ref name="web.archive.org" />

The Equatorial Guinea government has partnered with [[Hess Corporation]] and The Academy for Educational Development (AED) to establish a $20 million education program for primary school teachers to teach modern child development techniques.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081120025210/http://www.aed.org/News/Stories/equatorial_guinea_partnership.cfm HESS and AED Partner to Improve Education in Equatorial Guinea]. AED.org</ref> There are now 51 model schools whose active pedagogy will be a national reform.{{update inline|date=December 2018}}

The country has one university, the [[Universidad Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial]] (UNGE), with a campus in Malabo and a Faculty of Medicine located in Bata on the mainland. In 2009 the university produced the first 110 national doctors. The Bata Medical School is supported principally by the government of Cuba and staffed by Cuban medical educators and physicians.<ref>[https://www.voanews.com/a/equatorial-guinea-minister-seeks-strong-ties-with-us-89956902/153987.html Equatorial Guinea Minister Seeks Strong Ties With U.S] . Voanews.com (4 April 2010). Retrieved on 5 May 2013.</ref>

== Culture ==
{{Main|Culture of Equatorial Guinea}}
[[File:Centro Cultural de España en Malabo.jpg|thumb|Centro Cultural de España (Cultural Centre of Spain) in Malabo]]

In June 1984, the First Hispanic-African Cultural Congress was convened to explore the cultural identity of Equatorial Guinea.<ref name="web.archive.org" />

=== Tourism ===
[[File:Sipopo (16517963802).jpg|thumb|left|Hotel in [[Sipopo]]]]

{{as of|2020}}, Equatorial Guinea has no [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]] or tentative sites for the World Heritage List.<ref>[https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/?action=listtentative&pattern=Equatorial+Guinea&state=&theme=&criteria_restrication=&date_start=&date_end=&order= Tentative Lists] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215152047/https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/?action=listtentative&pattern=Equatorial+Guinea&state=&theme=&criteria_restrication=&date_start=&date_end=&order= |date=15 February 2020 }}. unesco.org</ref> The country also has no documented heritage listed in the [[Memory of the World Programme]] of UNESCO nor any intangible cultural heritage listed in the UNESCO [[Intangible Cultural Heritage]] List.<ref>[http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/state/equatorial-guinea-GQ Equatorial Guinea – intangible heritage – Culture Sector] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919211125/http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/state/equatorial-guinea-GQ |date=19 September 2016 }}. UNESCO. Retrieved on 19 January 2017.</ref><ref>[https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/grid Memory of the World | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization]. Unesco.org. Retrieved on 22 April 2025.</ref>

Tourist attractions are the colonial quarter in Malabo, the southern part of Bioko where hikers can visit the Iladyi cascades and remote beaches with nesting turtles, Bata with its shoreline Paseo Maritimo and the tower of liberty, Mongomo with its [[Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Mongomo|basilica]] (the second largest Catholic church in Africa) and the new planned and built capital [[Ciudad de la Paz]].

=== Media and communications ===
{{Main|Media in Equatorial Guinea|Telecommunications in Equatorial Guinea}}
[[File:UNED-GQ IMG 6269 (6510136445).jpg|thumb|right|Edition of the television magazine ''Malabeando'' at the Cultural Centre of Spain in Malabo]]

The principal means of communication within Equatorial Guinea are three state-operated [[FM radio]] stations: the [[BBC World Service]], [[Radio France Internationale]] and Gabon-based Africa No 1 broadcast on FM in Malabo. There is also an independent radio option called Radio Macuto; it is a web-based radio and news source known for publishing news that calls out Obiang's regime. There are also five [[shortwave]] radio stations. [[TVGE|Televisión de Guinea Ecuatorial]], the television network, is state-operated.<ref name=CIA /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13317174#media|title=Country Profile: Equatorial Guinea: Media|publisher=BBC News|date=11 April 2023|access-date=22 April 2025|archive-date=16 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716225956/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13317174#media|url-status=live}}</ref> The international TV programme RTVGE is available via satellites in Africa, Europe, and the Americas and worldwide via the Internet.<ref name="Lyngsat_TVGE">{{cite web|url=http://www.lyngsat.com/tvchannels/gq/TVGE-Internacional.html|title=TVGE Internacional|publisher=LyngSat|access-date=28 March 2012|archive-date=30 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330114511/http://www.lyngsat.com/tvchannels/gq/TVGE-Internacional.html|url-status=live}}</ref> There are two newspapers and two magazines.

Equatorial Guinea ranked 161st out of 179 countries in the 2012 [[Reporters Without Borders]] press freedom index. The watchdog says the national broadcaster obeys the orders of the information ministry. Most of the media companies practice [[self-censorship]], and are banned by law from criticising public figures. The state-owned media and the main private radio station are under the directorship of the president's son, [[Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue|Teodor Obiang]].

Landline telephone penetration is low, with only two lines available per 100 people.<ref name=CIA /> There is one [[GSM]] mobile telephone operator, with coverage of [[Malabo]], [[Bata, Equatorial Guinea|Bata]], and several mainland cities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_gq.shtml|title=GSMWorld Providers: Equatorial Guinea|publisher=GSM World|year=2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414201455/http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_gq.shtml|archive-date=14 April 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=gq&net=ge |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108045953/http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=gq&net=ge |archive-date=8 January 2009|title=GSMWorld GETESA Coverage Map|publisher=GSM World|year=2008}}</ref> {{As of|2009}}, approximately 40% of the population subscribed to mobile telephone services.<ref name=CIA /> The only telephone provider in Equatorial Guinea is [[Orange S.A.|Orange]]. According to the World Bank, there were more than a million Internet users by 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Equatorial Guinea |url=https://data.worldbank.org/country/equatorial-guinea |access-date=11 October 2024 |website=World Bank Open Data |archive-date=21 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121121900/https://data.worldbank.org/country/equatorial-guinea |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Music ===
{{Further|Music of Equatorial Guinea}}
Pan-African styles like [[soukous]] and [[makossa]] are popular, as are [[reggaeton]], [[Latin trap]], [[reggae]] and [[rock and roll]].

=== Cinema ===
In 2014, the South African-Dutch-Equatorial Guinean drama film ''[[Where the Road Runs Out]]'' was shot in the country. There is also the documentary ''The Writer from a Country Without Bookstores''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://elescritordeunpais.com/|title=The Writer from a Country Without Bookstores|publisher=elescritordeunpais.com|access-date=23 April 2021|archive-date=13 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413155116/http://elescritordeunpais.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> It is openly critical of Obiang's regime.

=== Sports ===
{{Category see also|Sport in Equatorial Guinea}}
[[File:Estadio de Bata (15896733814).jpg|thumb|[[Estadio de Bata]] in [[Bata, Equatorial Guinea|Bata]]]]
Equatorial Guinea was chosen to co-host the [[2012 African Cup of Nations]] in partnership with [[Gabon]], and hosted the [[2015 Africa Cup of Nations|2015 edition]]. The country was also chosen to host the [[2008 Women's African Football Championship]], which they won. The [[Equatorial Guinea women's national football team|women's national team]] qualified for the [[2011 FIFA Women's World Cup|2011 World Cup]] in Germany. In June 2016, Equatorial Guinea was chosen to host the [[2019 African Games|12th African Games]] in 2019.

Equatorial Guinea is famous for the swimmers [[Eric Moussambani]], nicknamed "Eric the Eel",<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.times-olympics.co.uk/archive/swimmings19o.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20050420123724/http://www.times-olympics.co.uk/archive/swimmings19o.html|archive-date=20 April 2005|title=London 2012 Olympics: how Eric 'the Eel' Moussambani inspired a generation in swimming pool at Sydney Games|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|last=O'Mahony|first=Jennifer|date=27 July 2012|access-date=18 December 2012}}</ref> and [[Paula Barila Bolopa]], "Paula the Crawler", who attended the [[2000 Summer Olympics]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics2000/swimming/937133.stm|title='Paula the Crawler' sets record|work=BBC News|date=22 September 2000|access-date=18 December 2012|archive-date=27 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627204302/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics2000/swimming/937133.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Basketball]] has been increasing in popularity.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Scafidi|first1=Oscar|title=Equatorial Guinea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1engCgAAQBAJ|access-date=10 September 2021|date=1 November 2015|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides Ltd|isbn=978-1-78477-136-2|page=126}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{portal|Africa|<!--Middle Africa-->|<!--African Union-->|<!--ECCAS-->|<!--Equatorial Guinea-->}}
* [[Outline of Equatorial Guinea]]
* [[Agriculture in Equatorial Guinea]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist|35em}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
{{Refbegin}}
* [[D. L. Claret]]. ''Cien años de evangelización en Guinea Ecuatorial (1883–1983) / One Hundred Years of Evangelism in Equatorial Guinea'' (1983, Barcelona: Claretian Missionaries).
* [[Robert Klitgaard]]. 1990. ''Tropical Gangsters''. New York: Basic Books. {{ISBN|0-465-08760-4}}. A World Bank economist tries to assist pre-oil Equatorial Guinea.
* [[Max Liniger-Goumaz]], ''Small Is Not Always Beautiful: The Story of Equatorial Guinea'' (French 1986, translated 1989) {{ISBN|0-389-20861-2}}.
* [[Adam Roberts (scholar)|Adam Roberts]], ''The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa'' (2006, PublicAffairs) {{ISBN|1-58648-371-4}}.

'''Attribution'''
{{CIA World Factbook}}

==Further reading==
* Aixelà-Cabré, Yolanda. ''Spain's African Colonial Legacies: Morocco and Equatorial Guinea Compared'' (Brill, 2022) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=58252 online review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230611204850/https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=58252 |date=11 June 2023 }}
* Lewis, Marvin. ''An Introduction to the Literature of Equatorial Guinea: Between Colonialism and Dictatorship.'' (2007). [https://books.google.com/books?id=jbdZqm-cyJsC&dq=History+Equatorial+Guinea%7D%7D&pg=PR3 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813004427/https://books.google.com/books?id=jbdZqm-cyJsC&dq=History+Equatorial+Guinea%7D%7D&pg=PR3 |date=13 August 2023 }}
* McSherry, Brendan. "The Political Economy of Oil in Equatorial Guinea." ''African Studies Quarterly'' 8.3 (2006). [https://www.academia.edu/download/76306751/McSherry-Vol8Issue3.pdf online]{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* Sundiata, Ibrahim K. ''Equatorial Guinea: colonialism, state terror, and the search for stability'' (Routledge, 2019). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ugScDwAAQBAJ&dq=History+Equatorial+Guinea%7D%7D&pg=PT8 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813004419/https://books.google.com/books?id=ugScDwAAQBAJ&dq=History+Equatorial+Guinea%7D%7D&pg=PT8 |date=13 August 2023 }}
* Ugarte, Michael. ''Africans in Europe: The culture of exile and emigration from Equatorial Guinea to Spain'' (University of Illinois Press, 2010) [https://books.google.com/books?id=rJoxnTZzBCUC&dq=History+Equatorial+Guinea%7D%7D&pg=PP1 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813004418/https://books.google.com/books?id=rJoxnTZzBCUC&dq=History+Equatorial+Guinea%7D%7D&pg=PP1 |date=13 August 2023 }}.
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|v=no|q=no|b=no|voy=Equatorial Guinea|n=Category:Equatorial Guinea|c=Category:Equatorial Guinea|s=Category:Equatorial Guinea|d=Q983}}
* {{wikiatlas|Equatorial Guinea}}
* [https://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/ Official Government of Equatorial Guinea website]
* [http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/estadistica.php?lang=en Guinea in Figures&nbsp;– Official Web Page of the Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503234753/https://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/estadistica.php?lang=en |date=3 May 2021 }}.
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13317174 Country Profile] from [[BBC News]].
* [https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/equatorial-guinea/ Equatorial Guinea]. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080607084803/http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/equatorialguinea.htm Equatorial Guinea] from ''UCB Libraries GovPubs'' (archived 7 June 2008)

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