Western African Countries: Full List, Capitals, and Map

West Africa is the western subregion of the African continent.

As with other African regions, its exact boundaries vary depending on whether the definition is based on political groupings, statistical systems, or physical geography.

For clarity and consistency, we follow the United Nations (UN) geoscheme, which classifies West Africa as consisting of 16 sovereign countries.

List of countries in West Africa

1. Benin
2. Burkina Faso
3. Cabo Verde
4. Côte d’Ivoire
5. The Gambia
6. Ghana
7. Guinea
8. Guinea-Bissau
9. Liberia
10. Mali
11. Mauritania
12. Niger
13. Nigeria
14. Senegal
15. Sierra Leone
16. Togo

This UN-defined version is the standard regional breakdown used in international statistics, development reporting, and global data comparisons.

Western African countries table

The UN geoscheme recognizes the following sovereign states as part of the West Africa subregion:

Countries in Africa Map

West Africa stretches from the Atlantic coastline of Senegal and Cabo Verde across the Sahel belt to the inland states such as Niger and Burkina Faso.

The subregion includes low-lying coastal plains along the Gulf of Guinea, inland savanna and Sahel zones, and parts of the Sahara Desert in countries such as Mauritania, Mali, and Niger.

Much of West Africa’s settlement and farming developed along the Niger, Senegal, and Volta rivers.

How Western Africa is defined

UN geoscheme (most common)

This is the definition used by:

• The United Nations
• The World Bank
• Most international statistical agencies

It includes the 16 countries listed above and is the standard system used for population, land area, economic, health, and development data.

African Union

The African Union (AU) also recognizes West Africa as one of its regional groupings.

Its membership list is very similar to the UN geoscheme, but there are a few classification differences at the continental level:

• The AU places Mauritania in the North Africa region for some of its internal frameworks.
• The UN geoscheme keeps Mauritania in West Africa.

In practice, Mauritania often appears in West African political and security discussions despite being grouped with North Africa in parts of the AU system.

ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is the main political and economic bloc in the region. Its current member states are:

• Benin
• Cabo Verde
• Côte d’Ivoire
• The Gambia
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Liberia
• Nigeria
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone
• Togo

Mauritania was an early member but withdrew from ECOWAS in the year 2000 and now has separate association agreements.

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger formally withdrew from ECOWAS on January 29, 2025. Twelve member states remain.

ECOWAS is not a geographic definition of West Africa. It is an organization focused on:

• Trade and economic integration
• Free movement of people in the region
• Political cooperation and conflict management

Physical geography definition

In physical geography, “West Africa” is often used more broadly to describe the Atlantic coastal belt from roughly Mauritania to Nigeria, the Gulf of Guinea coastline, the Sudan–Sahel transition zone south of the Sahara, and parts of the inland savanna and woodland regions.

This version focuses on climate zones and ecosystems rather than political borders. It is widely used in climatology, agriculture, and environmental studies when analyzing drought patterns, rainfall systems, and vegetation belts across the Sahel and savanna.

Global regions map

To help place West Africa within the wider UN classification system, the global regions map below shows how all world subregions are organized.

The UN geoscheme assigns every UN member state to a defined geographic region, allowing consistent international comparisons. Antarctica is excluded because the framework applies only to UN member states.

Within Africa, the UN recognizes five subregions:

• Northern Africa
• Western Africa
• Middle Africa
• Eastern Africa
• Southern Africa

Across the entire world, the geoscheme identifies 22 geographical subregions in total.