Somalia vs Djibouti

Why people mix them up

Somalia and Djibouti are neighbours in the Horn of Africa, and Somali people make up a large share of Djibouti's population. Both flags are light blue with a star, and both countries sit on key sea routes near the Gulf of Aden. People often compare them because Djibouti is so small that it can look like a corner of Somalia on a map.

How to tell them apart

• Djibouti is tiny, about 23,000 km², while Somalia is more than 25 times larger.
• Somalia's flag is light blue with a single white star in the centre; Djibouti's has light blue over green with a white triangle at the hoist holding a red star.
• Somalia's official languages are Somali and Arabic; Djibouti's are French and Arabic, with Somali and Afar widely spoken.
• The capitals are Mogadishu (Somalia), on the Indian Ocean coast, and Djibouti City, which shares its name with the country.
• Somalia has the longest coastline of any country on the African mainland, facing both the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
• Djibouti guards the Bab-el-Mandeb strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.

Memory hook

Somalia's flag has one lonely star in the sky; Djibouti's has a red star on a white triangle. Somalia is the "7"-shaped coast, Djibouti the dot at the top of it.

On the map

Find the Horn of Africa, the pointed tip jutting into the Indian Ocean. Somalia is the long country forming that horn, running from the Gulf of Aden in the north down the Indian Ocean coast to Kenya, in the shape of a "7". Djibouti is the small country at the far northwestern end, where the Gulf of Aden meets the Red Sea, between Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. If the country you are tapping touches Kenya, it is Somalia.