Distillers Country guides / Central African Republic
Central African Republic
A one-page guide to the Central African Republic for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Bangui
- Official languages
- French, Sango
- Currency
- Central African CFA franc (XAF)
- Time zone
- UTC+1 (WAT)
- Area
- 622,980 km²
People
- Population
- 5.5 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 3.4% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 44.6%
- Aged under 15
- 48.7%
- Aged 65 and over
- 2.2%
- Life expectancy
- 57.7 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$3.1 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$556 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 4.49950000393781% (2025)
- Inflation
- 1.00198012768088% (2025)
Climate
Generally tropical; wet season June-September in the north and May-October in the south; hot and humid north February-May with harmattan; equatorial south.
Alcohol
- Legal drinking age
- Off-premise sales to under-15s and on-premise sales to under-21s are prohibited (Wikipedia summary)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 1.8 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
- What people drink
- Beer 95%, wine 3%, spirits 2% (2022)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia: Central African Republic (basics, climate, ports); Wikipedia: Legal drinking age; World Bank Open Data (population, GDP, growth, inflation, area); WHO Global Health Observatory: total alcohol per capita; UN Comtrade (HS 2208 trade). Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.