Distillers Country guides / Chad
Chad
A one-page guide to Chad for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- N'Djamena
- Official languages
- French, Arabic
- Currency
- Central African CFA franc (XAF)
- Time zone
- UTC+1 (WAT)
- Area
- 1,284,000 km²
People
- Population
- 21.0 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 3.4% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 27.6%
- Aged under 15
- 46.0%
- Aged 65 and over
- 2.1%
- Life expectancy
- 55.2 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$21.5 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$1,022 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 5.58988021765651% (2025)
- Inflation
- -3.91198124406589% (2025)
Climate
Three rainfall zones: Sahara in the north (under 50 mm/yr), Sahelian belt in the centre (about 300-600 mm), Sudanic south (over 900 mm); wet season May-October in the south and June-September in the Sahel.
Alcohol
- Legal drinking age
- Purchase age 18; penalties for licensees serving under-18s unaccompanied
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 2.9 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
- What people drink
- Beer 99%, wine 1%, spirits 1% (2022)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia: Chad (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.