Facts for Kids

Refugee means a person who has left their home country to be safe. Cameroon has welcomed many refugees from nearby countries such as the Central African Republic, Chad, and Nigeria. In 2007 there were about 97,400 registered refugees, and in early 2014 nearly 90,000 people crossed the border from the Central African Republic, many of them women and children who had made hard journeys.

Refugees often live in camps or towns and need food, shelter, and schools. Groups like the United Nations and charities help by giving tents, medicine, and lessons. Hosting so many people is a big task for towns and helpers across Cameroon.

Anglophone refers to English-speaking parts of Cameroon. In 2017, people in those regions began protests asking for fair treatment and services in English. The situation grew serious when government forces and armed groups clashed. Some people were hurt, others were jailed, and many families left their homes to stay in safer places inside the country.

Those events led to a declaration called Ambazonia and a long crisis. By 2020 about 740,000 people were internally displaced—this means they moved to other parts of Cameroon but stayed inside their country. Communities, aid groups, and leaders are still working to find peaceful solutions.

Cameroon is rich in wildlife because it has many habitats: rainforests in the south, mountains in the west, and savannas in the north. You can find animals like gorillas and chimpanzees in the forests, forest elephants and buffalo in woodlands and lowlands, and hippos and crocodiles near rivers. Colourful birds, butterflies, and a wide variety of smaller animals make the country lively and bright.

To protect these animals, Cameroon has parks and reserves such as Waza, Korup, Lobéké, and the Dja Faunal Reserve, which is a UNESCO site. Rangers, community groups, and scientists work to stop forest loss and illegal hunting and to help animals and people live together. Would you like to visit a rainforest to see these animals?

French and English are the two official languages in Cameroon. About 7 out of 10 people speak French and about 3 out of 10 speak English, but most people know other languages too. In places where the British once ruled, a lively Pidgin English is common, and in cities many people mix French, English, and local words into a fast, everyday speech called Camfranglais.

Cameroon is one of the world’s most linguistically rich countries with around 250 other languages. That means many children grow up speaking a family language at home, a regional language in their town, and French or English at school—so you might hear several languages in one neighborhood.

Cameroon is a country in Central Africa that sits where West Africa and Central Africa meet. It has about 31 million people and borders Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo. Its coastline touches the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean, so you can find beaches as well as forests and mountains.

People in Cameroon speak about 250 native languages. The two official languages are English and French, and the capital city is Yaoundé. Because the country links many regions, it has many different cultures and foods to discover.

People have lived in what is now Cameroon for a very long time. Archaeologists find signs of human homes from about 30,000 years ago. Some groups, like the Baka hunter-gatherers, still live in and near the forests and keep old traditions alive.

Many different states and societies grew over the centuries. Near Lake Chad, the Sao civilization appeared around 500 CE. In western areas people formed kingdoms and chiefdoms. In the 19th century, Fulani leaders created the Adamawa Emirate in the north. Portuguese sailors reached the coast in the 1400s and named the Wouri River “Rio dos Camarões,” which helped give the country its name. In 1896, Sultan Ibrahim Njoya made the Bamum writing system.

Education and health care are getting better but still unequal. Many children attend primary school, and both French and English are used in classrooms. However, far fewer students finish secondary school, especially in rural and conflict-affected areas. There are universities and teacher training centers in big cities like Yaoundé and Douala.

Health services are stronger in towns than in villages. Clinics offer vaccinations and basic care, and charities run extra programs for mothers and children. Problems like limited roads, money, and conflict can make it hard for some families to reach schools and clinics. What kinds of ideas could help schools and health centers reach every child?

Economy in Cameroon mixes farms, factories, and natural resources. Many people—about seven out of ten—work on small farms, growing food mostly for their families. Big crops for selling include bananas, cocoa, coffee, cotton, and oil palms. Factories and mining make up a large part of the country's money too, and oil still plays a role even though production fell after the 1980s.

Roads, ports, and power help goods move. The main port is Douala and a deepwater port opened at Kribi in 2014. Hydroelectric dams on the Sanaga River make much electricity, but many villages still lack steady power. Only a small share of roads are paved, and travel can be slow or risky in some places. Trains link regions, and big airports serve Yaoundé and Douala.

On 1 October 1961, the British Southern Cameroons joined the Republic of Cameroon to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The new country had two states, East Cameroon and West Cameroon, and each state had its own government and a prime minister. People remember 1 October as Unification Day to celebrate the joining of the two parts.

At the time, President Ahmadou Ahidjo worked to bring more power into the central government in Yaoundé. A political group called the UPC had wanted independence earlier and was banned by France in the 1950s, which led to a long period of unrest that lasted into the 1970s. Leaders used national rules and the army to keep the country together.

On 1 September 1966 the Cameroon National Union became the only legal political party. Then, on 20 May 1972, people voted in a referendum to change the federal system into one country called the United Republic of Cameroon. This day is celebrated as the nation’s National Day. The national flag changed a few years later, and the two small stars were replaced by one large star to show unity.

President Ahmadou Ahidjo led government plans that focused on cash crops and oil. He stepped down in 1982 and Paul Biya became president. Biya at first promised more openness, but a later failed coup led him to rule more strictly. The country faced economic problems from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, and multi-party politics returned in 1990. In the 2000s a border disagreement with Nigeria over Bakassi was settled and given to Cameroon. Since 2016, some protests and fighting in the English-speaking regions have displaced many people and caused a difficult humanitarian situation. Cameroon also fought Boko Haram beginning in 2014 and declared victory over the group in 2018.