Africa

An Introduction 

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km²  including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area. With more than 900 million people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14% of the world's human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

Today, Africa contains 53 independent and sovereign countries, most of which still have the borders drawn during the era of European colonialism. There is a huge range in climates, flora, fauna, cultures and languages - it is thought that there are over one thousand languages spoken throughout the continent.

Although many nations have abundant natural resources, Africa remains the world's poorest and most underdeveloped continent and is struggling with a variety of issues including HIV and AIDS, widespread poverty, poor infrastructure and slow economic development.

St John is currently working in 13 countries across Africa and is providing a huge variety of services and support to communities, which reflects the great diversity of this continent. Click on country pages to find out more about St John activities across the region.