Mozambique (Portuguese: Mocambique) is a Portuguese-speaking country on the eastern seaboard of Southern Africa. It shares land borders with Tanzania and Malawi to the north, South Africa and Eswatini to the southwest, and Zimbabwe and Zambia to the west. It also has a maritime border with the island nation of Madagascar, which it is separated from by the Mozambique Channel, a part of the Indian Ocean. As of 2026, Mozambique has a population of 34,881,007 permanent residents. The national capital of Mozambique is Maputo, which is also the country’s largest city. Mozambique declared independence from Portugal in 1975.
