Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa bordered by Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast, with Ouagadougou as its capital and largest city. The territory gained full independence from France on 5 August 1960 as the Republic of Upper Volta, and the revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara renamed it Burkina Faso, meaning land of the upright men, on 4 August 1984. It has experienced repeated coups, in 1966, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1987, and twice in 2022, and is currently governed as a semi-presidential republic under a military junta led by interim President Ibrahim Traore; since 2025 the country has formally left the Economic Community of West African States and the Francophonie after helping found the Alliance of Sahel States. With approximately 23.3 million people as of 2024, the Mossi are the largest ethnic group at about 52 percent, and the population is roughly 64 percent Muslim, 26 percent Christian and 9 percent adherent to traditional animist religions; Burkina Faso remains among the world's least developed nations.
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