Somalia is located in the eastern tip of Africa, bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Its capital is Mogadishu. Neighboring border countries are Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya. It has a total area of 637,657 sq km comprising of 627,337 sq km of land and 10,320 sq km of water and a coast line of 3,025 km.

The country attained independence on 1 July 1960 from a merger of British Somaliland, which became independent earlier from the UK on 26 June 1960, and Italian Somalia, which became independent from the Italian-administered UN trusteeship on 1 July 1960 to form the Republic of Somali. The legal system of Somalia is a mixture of English Common Law, Italian Law, Islamic Sharia, and Somali Customary Law. The country accepts compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction with reservations.

Some of the known natural resources are: uranium and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, natural gas and likely oil reserves.

The population currently stands at about 14.3 million (2016 estimates) and its growth rate is about 3% per annum. Of the total population, 47% are in the 1-14 years group, 50 % in 15-65 years group and 3% in the 65 and above years group. Ethnic groups are Somali 85%, Bantu and other non-Somali (including Arabs) 15%. The languages of the country include Somali (official), Arabic, Italian and English.