Sudan (; , "as-Sūdān") or North Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan (, "Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān"), is a country in Northeast Africa. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, Libya to the northwest, Chad to the west, the Central African Republic to the southwest, South Sudan to the south, Ethiopia to the southeast, Eritrea to the east, and the Red Sea to the northeast. Sudan has a population of 44.91 million people as of 2021 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres (728,215 square miles), making it Africa's third-largest country by area and also the third-largest by area in the Arab league. It was also the largest country by area in Africa and the Arab league by area before the secession of South Sudan in 2011.