Mozambique is about 800,000 km2 in size - about three times the size of Great Britain, or two-thirds the size of South Africa. The country is mostly flat, though its north-western parts are mountainous and its inland plateaus feature intermittent granite inselbergs (or koppies to southern Africans).
Mozambique's flat coastal plain, which widens from north to south, accounts for almost half of the country's surface area. The inland rises to plateaus of between 500 m and 1000 m in altitude.
With approximately 19 million inhabitants and an average population density of 22 people per square kilometre, Mozambique is very sparsely populated. Urban migration is increasing; 37% of the population lived in urban areas in 1997, a figure expected to reach 52% by 2015.
The capital city is Maputo, a city of one million inhabitants (two million if the surrounding areas are included). The cities of Beira and Nampula are the next largest cities, with populations of around 300,000 and 200,000 respectively.
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