Littoral Region (Cameroon)

Littoral Region
Littoral Region
Region of Cameroon
	Location of Littoral Region within Cameroon
	Coordinates: 4°00′N 10°00′E / 4.000°N 10.000°E
Country	Cameroon
Capital	Douala
Departments	Moungo, Nkam, Sanaga-Maritime, Wouri
Government
• Governor	Samuel Ivaha Diboua (2015– )
Area
• Total	36,452 km2 (14,074 sq mi)
Population (2015)
• Total	3,354,978
• Density	92/km2 (240/sq mi)
ISO 3166 code	CM-LT
HDI (2022)	0.706; high · 1st of 10

The Littoral Region (French: Région du Littoral) is a region of Cameroon. Its capital is Douala. As of 2004^[update], its population was 3,174,437.^[2] Its name is due to the region being largely littoral, and associated with the sea coast.

The Douala Edéa Wildlife Reserve is in the region.

2008 presidential decree abolishes provinces

The President of the Republic of Cameroon, Paul Biya, signed decrees in 2008 abolishing "Provinces" and replacing them with "Regions". Hence, all of the country's ten former provinces are now known as Regions.

Demographics

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1976	935,166	—
1987	1,352,833	+3.41%
2005	2,510,263	+3.49%
2015	3,354,978	+2.94%
source:^[3]

Divisions

The region is divided into four departments (départements):

Nkam, with its capital at Yabassi.
Moungo, with its capital at Nkongsamba.
Sanaga-Maritime, with its capital at Édéa.
Wouri, forming the area around the major city of Douala.

These are in turn broken down into subdivisions. Presidentially appointed senior divisional officers (préfets) and subdivisional officers (sous-préfets) govern each. Traditional leaders, usually referred to as chiefs in English, often preside over particular ethnic groups or villages; nevertheless, many of these wield very little power today.