Libya (Arabic: ‏ليبيا‎ Lībyā, :Libya), officially the State of Libya is a country in the Maghreb region ofNorthAfrica bordered by the MediterraneanSea to the north, Egyptto the east, Sudanto the southeast, Chadand Niger to thesouth, and Algeriaand Tunisia tothe west. With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres(700,000 sq mi), Libya is the 17th largestcountry in the world.^[8]

The largest city and capital, Tripoli, is home to 1.7 million of Libya's 6.4 millionpeople. The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania,Fezzan and Cyrenaica. In2009 Libya had the highest HDI in Africaand the fifth highest GDP (PPP) per capita inAfrica, behind Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles,Gabon, and Botswana. Libyahas the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world and the17th-highest petroleum production.

A civil war and NATO-led military intervention in 2011resulted in the ousting and death of the country's former leader, MuammarGaddafi, and the collapse of his 42-year "First of SeptemberRevolution" and 34-year-old Jamahiriya state. As a result, Libya iscurrently undergoing political reconstruction, and is governed under an interim constitutiondrawn up by the National Transitional Council (NTC). Elections to a General National Congress were held on 7July 2012, and the NTC handed power to the newly elected assembly on 8 August.The assembly has the responsibility of forming a constituent assembly to draft a permanentconstitution for Libya, which will then be put to a referendum.