Brunei

Brunei is a small country in Southeast Asia.

It is on the island of Borneo, by the sea. Most of the land is green rainforest. The capital city is called Bandar Seri Begawan.

Brunei is a small country on the north coast of Borneo, a large island in Southeast Asia. The South China Sea lies to the north, and Malaysia wraps around it on every other side. In fact, a strip of Malaysia splits Brunei into two separate pieces.

About three-fifths of Brunei is untouched rainforest. Rivers flow north from the hills to the sea. About 459,000 people lived in Brunei in 2025, and about two-thirds of them live in and around the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan.

Brunei lies on the northern coast of Borneo, bounded by the South China Sea to the north and on all other sides by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, which divides it into two unequal segments. The larger western segment holds the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. Britannica describes a narrow coastal plain giving way to rugged hills in the south, rising to Pagon Peak, 1,850 m, in the southeast.

Brunei's Department of Economic Planning and Statistics estimated 458,600 people in 2025 on 5,765 km². The population is young: more than one-fifth are under 15 and roughly half under 30. Brunei became a British protectorate in 1888 and independent in 1984. It is a monarchy: Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is head of state and, as prime minister, head of government, and the members of the Legislative Council are appointed.

Bandar Seri Begawan is the capital.

It is beside a river. A big building with a golden dome shines there. Next to the city is a village where houses stand on stilts over the water.

Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital, stands on the Brunei River. The golden dome of the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, finished in 1958, rises above the city. It was built with marble from Italy, granite from China and chandeliers from England.

Right next to the city is Kampong Ayer, the water village. Its wooden houses, schools and clinics stand on stilts above the river, linked by long raised walkways. In the southwest, near the towns of Seria and Kuala Belait, is the area where Brunei's oil is found.

Bandar Seri Begawan lies on the Brunei River about 14 km from its mouth on Brunei Bay. The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque (1958), whose high golden dome dominates the skyline, was furnished with Italian marble, Chinese granite, English chandeliers and stained glass, and carpets from Saudi Arabia; the Jame' Asr Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque, built in the mid-1990s in Kampong Kiarong, is the country's largest. Istana Nurul Iman, the sultan's residence and offices, combines Islamic and Malay styles beside the river.

Kampong Ayer, the Water Village, is a group of long-established villages whose houses, clinics and schools stand on stilts above the Brunei River, joined by elevated walkways. The region around Kuala Belait and Seria, on the oil-rich southwestern coast, is the next most densely settled. Muara, on Brunei Bay, has the country's large deepwater harbor.

Brunei is warm every day.

It rains a lot. Tall trees make a thick rainforest. Mangrove trees grow along the rivers and the sea.

Brunei is warm all year: most days go from about 23 °C at night to about 32 °C in the afternoon. It is also very wet. The coast gets about 2,900 millimeters of rain a year, and inland it can be more than 3,800.

About three-fifths of the country is untouched rainforest, full of tall hardwood trees, and another fifth is forest that has grown back. Swamps cover the low land along the Belait and Tutong rivers, and mangroves grow along the coast. The Belait is Brunei's largest river.

Brunei's climate is governed by the equatorial monsoons: the northeast monsoon usually blows from December to March and the southwest monsoon from May to September. Daily temperatures typically range from about 23 °C to 32 °C. Rainfall averages about 2,900 mm a year on the coast and can exceed 3,800 mm inland, heavier from October to January.

About three-fifths of the land is virgin tropical rainforest and another fifth secondary forest. The undisturbed forest is dominated by dipterocarp hardwoods, especially Shorea. Freshwater and peat swamps cover the poorly drained Belait and Tutong lowlands, and mangroves line the lower rivers and sheltered coasts. The Belait, Tutong and Brunei rivers drain the western segment and the Pandaruan and Temburong the eastern one, all flowing north. Laws from the late 20th century restrict logging, and timber is not exported.

Monkeys with big noses live in Brunei.

They are called proboscis monkeys. Small bears called sun bears climb the trees. A very long snake called a python lives there too.

Brunei's rainforest is home to many animals. Proboscis monkeys live in its forests, and the males have very big noses. Sun bears live there too.

Other monkeys, deer, bats and many kinds of birds share the forest. The large reticulated python lives in the swamps and woods. In the warm sea off the coast swim green sea turtles and dugongs.

Britannica describes a rainforest whose complex vegetation gives niches to a rich variety of mammals, birds and reptiles, among them proboscis monkeys, sun bears, deer and bats, and the large reticulated python in the swamps and woodlands. The proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus), the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) and the reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus) all have Brunei within their current IUCN ranges.

Offshore, the IUCN ranges of the green turtle and the dugong include Brunei's waters. About four-fifths of the land is still forested, and late 20th-century laws restrict logging, so that plantations supply only enough sawn wood for local use.

About 459,000 people live in Brunei.

Many people speak Malay. Many people also learn English. Fish is a very popular food.

About 459,000 people lived in Brunei in 2025. Nearly two-thirds are counted as Malay, a group that includes several local peoples such as the Dusun and Kedayan. About one in ten people is Chinese, and the Iban live mostly in the far west. Malay is the official language, and English is a major second language.

People in Brunei eat more fish per person than people almost anywhere in the world. Brunei is famous for its metalwork, such as brass gongs, and gong music plays at royal events and village festivals. Basic health care is free for citizens, and children go to school from age 5 to 16.

Nearly two-thirds of people are classed officially as Malay, a category that also includes the Dusun, Belait, Kedayan, Murut and Bisaya. Chinese make up about one-tenth; others include the Iban, people of South Asian descent and temporary workers. Malay is official, English is a major second language, and many Chinese speak southern Chinese varieties and learn Mandarin at school. Most people are Sunni Muslim; many Chinese follow Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism or Christianity, and some Indigenous people are Christian or follow local religions.

Oil and gas generate more than half of GDP. Brunei is among the world's largest consumers of fish per person and is self-sufficient in poultry and eggs. Its brass and silver metalwork, prized in the 16th and 17th centuries, is still known across Borneo; the royal nobat ensemble of gongs, double-reed serunai and drums marks palace events. Education is free and compulsory from 5 to 16, and citizens receive basic medical and dental care at no charge.