Libya (Arabic: ليبيا ‎ Lībiyā pronunciation (help·info); Libyan vernacular: Lībya pronunciation (help·info); Amazigh: ), officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya ( الجماهيرية العربية الليبية الشعبية الإشتراكية العظمى ‎ Al-Jamāhīriyyah al-ʿArabiyyah al-Lībiyyah aš-Šaʿbiyyah al-Ištirākiyyah al-ʿUẓmā pronunciation (help·info)), is a country in North Africa. Bordering the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Libya lies between Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west. With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres (700,000 sq mi), 90% of which is desert, Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa by area, and the 17th largest in the world.[2] The capital, Tripoli, is home to 1.7 million of Libya's 5.7 million people. The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, the Fezzan and Cyrenaica.

The name "Libya" is an indigenous (i.e. Berber) one, which is attested in ancient Egyptian texts as , R'bw (= Libu), which refers to one of the tribes of Berber peoples living west of the Nile. In Greek the tribesmen were called Libyes and their country became "Libya", although in ancient Greece the term had a broader meaning, encompassing all of North Africa west of Egypt. Later on, at the time of Ibn Khaldun, the same big tribe was known as Lawata.[3]
Libya has the third highest GDP (PPP) per capita of Africa, behind Seychelles and South Africa. This is largely due to its large petroleum reserves and low population.[4][5]

The Flag of Libya is the only national flag in the world with just one color - green - with no design, insignia, or other details.