Brunei Destination Guide

Brunei, called officially Brunei Darussalam, is situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Brunei is the only sovereign state entirely on Borneo; the remainder of the island is divided between Malaysia and Indonesia.

As of 2020, the country had a population of 460,000 of whom approximately 100,000 resided in the capital and largest city of Bandar Seri Begawan.

Its official language is Malay and Islam is the state religion of the country, although other religions are nominally tolerated. The government of Brunei is an absolute monarchy ruled by the Sultan of Brunei, and it implements a fusion of English common law and jurisprudence inspired by Islam, including sharia.

The country and the Sultan are extremely wealthy courtesy of oil and natural gas reserves off its coast which account turnover half of its GDP