This bird is a resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara Desert.

This skulking passerine is typically found low in dense cover.

The sexes are similar, but juveniles are paler yellow on the breast.

The green-backed camaroptera was described by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1821 under the binomial name Sylvia brachyura.

[2][3] The specific epithet brachyura is from the Ancient Greek brakhus for "short" and -ouros for "-tailed".