Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone.
South-eastern Nigeria east to eastern DRCongo (Semliki and Itombwe), south to coastal PRCongo; not known to occur across much of intervening region in southern part of this range.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
White-bearded Greenbul (Criniger ndussumensis) [XC855582]
by Bram Piot from Belize, Cabinda, Angola (?)
White-bearded Greenbul (Criniger ndussumensis) [XC303227]
by Jacob C. Cooper from American University of Central Africa (AUCA), Equatorial Guinea (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Yellow-bearded Greenbul (Criniger olivaceus) and White-bearded Bulbul (Criniger ndussumensis) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) are retained as separate species contra Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993) who include ndussumensis as a subspecies of Yellow-bearded Greenbul (Criniger olivaceus).
Sometimes treated, on basis of structural, behavioural and vocal similarities, as a subspecies of Yellow-bearded Greenbul (Criniger olivaceus) (which responds to playback of song of present species), but significant plumage differences suggest that, although clearly closely related, the two are better treated as distinct species. Alternatively, has often been considered conspecific with Red-tailed Bulbul (Criniger calurus) because of its close similarity in appearance to sympatric subspecies of Red-tailed Bulbul (Criniger calurus), but differs in both voice and morphology (suspected differences in foraging behaviour not proven, owing to difficulty of distinguishing between the two species in the field). Published reports of hybridization with Red-tailed Bulbul (Criniger calurus) (of subspecies emini) in north-eastern DRCongo seem to be based on observation of individuals apparently showing combination of characters then thought to be restricted to each form.