| Country (long form) |
Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Capital |
Kinshasa |
| Total Area |
905,567.86 sq mi
2,345,410.00 sq km
(slightly less than one-fourth the size of the US) |
| Population |
51,964,999 (July 2000 est.)
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of
excess mortality due to AIDS |
| Estimated Population in 2050 |
181,922,656 |
| Languages |
French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade
language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba |
| Literacy |
77.3% total, 86.6% male, 67.7% female (1995 est.) |
| Religions |
Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant 20%, Kimbanguist 10%,
Muslim 10%, other syncretic sects and indigenous beliefs 10% |
| Life Expectancy |
46.72 male, 50.83 female (2000 est.) |
| Government Type |
dictatorship |
| Currency |
Congolese franc (CF) |
| GDP (per capita) |
$710 (1999 est.) |
| Labor Force (by occupation) |
agriculture 65%, industry 16%, services 19% (1991 est.) |
| Industry |
mining, mineral processing, consumer products (including
textiles, footwear, cigarettes, processed foods and beverages), cement,
diamonds |
| Agriculture |
coffee, sugar, palm oil, rubber, tea, quinine, cassava
(tapioca), palm oil, bananas, root crops, corn, fruits; wood products |
| Arable Land |
3% |
| Exports |
diamonds, copper, coffee, cobalt, crude oil |
| Imports |
foodstuffs, mining and other machinery, transport
equipment, fuels |
| Natural Resources |
cobalt, copper, cadmium, petroleum, industrial and gem
diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium,
bauxite, iron ore, coal, hydropower, timber |
| Current Environmental Issues |
poaching threatens wildlife populations; water
pollution; deforestation; refugees who arrived in mid-1994 were responsible
for significant deforestation, soil erosion, and wildlife poaching in the
eastern part of the country (most of those refugees were repatriated in
November and December 1996) |
| Telephones (main lines in use) |
36,000 (1995) |
| Telephones (mobile cellular) |
10,000 (1995) |
|