Nord-Kivu, RD Congo : Vue sur un cratère aux abords de la ville de Goma. Photo MONUSCO/Abel Kavanagh == North Kivu, DR Congo: View of a crater on the outskirts of the…
Photo: MONUSCO Photos, CC BY-SA 2.0 · source
Franco Luambo et son orchestre OK Jazz en concert live au Zaïre 74, un festival de musique live sur trois jours qui s'est tenu du 22 au 24 septembre 1974 au Stade du 20…
Photo: Therumbakings.com, Public domain · source
Primary school students in a classroom in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Photo: Ken Wiegand (USAID), Public domain · source
Did you know?
The territory of the Congo was first inhabited by Central African foragers around 90,000 years ago and was settled in the Bantu expansion about 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. In the west, the Kingdom of Kongo ruled around the mouth of the Congo River from the 14th to the 19th century. In the center and east, the empires of Mwene Muji, Luba, and Lunda ruled between the 15th and 19th centuries. These kingdoms were broken up by Europeans during the colonization of the Congo Basin. King Leopold II of Belgium acquired rights to the Congo territory in 1885 and called it the Congo Free State.
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An Okapi. Taken at Disney's Animal Kingdom by Raul654 on January 16, 2005.
Photo: Raul654, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Photo MONUSCO / Abel Kavanagh
Photo: MONUSCO Photos, CC BY-SA 2.0 · source
Etymology
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is named after the Congo River, which flows through the country. The Congo River is the world's deepest river and the world's third-largest river by discharge. The Comité d'études du haut Congo ("Committee for the Study of the Upper Congo"), established by King Leopold II of Belgium in 1876, and the International Association of the Congo, established by him in 1879, were also named after the river.
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History
The area of the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo was inhabited as early as 90,000 years ago, and later underwent major demographic and technological change with the expansion of Bantu peoples during the first millennium BC. From this process emerged organised states and empires, including early federated states around Pool Malebo and later the Kingdom of Kongo, as well many others such as the Luba and Lunda Empires.
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Geography
The DRC is located in central sub-Saharan Africa, bordered to the northwest by the Republic of the Congo, to the north by the Central African Republic, to the northeast by South Sudan, to the east by Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, and by Tanzania (across Lake Tanganyika), to the south and southeast by Zambia, to the southwest by Angola, and to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean and the Cabinda exclave of Angola. The DRC lies between latitudes 6°N and 14°S, and longitudes 12°E and 32°E. It straddles the Equator, with one-third to the north and two-thirds to the south.
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Government and politics
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is, constitutionally, a unitary and semi-presidential republic in which the president is the head of state, elected by universal suffrage to a term of five years. The prime minister is the head of government appointed by the president with the support of the parliament. The prime minister and the cabinet, known as the government, are responsible to the legislature rather than to the president. The parliament is a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and the National Assembly.
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Economy
The economy of the DR Congo has grown from US$9.02 billion at the end of the Second Congo War in 2003 to US$72.48 billion in 2024 by nominal GDP, and from $29.23 billion to $190.13 billion by PPP-adjusted GDP during the same time period. Minerals and metal, specifically cobalt and copper, made up 80% of the country's exports in 2023. Its largest trade partner by a significant margin is China, which represented 41% of its exports in 2024, followed by Zambia, South Africa, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.
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Demographics
The DRC has a high annual population growth rate, and the population increased from 51.9 million in 2000 to 105 million in 2021. Between 1950 and 2000, the country's population nearly quadrupled from 12.2 million to 46.9 million.
In 2026, 52% of the population had access to water services (29% in rural areas). 31% have access to sanitation services (21% in rural areas). The DRC also lacks state-sponsored social safety nets, with 12% of formal workers, mostly government employees, being enrolled in the National Social Security Fund.
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Culture
The culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo reflects the diversity of its numerous ethnic groups and their differing ways of life throughout the country—from the mouth of the River Congo on the coast, upriver through the rainforest and savanna in its centre, to the more densely populated mountains in the far east. Since the late 19th century, traditional ways of life have undergone changes brought about by colonialism, the struggle for independence, the stagnation of the Mobutu era, and most recently, the First and Second Congo Wars.
Wikipedia: Democratic Republic of the Congo – read more, CC BY-SA 4.0