Democratic Republic of the Congo Country Info - Africa

Description and Basic Information

Democratic Republic of the Congo with its capital Kinshasa is located in Africa (Central Africa, northeast of Angola). It covers some 2,345,411 square kilometres (slightly less than one-fourth the size of the US) with 60,085,004 citizens. French, Lingala and Kongo are the official languages spoken in Democratic Republic of the Congo (consider regional differences). Tanzania, Central African Republic, Sudan, Rwanda, Zambia, Burundi, Uganda, Republic of the Congo and Angola are bordering countries.

Parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are not safe for independent travel or sightseeing. Those visiting for business, research, or international aid purposes should consult with their organization and seek expert guidance before planning a trip. Kinshasa has a high crime rate similar to Lagos or Abidjan.

Pictures from Capital (Kinshasa)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About Democratic Republic of the Congo

The landscape features vast central basin being a low-lying plateau and mountains in east. The average density of population is about 25 per km². The climate in Democratic Republic of the Congo can be described as tropical with hot and humid in equatorial river basin, cooler and drier in southern highlands, cooler and wetter in eastern highlands, north of Equator - wet season (April to October), dry season (December to February), south of Equator - wet season (November to March), dry season (April to October). Potential threats by nature are periodic droughts in south or Congo River floods (seasonal) or in the east, in the Great Rift Valley, there are active volcanoes.

To reach someone in Democratic Republic of the Congo dial +243 prior to a number. There are 40,000 installed telephones. And there are 10,163,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 900 Mhz. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".cd". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 220V - 50Hz. The following list are the 11 regions/states in Democratic Republic of the Congo we know off.

Heritage Properties

Garamba National Park: The park's immense savannahs, grasslands and woodlands, interspersed with gallery forests along the river banks and the swampy depressions, are home to four large...

Kahuzi-Biega National Park: A vast area of primary tropical forest dominated by two spectacular extinct volcanoes, Kahuzi and Biega, the park has a diverse and abundant fauna. One of the last...

Okapi Wildlife Reserve: The Okapi Wildlife Reserve occupies about one-fifth of the Ituri forest in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Congo river basin, of which the...

Salonga National Park: Salonga National Park is Africa's largest tropical rainforest reserve. Situated at the heart of the central basin of the Congo river, the park is very isolated and...

Demographic Statistics

In the year 2010, the total Congolese population grew at a rate of 3.17% (or by 2,243,796 citizens). With 807,738 deaths and 2,996,929 babies born, the natural increase rate lies at 3.09%. 54,606 persons more in total immigrated to the country than emmigrated.

An overview of age distribution in Democratic Republic of the Congo: Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.