Democratic Republic of the Congo facts for kids

Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo ; République démocratique du Congo (French)
	Flag Coat of Arms
	Motto: Justice – Paix – Travail; (French); "Justice – Peace – Work"
	Anthem: "Debout Congolais"; (French); "Arise, Congolese"
Capital; and largest city	Kinshasa
Official languages	French
Recognised national languages	Lingala, Kikongo, Swahili, Tshiluba
Demonym(s)	Congolese
Government	Semi-presidential republic
• President	Joseph Kabila
• Acting Prime Minister	Louis Alphonse Koyagialo
Independence
• from Belgium	30 June 1960
Area
• Total	2,345,409 km2 (905,567 sq mi) (11th)
• Water (%)	4.3
Population
• 2011 estimate	71,712,867 (19th)
• Density	29.3/km2 (75.9/sq mi) (182nd)
GDP (PPP)	2010 estimate
• Total	$23.117 billion
• Per capita	$328
GDP (nominal)	2010 estimate
• Total	$13.125 billion
• Per capita	$186
HDI (2011)	0.286; low · 187th (lowest)
Currency	Congolese franc (CDF)
Time zone	UTC+1 to +2 (WAT, CAT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 to +2 (not observed)
Driving side	right
Calling code	243
ISO 3166 code	CD
Internet TLD	.cd
	a Estimate is based on regression; other PPP figures are extrapolated from the latest International Comparison Programme benchmark estimates.

Not to be confused with Republic of the Congo.

Location of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Principal rivers and lakes of the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the country that was known as Zaïre from 1971 to 1997. It is in central Africa.

History

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (French: République démocratique du Congo), commonly referred to as DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa or the DRC, is a country in central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world. With a population of over 71 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the nineteenth most populous nation in the world, the fourth most populous nation in Africa, as well as the most populous Francophone (French-speaking) country.

DRC borders the Central African Republic and South Sudan to the north; Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi in the east; Zambia and Angola to the south; the Republic of the Congo, the Angolan exclave of Cabinda, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It is separated from Tanzania by Lake Tanganyika in the east. The country has access to the ocean through a 40-kilometre (25 mi) stretch of Atlantic coastline at Muanda and the roughly 9 km wide mouth of the Congo River which opens into the Gulf of Guinea. It has the second-highest total Christian population in Africa.

The Second Congo War, beginning in 1998, devastated the country. It involved nine African nations and some twenty armed groups. Despite the signing of peace accords in 2003, fighting continues in the east of the country. The war is the world's deadliest conflict since World War II, killing 5.4 million people since 1998. The vast majority died from conditions of malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo was formerly, in chronological order, the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Congo-Léopoldville, Congo-Kinshasa, and Zaire (Zaïre in French). Though it is in the Central African United Nations subregion, the nation is also economically and regionally affiliated with Southern Africa as a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Geography

The country is bordered by Angola, the South Atlantic Ocean, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania across Lake Tanganyika, and Zambia.

The capital is Kinshasa.

World Heritage Sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo are: Virunga National Park (1979), Garamba National Park (1980), Kahuzi-Biega National Park (1980), Salonga National Park (1984) and Okapi Wildlife Reserve (1996).

Provinces

See also: List of cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The country is divided into ten provinces and one city-province. The provinces are then divided into districts. The districts are divided into territories.

Bandundu
Bas-Congo
Équateur
Kasai-Occidental
Kasai-Oriental
Katanga
Kinshasa (city-province)
Maniema
North Kivu
Orientale
South Kivu

An Ituri Interim Administration is also in the Ituri region of Orientale Province

Related pages

Images for kids

View of Leopoldville Station and Port in 1884.
Force Publique soldiers in the Belgian Congo in 1918. At its peak, the Force Publique had around 19,000 African soldiers, led by 420 white officers.
Patrice Lumumba was the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Mobutu Sese Seko and Richard Nixon in Washington, D.C., 1973.
Belligerents of the Second Congo War
Refugees in the Congo
People fleeing their villages due to fighting between FARDC and rebels groups, North Kivu, 2012
The map of Democratic Republic of Congo
Mount Nyiragongo, which last erupted in 2002.
Salonga National Park.
Joseph Kabila has been President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since January 2001.
A group of demobilized child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Rough diamonds ~1 to 1.5 mm in size from DR Congo.
DR Congo's Human Development Index scores, 1970–2010.
Collecting firewood in Basankusu.
Train from Lubumbashi arriving in Kindu on a newly refurbished line.
A classroom in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kongo youth and adults in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Family in Rutshuru, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Population fleeing their villages due to fighting between FARDC and rebels groups, Sake North Kivu 30 April 2012
A Hemba male statue
Bas-Congo landscape
An Okapi
A male Western gorilla
Hippopotami
The African forest elephant
An Angola colobus monkey