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Democratic Republic of the Congo
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 Flag
 Coat of Arms
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.svg) |
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| Capital and largest city
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Kinshasa |
| Official languages | French |
| Recognised national languages | Lingala, Kikongo, Swahili, Tshiluba |
| Demonym(s) | Congolese |
| Government | Semi-presidential republic |
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• President
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Joseph Kabila |
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• Acting Prime Minister
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Louis Alphonse Koyagialo |
| Independence | |
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• from Belgium
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30 June 1960 |
| Area | |
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• Total
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2,345,409 km2 (905,567 sq mi) (11th) |
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• Water (%)
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4.3 |
| Population | |
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• 2011 estimate
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71,712,867 (19th) |
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• Density
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29.3/km2 (75.9/sq mi) (182nd) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2010 estimate |
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• Total
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$23.117 billion |
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• Per capita
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$328 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2010 estimate |
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• Total
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$13.125 billion |
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• Per capita
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$186 |
| HDI (2011) |  0.286low · 187th (lowest) |
| Currency | Congolese franc (CDF) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 to +2 (WAT, CAT) |
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• Summer (DST)
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UTC+1 to +2 (not observed) |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | 243 |
| ISO 3166 code | CD |
| Internet TLD | .cd |
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a Estimate is based on regression; other PPP figures are extrapolated from the latest International Comparison Programme benchmark estimates.
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The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the country that was known as Zaïre from 1971 to 1997. It is in central Africa.
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).
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).
The country is divided into ten provinces and one city-province. The provinces are then divided into districts. The districts are divided into territories.
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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
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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
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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
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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
An Angola colobus monkey
