Africa, northeast of Angola
Geographic coordinates:
0 00 N, 25 00 E
Map references:
Africa
Area:
total: 2,344,858 sq km country comparison to the world: 12 land: 2,267,048 sq km
water: 77,810 sq km
Area - comparative:
slightly less than one-fourth the size of the US
Land boundaries:
total: 10,730 km
border countries: Angola 2,511 km (of which 225 km is the boundary of Angola's discontiguous Cabinda Province), Burundi 233 km, Central African Republic 1,577 km, Republic of the Congo 2,410 km, Rwanda 217 km, Sudan 628 km, Tanzania 459 km, Uganda 765 km, Zambia 1,930 km
Coastline:
37 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: boundaries with neighbors
Climate:
tropical; 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)
Terrain:
vast central basin is a low-lying plateau; mountains in east
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pic Marguerite on Mont Ngaliema (Mount Stanley) 5,110 m
Natural resources:
cobalt, copper, niobium, tantalum, petroleum, industrial and gem diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, uranium, coal, hydropower, timber
Land use:
arable land: 2.86%
permanent crops: 0.47%
other: 96.67% (2005)
Irrigated land:
110 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources:
1,283 cu km (2001)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
total: 0.36 cu km/yr (53%/17%/31%)
per capita: 6 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards:
periodic droughts in south; Congo River floods (seasonal); in the east, in the Great Rift Valley, there are active volcanoes
volcanism: Nyiragongo (elev. 3,470 m, 11,384 ft), which erupted in 2002 and is experiencing ongoing activity, poses a major threat to the city of Goma, home to a quarter of a million people; the volcano produces unusually fast-moving lava, known to travel up to 100 km (60 mi)/hr; Nyiragongo has been deemed a "Decade Volcano" by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; its neighbor, Nyamuragira, which erupted in 2010, is Africa's most active volcano; Visoke is the only other historically active volcano
Environment - current issues:
poaching threatens wildlife populations; water pollution; deforestation; refugees responsible for significant deforestation, soil erosion, and wildlife poaching; mining of minerals (coltan - a mineral used in creating capacitors, diamonds, and gold) causing environmental damage
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification
Geography - note:
straddles equator; has narrow strip of land that controls the lower Congo River and is only outlet to South Atlantic Ocean; dense tropical rain forest in central river basin and eastern highlands
People ::Congo, Democratic Republic of the
Population:
70,916,439 country comparison to the world: 19 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2010 est.)
Age structure:
0–14 years: 46.9% (male 16,161,301/female 16,038,024)
15–64 years: 50.6% (male 17,289,453/female 17,483,027)
65 years and over: 2.5% (male 699,667/female 1,021,070) (2010 est.)
Median age:
total: 16.5 years
male: 16.3 years
female: 16.7 years (2010 est.)
Population growth rate:
3.165% (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 10
Birth rate:
42.26 births/1,000 population (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 9
Death rate:
11.39 deaths/1,000 population (July 2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 37
Net migration rate:
0.77 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 59
Urbanization:
urban population: 34% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 5.1% annual rate of change (2005–10 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
