People
Population: 50,481,305 (July 1999 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 48% (male 12,200,532; female 12,136,372)
15-64 years: 49% (male 12,135,901; female 12,692,057)
65 years and over: 3% (male 564,084; female 752,359) (1999 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.96% (1999 est.)
Birth rate: 46.37 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death rate: 14.99 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Net migration rate: -1.78 migrant(s)/1,000
population (1999 est.)
note: in 1994, about a million refugees fled into Zaire (now called
the Democratic Republic of the Congo or DROC), to escape the fighting
between the Hutus and the Tutsis in Rwanda and Burundi; the outbreak
of widespread fighting in the DROC between rebels and government
forces in October 1996 spurred about 875,000 refugees to return
to Rwanda in late 1996 and early 1997; additionally,the DROC is
host to 200,000 Angolan, 110,000 Burundi, 100,000 Sudanese, and
15,000 Ugandan refugees; renewed fighting in the DROC in August
1998 resulted in more internal displacement and refugee outflows
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (1999 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 99.45 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 49.44 years
male: 47.28 years
female: 51.67 years (1999 est.)
Total fertility rate: 6.45 children born/woman (1999 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Congolese (singular and plural)
adjective: Congolese or Congo
Ethnic groups: over 200 African ethnic groups of which the majority are Bantu; the four largest tribesMongo, Luba, Kongo (all Bantu), and the Mangbetu-Azande (Hamitic) make up about 45% of the population
Religions: Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant 20%, Kimbanguist 10%, Muslim 10%, other syncretic sects and traditional beliefs 10%
Languages: French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write French, Lingala,
Kingwana, or Tshiluba
total population: 77.3%
male: 86.6%
female: 67.7% (1995 est.)