Congo 
Facts
Population: 65,751,512
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 and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2007 est.).
Age structure: 0-14 years: 47.6% (male 15,718,614/female 15,557,058)
15-64 years: 49.9% (male 16,224,734/female 16,571,549)
65 years and over: 2.6% (male 680,313/female 999,244) (2007 est.).
Population growth rate: 3.39% (2007 est.).
Birth rate: 42.96 births/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Death rate: 10.34 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Net migration rate: 1.28 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.979 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.681 male(s)/female
total population: 0.985 male(s)/female (2007 est.).
Infant mortality rate: total: 65.52 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 71.55 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 59.32 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.).
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 57.2 years
male: 54.97 years
female: 59.5 years (2007 est.).
Total fertility rate: 6.37 children born/woman (2007 est.).
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 4.2% (2003 est.).
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 1.1 million (2003 est.).
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 100,000 (2003 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 tribes - Mongo, 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 (includes syncretic sects and indigenous 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: 65.5%
male: 76.2%
female: 55.1% (2003 est.).
GDP (purchasing power parity): $44.44 billion (2006 est.).
GDP - real growth rate: 6.4% (2006 est.).
GDP - per capita (PPP): $700 (2006 est.).
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 55%
industry: 11%
services: 34% (2000 est.).
Labor force: 15 million (2006 est.).
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%.
Population below poverty line: NA%.
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%.
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 18.2% (2006 est.).
Unemployment rate: NA%.
Budget: revenues: $700 million
expenditures: $2 billion (2006 est.).
Agriculture - products: coffee, sugar, palm oil, rubber, tea, quinine, cassava (tapioca), palm oil, bananas, root crops, corn, fruits; wood products.
Industries: mining (diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt, coltan zinc), mineral processing, consumer products (including textiles, footwear, cigarettes, processed foods and beverages), cement, commercial ship repair.
Industrial production growth rate: NA%.
Electricity - production: 353 million kWh (2004).
Electricity - consumption: 658.3 million kWh (2004).
Electricity - exports: NA.
Electricity - imports: 330 million kWh (2004).
Exports: $1.108 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.).
Exports - commodities: diamonds, copper, crude oil, coffee, cobalt.
Exports - partners: Belgium 38.2%, US 17.8%, China 11.7%, France 8%, Finland 7.8%, Chile 4.3% (2005).
Imports: $1.319 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.).
Imports - commodities: foodstuffs, mining and other machinery, transport equipment, fuels.
Imports - partners: South Africa 17.7%, Belgium 15.3%, France 8.6%, Kenya 7.5%, Zambia 6.6%, Germany 4.4%, US 4.3%, Cote d'Ivoire 4.1% (2005).
Debt - external: $10 billion (2006 est.).
Economic aid - recipient: $2.2 billion (FY03/04).
Currency (code): Congolese franc (CDF).
Exchange rates: Congolese francs per US dollar - 464.69 (2006), 437.86 (2005), 401.04 (2004), 405.34 (2003), 346.49 (2002).
Fiscal year: calendar year.
Statistics: C.I.A. World Factbook. Updated: July 20, 2007.
Press
Courier d'Afrique
(Government-controlled), Kinshasa
Elima
(Government-owned), Kinshasa
(French-language), Kinshasa
http://www.groupelavenir.com
(Opposition), Kinshasa
http://www.le-phare.com/
Le Potentiel
(French-language), Kinshasa
(French language), Brazzaville
http://www.brazzaville-adiac.com/
Numerica
(Independent biweekly), Kinshasa
Congo in the News
1 2 3 4 5 6 
Displaying 9 to 12 of 22 items.
Writing in Kampala's The Monitor, J.B. Kabagambe surveys centuries of war and plunder in the Congo.
Where is Congo’s coalition of the willing? The question arises as I view pictures of atrocities, mass graves, and terror-stricken children whose eyes speak volumes of the horrors they have witnessed. As haunting as any images I have seen, they are largely absent from the U.S. media and thus are not on Americans’ minds.
In this editorial from Kinshasa's L'Avenir, J. Diana G. suggests that cynical motives lie behind the recent international intervention in the Congo.
World Press Review Paris correspondent Brent Gregston reports on a press conference given by the human-rights minister for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ntumba Luaba, to the Foreign Press Association in Paris.
Americas 
