Congo DR
population: UN projection (1 Jul 2026) · indicators as of 5 Sep 2026 · 25 metros tracked
🗺️ Geography25 metros
Congo DR metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.
Select a metro for its rank and a link to its page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.
🏙️ 25 tracked metros
🗂️ Provinces
26 entries listed under Congo DR. Select any to see its metros and footprint.
📋 At a glance
- Official language
- French
- Currency
- Congolese franc (CDF)
- Government
- Republic
- Legislature
- Parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Constitution
- 2005, 1 amendment event since
- Demonym
- Congolese
- Time zones
- UTC+01:00, UTC+02:00
- Driving side
- Right
- Calling code
- +243
- Internet TLD
- .cd
- ISO 3166
- CD
- Established
- 1960
- Highest point
- Mount Stanley (5,109 m (16,762 ft))
- National anthem
- Debout Congolais
Facts via Wikidata.
🗣️ Languages of Congo DR
French first; 2 languages share the country; 1 official.
| Language | Share | Status | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| French | 51% | Official | CLDR, country |
| Swahili | 50% | Regional | CLDR, country |
| Luba-Lulua | 9.6% | Regional | CLDR, country |
| Kinshasa Lingala | 3.1% | Regional | CLDR, country |
| Luba-Katanga | 2.3% | None | CLDR, country |
| Kongo | 1.5% | Regional | CLDR, country |
Shares count first and second language, so they overlap and can add past 100%.
- Effective languages
- 1.9
- Official-language gap
- 49%
- French is spoken by 51%
📰 In the news1 story
Semafor · 29 Aug 2026
DRC signs US-backed mineral rail deal with AngolaFurther reading from the day's section on Venezuela, Hormuz and the shape of American power.
💹 Economy and developmentLow income
Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.
🏛️ Leadership History7 leaders · click to expand
is an editorial flag: associated with atrocities against civilians, systemic subversion of the constitutional order, or a criminal conviction (political persecutions and annulled convictions excluded). It is a curated list, not a measurement, so a name without one has not been cleared of anything. Hover a badge for the reason on file.
Tshisekedi era
Kabila era
Kabila era (post-Mobutu)
Mobutu dictatorship (Zaire)
First Republic
First Republic (independence)
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
The power line is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.
⚔️ Wars and conflicts2 interstate wars · click to expand
| Conflict | Years | Against | Combat deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict (2022–present) | 2022–2025 | Rwanda,March 23 Movement | 7,000+ |
| First Congo War● | 1996–1997 | AFDL,Rwanda,Uganda,Burundi,Angola,SPLA,Eritrea | 235,000–250,000 |
Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”
👥 Population over time
Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.
👥 To 2100
The UN’s probabilistic projection for Congo DR: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.
What drives it
Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.
Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.
🏆 National Teams
Congo DR on the international stage. Select a card for the full record.
National Teams Champions
Every major championship won by Congo DR's national teams, newest first. 2 in total.
| Year | Date | Champion | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | 1974-03-14 | Zaire | Africa Cup of Nations |
| 1968 | 1968-01-21 | Congo DR | Africa Cup of Nations |