Congo, Republic of the (2008) | World (2004) | |
Administrative divisions | 10 regions (regions, singular - region) and 1 commune*; Bouenza, Brazzaville*, Cuvette, Cuvette-Ouest, Kouilou, Lekoumou, Likouala, Niari, Plateaux, Pool, Sangha | 271 nations, dependent areas, and other entities |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 46.3% (male 885,039/female 873,753)
15-64 years: 50.8% (male 958,992/female 973,445) 65 years and over: 2.9% (male 44,994/female 64,387) (2007 est.) |
0-14 years: 28.2% (male 925,276,767; female 875,567,830)
15-64 years: 64.5% (male 2,083,789,165; female 2,033,226,759) 65 years and over: 7.2% (male 203,286,504; female 257,705,851) note: some countries do not maintain age structure information, thus a slight discrepancy exists between the total world population and the total for world age structure (2004 est.) |
Agriculture - products | cassava (tapioca), sugar, rice, corn, peanuts, vegetables, coffee, cocoa; forest products | - |
Airports | 31 (2007) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 5
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 (2007) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 26
1,524 to 2,437 m: 7 914 to 1,523 m: 10 under 914 m: 9 (2007) |
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Area | total: 342,000 sq km
land: 341,500 sq km water: 500 sq km |
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km water: 361.132 million sq km note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Montana | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
Background | Upon independence in 1960, the former French region of Middle Congo became the Republic of the Congo. A quarter century of experimentation with Marxism was abandoned in 1990 and a democratically elected government took office in 1992. A brief civil war in 1997 restored former Marxist President Denis SASSOU-NGUESSO, and ushered in a period of ethnic and political unrest. Southern-based rebel groups agreed to a final peace accord in March 2003, but the calm is tenuous and refugees continue to present a humanitarian crisis. The Republic of Congo was once one of Africa's largest petroleum producers, but with declining production it will need to hope for new offshore oil finds to sustain its oil earnings over the long term. | Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war). |
Birth rate | 42.16 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 20.24 births/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $3.639 billion
expenditures: $2.104 billion (2007 est.) |
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Capital | name: Brazzaville
geographic coordinates: 4 15 S, 15 17 E time difference: UTC+1 (six hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
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Climate | tropical; rainy season (March to June); dry season (June to October); persistent high temperatures and humidity; particularly enervating climate astride the Equator | two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones form a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates |
Coastline | 169 km | 356,000 km
note: 98 nations and other entities are islands that border no other countries, they include: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Baker Island, Barbados, Bassas da India, Bermuda, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominica, Europa Island, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Glorioso Islands, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island, Iceland, Jamaica, Jan Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Juan de Nova Island, Kingman Reef, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Isle of Man, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Federated States of Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru, Navassa Island, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spratly Islands, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tromelin Island, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and Futuna, Taiwan |
Constitution | approved by referendum 20 January 2002 | - |
Country name | conventional long form: Republic of the Congo
conventional short form: Congo (Brazzaville) local long form: Republique du Congo local short form: none former: Middle Congo, Congo/Brazzaville, Congo |
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Death rate | 12.59 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 8.86 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Debt - external | $5 billion (2000 est.) | $2 trillion for less developed countries (2002 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Robert WEISBERG
embassy: BDEAC Building, 4th Floor, Brazzaville mailing address: NA telephone: [242] 81-1480 FAX:: [243] 81-5324 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Serge MOMBOULI
chancery: 4891 Colorado Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20011 telephone: [1] (202) 726-5500 FAX: [1] (202) 726-1860 |
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Disputes - international | Congo hosts about 63,000 refugees from neighboring states, primarily from the Pool border area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the location of the boundary in the broad Congo River with the Democratic Republic of the Congo is indefinite except in the Pool Malebo/Stanley Pool area | stretching over 250,000 km, the world's 325 international land boundaries separate the 192 independent states and 72 dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities; ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided states into separate political entities as much as history, physical terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in sometimes arbitrary and imposed boundaries; maritime states have claimed limits and have so far established over 130 maritime boundaries and joint development zones to allocate ocean resources and to provide for national security at sea; boundary, borderland/resource, and territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to violent or militarized; most disputes over the alignment of political boundaries are confined to short segments and are today less common and less hostile than borderland, resource, and territorial disputes; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and unmanaged boundaries, however, encourage illegal cross-border activities, uncontrolled migration, and confrontation; territorial disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural claims, or they may be brought on by resource competition; ethnic clashes continue to be responsible for much of the territorial fragmentation around the world; disputes over islands at sea or in rivers frequently form the source of territorial and boundary conflict; other sources of contention include access to water and mineral (especially petroleum) resources, fisheries, and arable land; nonetheless, most nations cooperate to clarify their international boundaries and to resolve territorial and resource disputes peacefully; regional discord directly affects the sustenance and welfare of local populations, often leaving the world community to cope with resultant refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, deforestation, and desertification |
Economic aid - recipient | $1.449 billion (2005) | official development assistance (ODA) $50 billion |
Economy - overview | The economy is a mixture of subsistance agriculture, an industrial sector based largely on oil, and support services, and a government characterized by budget problems and overstaffing. Oil has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy, providing a major share of government revenues and exports. In the early 1980s, rapidly rising oil revenues enabled the government to finance large-scale development projects with GDP growth averaging 5% annually, one of the highest rates in Africa. The government has mortgaged a substantial portion of its oil earnings through oil-backed loans that have contributed to a growing debt burden and chronic revenue shortfalls. Economic reform efforts have been undertaken with the support of international organizations, notably the World Bank and the IMF. However, the reform program came to a halt in June 1997 when civil war erupted. Denis SASSOU-NGUESSO, who returned to power when the war ended in October 1997, publicly expressed interest in moving forward on economic reforms and privatization and in renewing cooperation with international financial institutions. Economic progress was badly hurt by slumping oil prices and the resumption of armed conflict in December 1998, which worsened the republic's budget deficit. The current administration presides over an uneasy internal peace and faces difficult economic challenges of stimulating recovery and reducing poverty. Recovery of oil prices has boosted the economy's GDP and near-term prospects. In March 2006, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) treatment for Congo. | Global output rose by 3.7% in 2003, led by China (9.1%), India (7.6%), and Russia (7.3%). The other 14 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as strong performers, in the 5%-7% range of growth. Growth results posted by the major industrial countries varied from a loss by Germany (-0.1%) to a strong gain by the United States (3.1%). The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that erode gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is losing decision-making powers to international bodies. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuate a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic prospects. After the coalition victory, the complex political difficulties and the high economic cost of establishing domestic order in Iraq became major global problems that continue into 2004. |
Electricity - consumption | 5.272 billion kWh (2005) | 13.94 trillion kWh (2001 est.) |
Electricity - exports | 1.8 billion kWh (2005) | - |
Electricity - imports | 6 million kWh (2005) | - |
Electricity - production | 7.341 billion kWh (2005) | 14.93 trillion kWh (2001 est.) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Berongou 903 m |
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.) |
Environment - current issues | air pollution from vehicle emissions; water pollution from the dumping of raw sewage; tap water is not potable; deforestation | large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
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Ethnic groups | Kongo 48%, Sangha 20%, M'Bochi 12%, Teke 17%, Europeans and other 3% | - |
Exchange rates | Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XAF) per US dollar - 483.6 (2007), 522.59 (2006), 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003) | - |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Denis SASSOU-NGUESSO (since 25 October 1997, following the civil war in which he toppled elected president Pascal LISSOUBA);
head of government: Prime Minister Isidore MVOUBA (since 7 January 2005) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 10 March 2002 (next to be held in 2009) election results: Denis SASSOU-NGUESSO reelected president; percent of vote - Denis SASSOU-NGUESSO 89.4%, Joseph Kignoumbi Kia MBOUNGOU 2.7% |
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Exports | 20,750 bbl/day (2004) | 712 billion cu m (2001 est.) |
Exports - commodities | petroleum, lumber, plywood, sugar, cocoa, coffee, diamonds | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Exports - partners | US 35.9%, China 31.4%, Taiwan 9.9%, South Korea 8% (2006) | US 16.4%, Germany 7.9%, UK 5.2%, France 5.1%, China 5%, Japan 4.6% (2003) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
Flag description | divided diagonally from the lower hoist side by a yellow band; the upper triangle (hoist side) is green and the lower triangle is red
note: uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia |
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GDP | - | GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $51.48 trillion (2003 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 5.6%
industry: 57.1% services: 37.3% (2006 est.) |
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32% services: 64% (2004 est.) |
GDP - per capita | - | purchasing power parity - $8,200 (2003 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 2.8% (2007 est.) | 3.8% (2003 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 1 00 S, 15 00 E | - |
Geography - note | about 70% of the population lives in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire, or along the railroad between them | the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13-billion-year age estimated for the universe |
Highways | - | total: NA km
paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA |
Illicit drugs | - | cocaine: worldwide, coca is grown on an estimated 173,450 hectares-almost exclusively in South America with 70% in Colombia; potential cocaine production during 2003 is estimated at 728 metric tons (or 835 metric tons of export quality cocaine); coca eradication programs continue in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru; 376 metric tons of export quality cocaine are documented to have been seized in 2003, and 26 metric tons disrupted (jettisoned or destroyed); consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have been 800 metric tons
opiates: cultivation of opium poppy occurred on an estimated 137,944 hectares in 2003-mostly in Southwest and Southeast Asia-with 44% in Afghanistan, potentially produced 3,775 metric tons of opium - which conceivably could be converted to the equivalent of 429 metric tons of pure heroin; opium eradication programs have been undertaken in Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam |
Imports | 11,410 bbl/day (2004) | 697.5 billion cu m (2001 est.) |
Imports - commodities | capital equipment, construction materials, foodstuffs | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Imports - partners | France 23.5%, China 13.2%, US 7.6%, India 7%, Italy 5.6%, Belgium 5.3% (2006) | US 9.9%, Germany 9.4%, China 7.9%, Japan 6.7%, France 4.7% (2003) |
Independence | 15 August 1960 (from France) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | -1% (2007 est.) | 3% (2002 est.) |
Industries | petroleum extraction, cement, lumber, brewing, sugar, palm oil, soap, flour, cigarettes | dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
Infant mortality rate | total: 83.26 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 88.93 deaths/1,000 live births female: 77.42 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
total: 50.31 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 52.17 deaths/1,000 live births female: 48.33 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 7% (2007 est.) | developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several Third World countries (2003 est.) |
International organization participation | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, BDEAC, CEMAC, FAO, FZ, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM, OIF, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO | - |
Irrigated land | 20 sq km (2003) | 2,714,320 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court or Cour Supreme | - |
Labor force | NA | NA |
Labor force - by occupation | - | agriculture NA, industry NA, services NA |
Land boundaries | total: 5,504 km
border countries: Angola 201 km, Cameroon 523 km, Central African Republic 467 km, Democratic Republic of the Congo 2,410 km, Gabon 1,903 km |
the land boundaries in the world total 250,472 km (not counting shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border 14 other countries
note: 43 nations and other areas are landlocked, these include: Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked |
Land use | arable land: 1.45%
permanent crops: 0.15% other: 98.4% (2005) |
arable land: 10.73%
permanent crops: 1% other: 88.27% (2001) |
Languages | French (official), Lingala and Monokutuba (lingua franca trade languages), many local languages and dialects (of which Kikongo is the most widespread) | Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish 5.59%, Bengali 3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese 2.06%, German, Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only |
Legal system | based on French civil law system and customary law | all members of the UN are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
Legislative branch | bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (66 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and the National Assembly (137 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held 11 July 2002 (next to be held in 2008); National Assembly - last held 24 June and 5 August 2007 (next to be held in 2012) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - FDP 56, other 10; National Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PCT 46, MCDDI 11, UPADS 11, MAR 5, MSD 5, independents 37, other 22 |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population: 53.29 years
male: 52.1 years female: 54.52 years (2007 est.) |
total population: 64.05 years
male: 62.48 years female: 65.7 years (2004 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 83.8% male: 89.6% female: 78.4% (2003 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 77% male: 83% female: 71% (1995 est.) |
Location | Western Africa, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Angola and Gabon | - |
Map references | Africa | Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 200 nm | a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: territorial sea - 12 nm, contiguous zone - 24 nm, and exclusive economic zone - 200 nm; additional zones provide for exploitation of continental shelf resources and an exclusive fishing zone; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm |
Merchant marine | registered in other countries: 1 (Congo, Democratic Republic of the 1) (2007) | - |
Military branches | Congolese Armed Forces (Forces Armees Congolaises, FAC): Army, Navy, Congolese Air Force (Armee de l'Air Congolaise), Gendarmerie, Special Presidential Security Guard (GSSP) (2008) | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 3.1% (2006) | roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.) |
National holiday | Independence Day, 15 August (1960) | - |
Nationality | noun: Congolese (singular and plural)
adjective: Congolese or Congo |
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Natural hazards | seasonal flooding | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
Natural resources | petroleum, timber, potash, lead, zinc, uranium, copper, phosphates, gold, magnesium, natural gas, hydropower | the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address |
Net migration rate | -3.17 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) | - |
Pipelines | gas 89 km; liquid petroleum gas 4 km; oil 758 km (2007) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Action Movement for Renewal or MAR; Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integral Development or MCDDI [Michel MAMPOUYA]; Congolese Labour Party or PCT; Movement for Solidarity and Development or MSD; Pan-African Union for Social Development or UPADS [Martin MBERI]; Rally for Democracy and Social Progress or RDPS [Jean-Pierre Thystere TCHICAYA, president]; Rally for Democracy and the Republic or RDR [Raymond Damasge NGOLLO]; Union for Democracy and Republic or UDR; Union of Democratic Forces or UFD [Sebastian EBAO]; many less important parties | - |
Political pressure groups and leaders | Congolese Trade Union Congress or CSC; General Union of Congolese Pupils and Students or UGEEC; Revolutionary Union of Congolese Women or URFC; Union of Congolese Socialist Youth or UJSC | - |
Population | 3,800,610
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.) |
6,379,157,361 (July 2004 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | - |
Population growth rate | 2.639% (2007 est.) | 1.14% (2004 est.) |
Ports and harbors | - | Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 5, shortwave 3 (2001) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
Railways | total: 894 km
narrow gauge: 894 km 1.067-m gauge (2006) |
total: 1,115,205 km
broad gauge: 257,481 km standard gauge: 671,413 km narrow gauge: 186,311 km (2003) |
Religions | Christian 50%, animist 48%, Muslim 2% | Christians 32.71% (of which Roman Catholics 17.28%, Protestants 5.61%, Orthodox 3.49%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.67%, Hindus 13.28%, Buddhists 5.84%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.23%, other religions 13.05%, non-religious 12.43%, atheists 2.41% (2002 est.) |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.013 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.985 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.699 male(s)/female total population: 0.988 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2004 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | - |
Telephone system | general assessment: services barely adequate for government use; key exchanges are in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire, and Loubomo; intercity lines frequently out of order; fixed-line infrastructure inadequate providing less than 1 connection per 100 persons; mobile-cellular subscribership has surged reaching 16 per 100 persons
domestic: primary network consists of microwave radio relay and coaxial cable international: country code - 242; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 15,900 (2005) | 843,923,500 (2003) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 490,000 (2005) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | 1 (2001) | NA |
Terrain | coastal plain, southern basin, central plateau, northern basin | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
Total fertility rate | 5.99 children born/woman (2007 est.) | 2.62 children born/woman (2004 est.) |
Unemployment rate | NA% | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment |
Waterways | 1,125 km (commercially navigable on Congo and Oubanqui rivers) (2006) | - |