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Democratic Republic of the Congo (capital Kinshasa) and neighboring states. Kinshasa was a fishing village and now has more than eight million inhabitants. The city of Brazzaville (with more than a million inhabitants) is just across the river from Kinshasa and is the capittal of the Republic of the Congo.

Wealth and National Well-Being

Country Comparisons:
2010: see chart

People

Living in an urban area: 34% (2008)

Migration
2010 estimate: More arriving than leaving, for a net gain of 0.77 persons per 1,000 People.

Literacy, Age 15 and Older
2003: males 76.2%, females 55.1 percent

Religions
Roman Catholic 50 percent, Protestant 20 percent, Muslim 10 percent, other 20 percent.

Geography

Central Africa. Almost one-quarter the size of the United States, with a coastline of only 37 kilometers. Tropical.

Government

The president is chief of state elected by popular vote to a five-year term and eligible for a second term. The prime minister heads the government and is appointed by the president. Members of a bicameral legislature (Senate and National Assembly) serve five year terms. Senators are elected by provincial assemblies. Assembly members are elected by majority vote from designated districts.

Capital: Kinshasa

Recent History

Independence from Belgium, June 30, 1960.

Formerly called Zaire and under the dictatorship of Joseph Mobutu. In 1997 Mobutu was overthrown by a rebellion led by Laurent Kabila, who was assassinated in 2001 and replaced as head of state by his son, Joseph Kabila.

Jan 22, 2009: A BBC correspondent reports that he asked a guide that he hired what he did when people like him were not around. The man speaks five languages, including two European languages fluently. He has a "university-level education and is "resourceful and hard-working," writes that correspondent. The man replied describing what the journalist called cronyism trumping merit and hard work." The correspondent, Mark Doyle, added that a driver he had hired in the country's capital, Kinshasa, "was -- I later discovered to my intense embarrassment -- a fully qualified chemical engineer. He could not get a job because he had not greased the right palms."