Map of Congo | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide19891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023 | More stats

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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 installed in 1992.


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Location: Western Africa, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean between Gabon and Zaire

Geographic coordinates

Map reference: Africa, Standard Time Zones of the World

Area
Total: 342,000 km²
Land: 341,500 km²

Land boundaries:

Coastline: 169 km
Territorial sea: 200 nm

Maritime claims

Climate

Terrain: coastal plain, southern basin, central plateau, northern basin

Elevation

Natural resources: petroleum, timber, potash, lead, zinc, uranium, copper, phosphates, natural gas

Land use
Arable land: 2%
Permanent crops: 0%
Meadows and pastures: 29%
Forest and woodland: 62%
Other: 7%

Irrigated land: 40 km² (1989)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 2,388,667 (July 1993 est.)
Growth rate: 2.44% (1993 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Congolese (singular and plural)
Adjective: Congolese or Congo south: Kongo 48% north: Sangha 20%, M'Bochi 12% center: Teke 17%, Europeans 8,500 (mostly French)

Ethnic groups

Languages: French (official), African languages (Lingala and Kikongo are the most widely used)

Religions

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 2.44% (1993 est.)

Birth rate: 40.68 births/1000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate: 16.28 deaths/1000 population (1993 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1000 population (1993 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues:

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 112.7 deaths/1000 live births (1993 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 48.04 years
Male: 46.3 years
Female: 49.84 years (1993 est.)

Total fertility rate: 5.38 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
Total population: 57%
Male: 70%
Female: 44%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of the Congo
Conventional short form: Congo
Local long form: Republique Populaire du Congo
Local short form: Congo
Former: Congo/Brazzaville

Government type: republic

Capital: Brazzaville

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

Independence: 15 August 1960 (from France)

National holiday: Congolese National Day, 15 August (1960)

Constitution: 8 July 1979, currently being modified

Legal system: based on French civil law system and customary law

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage

Executive branch: president, prime minister, Council of Ministers (cabinet)

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Assemblee Nationale) was dissolved on NA November 1992

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Cour Supreme)

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Roger ISSOMBO
In the us chancery: 4,891 Colorado Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,011
In the us telephone: (202) 726-5,500
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador James Daniel PHILLIPS
From the us embassy: Avenue Amilcar Cabral, Brazzaville
From the us mailing address: B. P. 1015, Brazzaville, or Box C, APO AE 9,828
From the us telephone: (242) 83-20-70
From the us fax: 242 83-63-38

Flag description: red, divided diagonally from the lower hoist side by a yellow band; the upper triangle (hoist side) is green and the lower triangle is red; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: Congo's economy is a mixture of village agriculture and A reform program, supported by the IMF and World Bank, ran into difficulties in 1990-91 because of problems in changing to a democratic political regime and a heavy debt-servicing burden. Oil has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy, providing about two-thirds of government revenues and exports. In the early 1980s rapidly rising oil revenues enabled Congo to finance large-scale development projects with growth averaging 5% annually, one of the highest rates in Africa. During the period 1987-91, however, growth has slowed to an average of roughly 1.5% annually, only half the population growth rate. The new government, responding to pressure from businessmen and the electorate, has promised to reduce the bureaucracy and government regulation but little has been accomplished as of early 1993.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 0.6% (1991 est.)

Real gdp per capita ppp

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 13% of GDP (including fishing and forestry; cassava accounts for 90% of food output; other crops - rice, corn, peanuts, vegetables; cash crops include coffee and cocoa; forest products important export earner; imports over 90% of food needs

Industries: petroleum, cement, lumbering, brewing, sugar milling, palm oil, soap, cigarette

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate 1.2% (1989; accounts for 33% of GDP; includes petroleum

Labor force: 79,100 wage earners
By occupation agriculture: 75%
By occupation commerce industry and government: 25%
Note:

Unemployment rate: NA%

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $765 million; expenditures $952 million, including capital expenditures of $65 million (1990)

Public debt

Taxes and other revenues

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Current account balance

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $1.1 billion (f.o.b., 1990)
Commodoties: crude oil 72%, lumber, plywood, coffee, cocoa, sugar, diamonds
Partners: US, France, other EC countries

Imports: $704 million (c.i.f., 1990)
Commodoties: foodstuffs, consumer goods, intermediate manufactures, capital equipment
Partners:

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 274.06 (January 1993), 264.69 (1992), 282.11 (1991), 272.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988)


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Electricity access

Electricity production: 140,000 kW capacity; 315 million kWh produced, 135 kWh per capita (1991)

Electricity consumption

Electricity exports

Electricity imports

Electricity installed generating capacity

Electricity transmission distribution losses

Electricity generation sources

Petroleum

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones fixed lines

Telephones mobile cellular

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet country code

Internet users

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: exchange rate conversion - $NA, NA% of GDP

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 44
Usable: 41
With permanentsurface runways: 5
With runways over 3659 m: 0
With runways 2440-3659 m: 1
With runways 1220-2439 m: 16

Airports with paved runways

Airports with unpaved runways

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 25 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: the Congo and Ubangi (Oubangui) Rivers provide 1,120 km of commercially navigable water transport; the rest are used for local traffic only

Merchant marine

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: long section with Zaire along the Congo River is indefinite (no division of the river or its islands has been made) climate astride the Equator

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs