25 00 E

Map references: Africa

Area: total: 2,345,410 sq km

land: 2,267,600 sq km

water: 77,810 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly less than one-fourth the size of the US

Land boundaries: total: 10,744 km

border countries: Angola 2,511 km, Burundi 233 km, Central African
Republic 1,577 km, Republic of the Congo 2,410 km, Rwanda 217 km,
Sudan 628 km, Tanzania 473 km, Uganda 765 km, Zambia 1,930 km

Coastline: 37 km

Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: boundaries with neighbors

territorial sea: 12 NM

Climate: tropical; hot and humid in equatorial river basin; cooler
and drier in southern highlands; cooler and wetter in eastern
highlands; north of Equator - wet season April to October, dry
season December to February; south of Equator - wet season November
to March, dry season April to October

Terrain: vast central basin is a low-lying plateau; mountains in east

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m

highest point: Pic Marguerite on Mont Ngaliema (Mount Stanley)
5,110 m

Natural resources: cobalt, copper, cadmium, petroleum, industrial
and gem diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium,
uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore, coal, hydropower, timber

Land use: arable land: 3%

permanent crops: 0%

permanent pastures: 7%

forests and woodland: 77%

other: 13% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 100 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: periodic droughts in south; volcanic activity

Environment - current issues: poaching threatens wildlife
populations; water pollution; deforestation; refugees who arrived in
mid-1994 were responsible for significant deforestation, soil
erosion, and wildlife poaching in the eastern part of the country
(most of those refugees were repatriated in November and December
1996)

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous
Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification

Geography - note: straddles Equator; very narrow strip of land that
controls the lower Congo river and is only outlet to South Atlantic
Ocean; dense tropical rain forest in central river basin and eastern
highlands

Congo, Democratic Republic of the People

Population: 53,624,718

note: estimates for this country explici