e: 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: Margherita Peak (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 potential, 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: 49,000,511 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 48% (male 11,829,386; female 11,766,829)
15-64 years: 49% (male 11,778,121; female 12,339,837)
65 years and over: 3% (male 557,095; female 729,243) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.99% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 46.77 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 15.2 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.63 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)
note: in 1994, about a million refugees fled into Zaire (now called
Democratic Republic of the Congo), to escape the fighting between