bia 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 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

People

Population: 50,481,305 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 48% (male 12,200,532; female 12,136,372)
15-64 years: 49% (male 12,135,901; female 12,692,057)
65 years and over: 3% (male 564,084; female 752,359) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.96% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 46.37 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 14.99 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.78 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)