Home > Factbook > Countries > Congo, Democratic Republic of the
| Location | Central Africa, northeast of Angola |
| Geographic coordinates | 0 00 N, 25 00 E |
| Map references | Africa |
| Area | total: 2,344,858 sq km land: 2,267,048 sq km water: 77,810 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly less than one-fourth the size of the US |
| Land boundaries | total: 11,027 km border countries (9): Angola 2646 km (of which 225 km is the boundary of Angola's discontiguous Cabinda Province), Burundi 236 km, Central African Republic 1747 km, Republic of the Congo 1775 km, Rwanda 221 km, South Sudan 714 km, Tanzania 479 km, Uganda 877 km, Zambia 2332 km |
| Coastline | 37 km |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: since 2011, the DRC has had a Common Interest Zone agreement with Angola for the mutual development of off-shore resources |
| 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 | highest point: Pic Marguerite on Mont Ngaliema (Mount Stanley) 5,110 m lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m mean elevation: 726 m |
| Natural resources | cobalt, copper, niobium, tantalum, petroleum, industrial and gem diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, uranium, coal, hydropower, timber |
| Land use | agricultural land: 11.4% (2018 est.) arable land: 3.1% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 0.3% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 8% (2018 est.) forest: 67.9% (2018 est.) other: 20.7% (2018 est.) |
| Irrigated land | 110 sq km (2012) |
| Total renewable water resources | 1.283 trillion cubic meters (2017 est.) |
| Natural hazards | periodic droughts in south; Congo River floods (seasonal); active volcanoes in the east along the Great Rift Valley volcanism: Nyiragongo (3,470 m), which erupted in 2002 and is experiencing ongoing activity, poses a major threat to the city of Goma, home to a quarter million people; the volcano produces unusually fast-moving lava, known to travel up to 100 km /hr; Nyiragongo has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; its neighbor, Nyamuragira, which erupted in 2010, is Africa's most active volcano; Visoke is the only other historically active volcano |
| Geography - note | note 1: second largest country in Africa (after Algeria) and largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa; straddles the equator; dense tropical rain forest in central river basin and eastern highlands; the narrow strip of land that controls the lower Congo River is the DRC's only outlet to the South Atlantic Ocean note 2: because of its speed, cataracts, rapids, and turbulence the Congo River, most of which flows through the DRC, has never been accurately measured along much of its length; nonetheless, it is conceded to be the deepest river in the world; estimates of its greatest depth vary between 220 and 250 meters |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
