Republic of the Congo Country Overview
Where is Republic of the Congo located? The Republic of the Congo is located in Central Africa. It is also known as Congo-Brazzaville because of its capital, Brazzaville. The Republic of the Congo became independent from France in 1960. On the time zone map, Congo is located in an area called “West Africa Time” (WAT) and has a standard hour difference from coordinated world time. Accordingly, clocks in Congo are always one hour later than universal time (UTC+1). There is no changeover to daylight saving time in summer.
Population Distribution
As of 2023, the latest population of Republic of the Congo is 5,293,070, based on our calculation of the current data from UN (United Nations).
| Total population | 5,293,070 |
| Population growth rate | 2.26% |
| Birth rate | 34.40 births per 1,000 people |
| Life expectancy | |
| Overall | 55.60 years |
| Men | 54.27 years |
| Women | 56.96 years |
| Age structure | |
| 0-14 years | 41.75% |
| 15-64 years | 55.15% |
| 65 years and above | 3.10% |
| Median age | 19.80 years |
| Gender ratio (Male to Female) | 0.99 |
| Population density | 15.48 residents per km² |
| Urbanization | 53.50% |
| Ethnicities | |
| especially Bantu groups: 52% Bakongo u. Vili-Congo, 24% Bateke u. Bavili, 12% Mbochi; so-called pygmies, Ubangi groups and others | |
| Religions | |
| Christians 50%, animists 48%, Muslims 2% | |
| Human Development Index (HDI) | 0.609 |
| HDI ranking | 138th out of 194 |
People in Republic of Congo
More than 5 million people live in the Republic of the Congo. Most of the Congolese live in the south and southeast of the country. Around half of the population live in the two cities of Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire.
98 percent of the population belong to a Bantu people. The largest of these Bantu peoples in the Republic of the Congo is the Bakongo people (around 40 percent). The Bakongo are the descendants of the residents of the Kingdom of the Congo. They live mainly on the coast of the Republic of the Congo, where their settlement area extends to Angola. There are several subgroups like the Lari or Vili. About 18 percent of the population are Batéké, 12 percent are Mboschi and 11 percent are Kuyu.
The original population were pygmy peoples. Today they only make up about one percent of the population. Another minority are Europeans.
Languages in Republic of Congo
The official language is French. This is a legacy from colonial times when the Republic of the Congo was a French colony.
The residents mainly use Lingála and Kituba to communicate. Both are recognized as national languages. Lingála was originally the language of the Bangala people who lived in the area between the Congo and Ubangi rivers. It is mainly spoken in the north of the Republic of the Congo. Kituba is a creole language based on the Bantu language Kikongo. It is spoken more in the south of the country.
There are also the languages of the individual peoples, such as Kikongo, Mbosi, Teke or Koyo. A total of 62 languages are spoken in the Republic of the Congo.
Religions in Republic of Congo
79 percent of the Congolese are Christians. The majority are Catholics (33.1 percent). 22 percent belong to revival movements. These are Christian churches that value the conversion of the individual and a particularly Christian way of life. 19.9 percent are Protestants.