Natural resources: cobalt, copper, cadmium, petroleum, industrial and gem diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore, coal, hydropower potential
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, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Desertification, Environmental Modification, Tropical Timber 94
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: 47,440,362 (July 1997 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years : 48% (male 11,418,713; female 11,378,403) 15-64 years: 49% (male 11,412,269; female 11,980,993) 65 years and over: 3% (male 541,435; female 708,549) (July 1997 est.)