straddles equator; has 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
Congo, Democratic Republic of the
Population:
66,514,504 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2008 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 47.1% (male 15,711,817/female 15,594,449) 15-64 years: 50.4% (male 16,672,399/female 16,875,468) 65 years and over: 2.5% (male 674,766/female 985,607) (2008 est.)
Median age:
total: 16.3 years male: 16.1 years female: 16.5 years (2008 est.)
Population growth rate:
3.236% (2008 est.)