Demographics of the Republic of the Congo

This article is about the demographic features of the population of the Republic of the Congo, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

The Republic of the Congo's sparse population is concentrated in the southwestern portion of the country, leaving the vast areas of tropical jungle in the north virtually uninhabited. Thus, Congo is one of the most urbanized countries in Africa, with 85% of its total population living in a few urban areas, namely in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire, or one of the small cities or villages lining the 332-mile railway which connects the two cities. In rural areas, industrial and commercial activity has declined rapidly in recent years, leaving rural economies dependent on the government for support and subsistence. Before the 1997 war, about 15,000 Europeans and other non-Africans lived in Congo, most of whom were French. Presently, only about 9,500 remain. Pygmies make up 2% of Congo's population.

Population

Population of the Republic of the Congo, Data of FAO, year 2005

According to the 2010 revison of the World Population Prospects the total population was 4 043 000 in 2010, compared to only 808 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 40.6%, 55.7% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.7% was 65 years or older .

	Total population (x 1000)	Population aged 0–14 (%)	Population aged 15–64 (%)	Population aged 65+ (%)
1950	808	40.1	56.4	3.5
1955	899	40.5	55.9	3.6
1960	1 014	41.4	55.0	3.7
1965	1 158	42.5	53.7	3.8
1970	1 335	43.5	52.7	3.8
1975	1 555	44.2	52.0	3.8
1980	1 798	44.8	51.4	3.8
1985	2 081	44.6	51.7	3.7
1990	2 389	43.7	52.5	3.7
1995	2 733	42.5	53.7	3.7
2000	3 136	41.5	54.7	3.7
2005	3 533	41.3	55.0	3.7
2010	4 043	40.6	55.7	3.7

Structure of the population

Structure of the population (01.07.2009) (Estimates) :

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	1 891 558	1 946 680	3 838 238	100
0-4	294 305	292 273	586 578	15,28
5-9	238 682	237 182	475 864	12,40
10-14	208 162	208 912	417 074	10,87
15-19	186 405	196 268	382 673	9,97
20-24	167 519	191 226	358 745	9,35
25-29	160 897	178 236	339 133	8,84
30-34	152 642	151 367	304 009	7,92
35-39	131 794	123 203	254 997	6,64
40-44	103 248	95 346	198 594	5,17
45-49	76 921	71 887	148 798	3,88
50-54	54 925	56 887	111 812	2,91
55-59	38 051	42 791	80 842	2,11
60-64	27 592	32 009	59 601	1,55
65-69	20 879	25 827	46 706	1,22
70-74	14 954	20 007	34 961	0,91
75-79	8 820	13 048	21 868	0,57
80+	5 762	10 221	15 983	0,42

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	741 149	738 367	1 479 516	38,55
15-64	1 099 994	1 139 210	2 239 204	58,34
65+	50 415	69 103	119 518	3,11

Structure of the population (DHS 2011-2012) (Males 23 630, Females 25 193 = 48 823) :

Age Group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0-4	18,2	17,3	17,7
5-9	15,0	13,8	14,4
10-14	12,4	11,0	11,7
15-19	9,6	9,4	9,5
20-24	7,0	9,4	8,3
25-29	7,0	8,6	7,8
30-34	6,9	6,8	6,8
35-39	6,4	6,1	6,3
40-44	4,8	3,8	4,3
45-49	3,9	3,2	3,6
50-54	2,8	3,3	3,1
55-59	1,8	2,1	2,0
60-64	1,6	1,8	1,7
65-69	1,0	1,1	1,1
70-74	0,9	1,0	0,9
75-79	0,4	0,5	0,5
80+	0,4	0,6	0,5

Age group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0-14	45,6	42,1	43,8
15-64	51,7	54,7	53,2
65+	2,7	3,2	3,0

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events in the Republic of the Congo is incomplete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.

Period	Live births per year	Deaths per year	Natural change per year	CBR*	CDR*	NC*	TFR*	IMR*
1950-1955	36 000	18 000	18 000	42.2	20.9	21.4	5.68	142
1955-1960	40 000	17 000	23 000	42.3	18.3	24.0	5.79	123
1960-1965	46 000	18 000	29 000	42.8	16.2	26.6	5.99	107
1965-1970	54 000	18 000	35 000	43.1	14.8	28.3	6.19	97
1970-1975	62 000	20 000	43 000	43.1	13.7	29.4	6.29	89
1975-1980	72 000	21 000	50 000	42.7	12.8	29.9	6.29	83
1980-1985	79 000	23 000	56 000	40.9	12.0	29.0	5.99	78
1985-1990	87 000	26 000	61 000	38.9	11.4	27.4	5.55	73
1990-1995	97 000	31 000	66 000	37.8	12.1	25.6	5.21	74
1995-2000	111 000	37 000	74 000	37.7	12.6	25.1	5.01	75
2000-2005	124 000	42 000	82 000	37.2	12.5	24.6	4.85	75
2005-2010	136 000	44 000	92 000	36.0	11.7	24.3	4.64	72
* CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman)

Fertility and Births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):

Year	CBR (Total)	TFR (Total)	CBR (Urban)	TFR (Urban)	CBR (Rural)	TFR (Rural)
2005	40,0	4,8 (4,4)	34,6	3,8 (3,5)	46,1	6,1 (5,7)
2011-2012	41,4	5,1 (4,5)	40,6	4,5 (4,1)	42,8	6,5 (5,5)

Ethnic groups

Kongo 48%, Sangha 20%, M'Bochi 12%, Teke 17%, Europeans and other 3%

Languages

French (official language and the language of the élite), Lingala and Kituba (national languages and linguae francae among common people), many local languages and dialects (of which Kikongo is the most widespread)

The majority of the population is concentrated along the railroad between Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville in the south where Kituba (a creole language based on Kikongo) is the primary language. Lingala is influential in the sparsely inhabited northern half of the country.

Religion

Catholic 50.5%, Protestant 40.2%, Muslim 1.3%, Animism 2.2% Baha'i 0.4%, other 2.2%.

Health

Life expectancy for the population was estimated at 54.91 years in 2011: 53.62 for males and 56.25 for females. The adult prevalence rate for HIV/AIDS was 3.4% as of 2009, representing 77,000 people living with the disease and 5,100 deaths. The Republic of Congo is considered to have a high degree of risk of infectious diseases, particularly bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and typhoid fever (all food- or waterborne), and malaria (vectorborne).

Education

As of 2003, 83.8% of the adult population was considered literate, consisting 89.3% of males and 78.4% of females.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2006 edition".pt:Cultura da República do Congo