Republic of the Congo: People & Society#

Population4,852,412
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 2016 est.)
Nationalitynoun: Congolese (singular and plural)
adjective: Congolese or Congo
Ethnic groupsKongo 48%, Sangha 20%, M'Bochi 12%, Teke 17%, Europeans and other 3%
LanguagesFrench (official), Lingala and Monokutuba (lingua franca trade languages), many local languages and dialects (of which Kikongo is the most widespread)
ReligionsRoman Catholic 33.1%, Awakening Churches/Christian Revival 22.3%, Protestant 19.9%, Salutiste 2.2%, Muslim 1.6%, Kimbanguiste 1.5%, other 8.1%, none 11.3% (2010 est.)
Age structure0-14 years: 41.53% (male 1,016,677/female 998,331)
15-24 years: 17.26% (male 419,248/female 418,397)
25-54 years: 34% (male 831,091/female 818,853)
55-64 years: 4.18% (male 101,118/female 101,879)
65 years and over: 3.03% (male 64,519/female 82,299) (2016 est.)
Dependency ratiostotal dependency ratio: 86.2%
youth dependency ratio: 79.4%
elderly dependency ratio: 6.8%
potential support ratio: 14.7% (2015 est.)
Median agetotal: 19.7 years
male: 19.6 years
female: 19.9 years (2016 est.)
Population growth rate2.06% (2016 est.)
Birth rate35.1 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)
Death rate9.7 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)
Net migration rate-4.8 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)
Urbanizationurban population: 65.4% of total population (2015)
rate of urbanization: 3.22% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
Major urban areas - populationBRAZZAVILLE (capital) 1.888 million; Pointe-Noire 969,000 (2015)
Sex ratioat birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2016 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth19.8
note: median age at first birth among women 25-29 (2011/12 est.)
Maternal mortality rate442 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)
Infant mortality ratetotal: 56.4 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 61.4 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 51.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.)
Life expectancy at birthtotal population: 59.3 years
male: 58.1 years
female: 60.6 years (2016 est.)
Total fertility rate4.63 children born/woman (2016 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence rate44.7% (2011/12)
Health expenditures5.2% of GDP (2014)
Physicians density0.1 physicians/1,000 population (2007)
Drinking water sourceimproved:
urban: 95.8% of population
rural: 40% of population
total: 76.5% of population
unimproved:
urban: 4.2% of population
rural: 60% of population
total: 23.5% of population (2015 est.)
Sanitation facility accessimproved:
urban: 20% of population
rural: 5.6% of population
total: 15% of population
unimproved:
urban: 80% of population
rural: 94.4% of population
total: 85% of population (2015 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate2.75% (2014 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS80,700 (2014 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths4,400 (2014 est.)
Major infectious diseasesdegree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever
animal contact disease: rabies
water contact disease: schistosomiasis (2016)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate9.7% (2014)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight12.3% (2015)
Education expenditures6.2% of GDP (2010)
Literacydefinition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 79.3%
male: 86.4%
female: 72.9% (2015 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)total: 11 years
male: 11 years
female: 11 years (2012)
Child labor - children ages 5-14total number: 252,171
percentage: 25% (2005 est.)