untains in east

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pic Marguerite on Mont Ngaliema (Mount Stanley) 5,110
m

Natural resources:
cobalt, copper, niobium, tantalum, petroleum, industrial and gem
diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, uranium, coal,
hydropower, timber

Land use:
arable land: 2.96%
permanent crops: 0.52%
other: 96.52% (2001)

Irrigated land:
110 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
periodic droughts in south; Congo River floods (seasonal); in the
east, in the Great Rift Valley, there are active volcanoes

Environment - current issues:
poaching threatens wildlife populations; water pollution;
deforestation; refugees responsible for significant deforestation,
soil erosion, and wildlife poaching; mining of minerals (coltan - a
mineral used in creating capacitors, diamonds, and gold) causing
environmental damage

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone
Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification

Geography - note:
straddles equator; has 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

People Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Population:
60,085,804
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 and death rates, lower
population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of
population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July
2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 48.1% (male 14,513,779/female 14,396,952)
15-64 years: 49.4% (male 14,579,101/female 15,121,297)
65 years and over: 2.5% (male 597,776/female 876,099) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 15.8 years
male: 15.4 years
female: 16.2 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate:
2.98% (2005 est.)

Birth rate:
44.38 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate:
14.43 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate:
-0.17 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: fighting between the Congolese Government and Uganda- and
Rwanda-