Short facts about people of Zaire

Population:

53,624,718 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 2001 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years:  48.24% (male 12,988,488; female 12,878,232) 15-64 years:  49.21% (male 12,931,886; female 13,459,109) 65 years and over:  2.55% (male 575,113; female 791,890) (2001 est.)

Population growth rate:

3.1% (2001 est.)

Birth rate:

46.02 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate:

15.15 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Net migration rate:

0.14 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) note:  one million refugees fled into Zaire (now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo or DROC) in 1994 to escape the fighting between the Hutus and the Tutsis; fighting in the DROC between rebels and government forces in October 1996 caused 875,000 refugees to return to Rwanda in late 1996 and early 1997; an additional 173,000 Rwandan refugees disappeared in early 1997 and are assumed to have been killed by Zairian forces; fighting between the Congolese government and Uganda- and Rwanda-backed Congolese rebels spawned a regional war in DROC in August 1998, which left 1.8 million Congolese displaced in DROC and caused 300,000 Congolese refugees to flee to surrounding countries

Sex ratio:

at birth:  1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years:  1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years:  0.96 male(s)/female 65 years and over:  0.73 male(s)/female total population:  0.98 male(s)/female (2001 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

99.88 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population:  48.94 years male:  46.96 years female:  50.98 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate:

6.84 children born/woman (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:

5.07% (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:

1.1 million (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:

95,000 (1999 est.)

Nationality:

noun:  Congolese (singular and plural) adjective:  Congolese or Congo

Ethnic groups:

over 200 African ethnic groups of which the majority are Bantu; the four largest tribes - Mongo, Luba, Kongo (all Bantu), and the Mangbetu-Azande (Hamitic) make up about 45% of the population

Religions:

Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant 20%, Kimbanguist 10%, Muslim 10%, other syncretic sects and indigenous beliefs 10%

Languages:

French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba

Literacy:

definition:  age 15 and over can read and write French, Lingala, Kingwana, or Tshiluba total population:  77.3% male:  86.6% female:  67.7% (1995 est.)

Source: World Factbook