The former Zaire, is the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Here are a few facts about the DRC:
- A country that has suffered from political and economic instability since its independence from Belgium in 1960.
- A nation mired in poverty and a lack of productivity fueled by systemic corruption and a paternal mindset.
- A country in which the electrical, water, sewage, transportation, security, economic, education, and health care delivery systems have all collapsed.
- A nation of 70 million people in which 85% of the population have no gainful employment, although it is the fourth richest nation with regard to mineral deposits and natural resources.
- A country that struggles to recover from a five year war at a cost of over 5 million lives, and continued civil unrest that has resulted in unspeakable horrors of assault, rape, and mutilation of the country’s women.
- At independence it was one of the most industrialized countries in Africa, second only to South Africa, but today is one of the least industrialized.
An abbreviated timeline
1870s - Belgian King Leopold II sets about colonizing the area as his private holding.
1908 - Congo Free State placed under Belgian rule following outrage over treatment of Congolese.
1960 - Independence, followed by civil war and temporary fragmentation of country.
1965 - Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power.
1997 - Rebels oust Mobutu. Laurent Kabila becomes president.
1997-2003 - Civil war, which draws in several neighbouring countries (Africa's first world war).
2003 - Present- Conflict persists in the east.
2006 - Joseph Kabila elected in first democratic presidential elections.
2010 - Joseph Kabila re-elected in second democratic presidential.
Belgian King Leopold II
President Mobutu Sese Seko
President Laurent Kabila
President Joseph Kabila
A few statistics about the DRC:
Life expectancy is 48 years
Infant mortality rate is 10.9%
Inflation rate is 22%
70% of the population lives on less than $1 a day
In 2008, the DRC was ranked as the poorest country in the world (Ulloa, Kast & Kekeh, 2009)
DRC came in last in the UN’s index of human development
71% of its population is below the poverty line
Over 3 million people displaced due to conflict
Over 5 million people have died either directly or indirectly due to war since 1998
DRC is as large as the eastern United States yet has almost no paved roads.