Demographics of the Republic of the Congo

Demographic features of the population of the Republic of the Congo include 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 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 civil 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

According to the total population was in, 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	Population aged 0–14	Population aged 15–64	Population aged 65+
1950	808 000	40.1	56.4	3.5
1955	899 000	40.5	55.9	3.6
1960	1 014 000	41.4	55.0	3.7
1965	1 158 000	42.5	53.7	3.8
1970	1 335 000	43.5	52.7	3.8
1975	1 555 000	44.2	52.0	3.8
1980	1 798 000	44.8	51.4	3.8
1985	2 081 000	44.6	51.7	3.7
1990	2 389 000	43.7	52.5	3.7
1995	2 733 000	42.5	53.7	3.7
2000	3 136 000	41.5	54.7	3.7
2005	3 533 000	41.3	55.0	3.7
2010	4 043 000	40.6	55.7	3.7

Population estimates by sex and age group :

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	71 877	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

Population estimates by sex and age group :

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	2 693 804	2 774 818	5 468 622	100
0–4	411 671	412 877	824 548	15.08
5–9	340 319	337 291	677 610	12.39
10–14	303 346	306 542	609 889	11.15
15–19	271 095	289 989	561 084	10.26
20–24	243 060	282 727	525 788	9.61
25–29	241 223	253 353	494 576	9.04
30–34	218 257	209 888	428 145	7.83
35–39	183 437	169 496	352 933	6.45
40–44	138 775	128 121	266 896	4.88
45–49	104 065	98 609	202 673	3.71
50–54	72 724	79 083	151 807	2.78
55–59	52 219	57 918	110 137	2.01
60–64	39 423	46 323	85 746	1.57
65-69	30 885	38 323	69 207	1.27
70-74	21 747	29 537	51 285	0.94
75-79	12 425	18 699	31 124	0.57
80-84	5 168	9 115	14 283	0.26
85+	3 964	6 928	10 891	0.20
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	1 055 336	1 056 710	2 112 046	38.62
15–64	1 564 279	1 615 506	3 179 785	58.15
65+	74 189	102 602	176 791	3.23

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events in the Republic of the Congo is incomplete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.
Source: UN DESA, World Population Prospects, 2022

Demographic and Health Surveys

Total Fertility Rate and Crude Birth Rate :

Year	CBR	TFR	CBR	TFR	CBR	TFR
2005	40,0	4,8	34,6	3,8	46,1	6,1
2011-2012	41,4	5,1	40,6	4,5	42,8	6,5

Fertility data as of 2011-2012 :

Department	Total fertility rate	Percentage of women age 15-49 currently pregnant	Mean number of children ever born to women age 40-49
Kouilou	6.8	11.4	6.2
Niari	5.9	11.9	5.4
Lékoumou	6.5	9.9	5.7
Bouenza	5.7	8.5	5.6
Pool	6.4	10.2	5.5
Plateaux	6.3	11.4	5.6
Cuvette	6.4	12.5	5.6
Cuvette-Ouest	6.0	10.1	6.1
Sangha	5.8	11.9	5.4
Likouala	7.0	11.7	6.4
Brazzaville	4.3	8.7	4.3
Pointe-Noire	4.6	9.2	4.5

Languages

Languages spoken here include French, Kituba or Monokutuba, Kongo or Kikongo, Lingala, and many local languages and dialects.
The majority of the population is concentrated along the railroad between Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville in the south where Kituba is the primary language. Lingala is influential in the sparsely inhabited northern half of the country.

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 the Congo is considered to have a high degree of risk of infectious diseases, particularly bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and typhoid fever, and malaria.

Period	Life expectancy in years
1950–1955	43.15
1955–1960	46.83
1960–1965	50.16
1965–1970	52.49
1970–1975	54.11
1975–1980	55.44
1980–1985	56.63
1985–1990	56.66
1990–1995	54.83
1995–2000	51.99
2000–2005	52.12
2005–2010	57.95
2010–2015	62.55