Location Central Africa, northeast of Angola

Geographic coordinates 0 00 N, 25 00 E

Map references Africa

Area
total: 2,345,410 sq km
water: 77,810 sq km
land: 2,267,600 sq km

Area - comparative slightly less than one-fourth the size of the US

Land boundaries
total: 10,744 km
border countries: Angola 2,511 km (of which 225 km is the boundary of Angola's discontiguous Cabinda Province), Burundi 233 km, Central African Republic 1,577 km, Republic of the Congo 2,410 km, Rwanda 217 km, Sudan 628 km, Tanzania 473 km, Uganda 765 km, Zambia 1,930 km

Coastline 37 km

Maritime claims
exclusive economic zone: boundaries with neighbors
territorial sea: 12 NM

Climate tropical; hot and humid in equatorial river basin; cooler and drier in southern highlands; cooler and wetter in eastern highlands; north of Equator - wet season April to October, dry season December to February; south of Equator - wet season November to March, dry season April to October

Terrain vast central basin is a low-lying plateau; mountains 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, cadmium, petroleum, industrial and gem diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore, coal, hydropower, timber

Land use
arable land: 3%
permanent crops: 1%
other: 96% (1998 est.)

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, Nuclear Test Ban, 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

NOTE: The information regarding Congo, Democratic Republic of the on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Geography 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Congo, Democratic Republic of the Geography 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.