Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
President: Joseph Kabila
Population
584,578
73,599,190
Life Expectancy
74.420 years
55.740 years
Capital City
Largest city
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Kinshasa (population: 7,785,960)
Human Development Index
0.591
0.361
GDP per capita
Literacy Rate
%
67.2%
Corruption Perception Index
2.9
1.7
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0%
7.7%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
Death Penalty
Abolished
NA
Political System
parliamentary democracy
republic
Independence date
Religions
Church of Melanesia 32.8%, Roman Catholic 19%, South Seas Evangelical 17%, Seventh-Day Adventist 11.2%, United Church 10.3%, Christian Fellowship Church 2.4%, other Christian 4.4%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.2% (1999 census)
Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant 20%, Kimbanguist 10%, Muslim 10%, other (includes syncretic sects and indigenous beliefs) 10%
Languages
Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English (official; but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population); 120 indigenous languages
French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba
Exports
External Debt
Exchange Rate
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Central Africa, northeast of Angola
Area
28,896 km sq
2,344,858 km sq
Coastline
5,313 km
37 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
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)
