Democratic Republic of the Congo

Women

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) ranks 150 out of 162 countries in the Gender Inequality Index, where a high rank equals high equality. Women should always be considered as a particularly vulnerable group though.

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Children

The DRC has a Workplace Index score of 6.3, a Marketplace Index score of 5.6 and a Community and Environment Index score of 7.3 in the Children’s Rights and Business Atlas, where countries receive scores between 0 and 10. A score closer to 0 reflects a need for basic children’s rights due diligence, while a higher score reflects a need for enhanced or heightened due diligence. Children should always be considered as a particularly vulnerable group though. 

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Persons with Disabilities

Due to differences in data collection and definitions it is difficult to compare countries on disability prevalence rates. Persons with disabilities should always be considered as a particularly vulnerable group though.

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Minorities and Indigenous Peoples

According to the World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, there are hundreds of ethno-linguistic groups in the DRC, including Kasaians, Banyarwanda, Hunde, Nyanga, Nande, Bangala, Batwa and Bambuti. For a country with a population of around 80 million, variously assessed as having 250 ethnic groups and up to 700 languages and dialects, definitions of minorities are complex even by the standards of the region. Ethnicity, while a powerful mobilizing force in politics, has been a particularly fluid and changeable category, and linguistic and regional agglomerations are overlaid with factors of religion, class and education. Nor are the most vulnerable minorities and indigenous peoples necessarily the smallest or most marginalized. The main languages are French (official), Lingala, Kikongo, Tshiluba and Swahili. The main religions are Christianity (mainly Roman Catholicism but also burgeoning evangelical Protestantism in urban areas), Kimbanguinism, a highly personalized neo-Christian belief system prevalent in the south west, traditional magico-religious systems, and Islam. Overlaps between one or more of these practices are commonplace.

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Migrant Workers​

According to the ILO Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers, migrant workers as a proportion of all workers is 3 % in the subregion Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Persons in Armed Conflict

The DRC ranks 5 out of 179 countries in the Fragile States Index, where a high rank equals high fragility. For monthly crisis updates, check out CrisisWatch.