Dear MEL Topic Readers,
‘I’ve never been counted’: DR Congo’s first census in 42 years
A former colony of Belgium, the Democratic Republic of Congo became
independent in 1960 as the Republic of Congo. The country was named Zaire between
1971 and 1997, but reverted to the former name. The UN estimates DR Congo’s population
increased from around 50 million in 2000 to around 100 million in 2021, and now
about 116 million, the second most populous in Africa after Nigeria. With a population
of around 15 million, Kinshasa, the capital, is the largest city, and the second-largest
has fewer than 3 million people. There are more than 250 ethnic groups without
any dominant ethnic group, speaking their native languages, though French, the
former colonial language, is most widely spoken. But these population and
demographic figures are estimated without a census in the last four decades.
Now, the government has just rolled out a nationwide census after identifying and
geolocating inhabited places. By figuring out who and how many people live
where, the government hopes to allocate its resources to build and run schools,
hospitals, roads, water systems, and electricity projects. Citizens will then
be registered and given ID cards, which make them feel officially recognized by
their country.
Read and learn what a census could mean to DR Congo and its people.
No comments:
Post a Comment