Society · Population growth · DR Congo
DR Congo’s population growth fell to 3.2% y/y in 2025.
3.2% y/y
2025
Down 0.04 pp from 2024.
Updated 18 Oct 2026
In plain words
3.2% y/y
What it is. Population growth is the yearly change in the total number of people living in DR Congo. It combines births, deaths and migration, and it comes from modelled population estimates rather than a head count taken each year. The figure says how fast the population is expanding. It says nothing about age mix, where people live or how well they live.
Neither way is good in itself. Faster growth brings more workers and more demand for schools, food and health care. Slower growth eases that pressure and also means a smaller future labour force, so the direction carries no verdict by itself. The latest figure, for 2025, is 3.2% y/y, level with 3.2% y/y a year earlier after a rise of 0.04 percentage points. Since 2016 the range runs from a high of 3.7% y/y in 2017 to a low of 3.2% y/y in 2019, so the current reading sits at the bottom of that range.
Why it matters. At 3.2% y/y, DR Congo adds a large cohort of people every year who need school places, food, housing and work. Households feel it in crowded classrooms and a young job market. The state has to expand services and infrastructure each year just to keep coverage where it is.
| Period | Population growth · DR Congo |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 3.5% y/y |
| 2017 | 3.7% y/y |
| 2018 | 3.3% y/y |
| 2019 | 3.2% y/y |
| 2020 | 3.2% y/y |
| 2021 | 3.2% y/y |
| 2022 | 3.2% y/y |
| 2023 | 3.3% y/y |
| 2024 | 3.2% y/y |
| 2025 | 3.2% y/y |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Every change is logged in Corrections. How the figure is made: Methodology.
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Strata-AF™ Data, Population growth, DR Congo, 2025; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 18 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/society/population-growth/dr-congo
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
What this means
Working this out from the published figures…
Strata AI commentary is coming — reviewed, dated, and generated only from the figures on this page.
Methodology
Annual growth of the total population. Unit: % y/y.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series SP.POP.GROW), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.