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Zaire SOCIETY
Population: Estimated at 39.1 million in 1992;
annual
growth rate estimated at 3.3 percent. Estimated at 42.7
million in
1994, with estimated annual growth rate of 3.2 percent.
Language: About 250 languages spoken. French
remains
primary language of government, formal economy, and most
education.
Four indigenous languages also have official status:
Kikongo,
Tshiluba, Lingala, and Kiswahili.
Ethnic Groups: As many as 250 different groups,
mostly
Bantu-speaking. Largest Bantu-speaking groups are Luba,
Kongo,
Mongo, and Lunda.
Religion: Majority of population Christian: 46
to 48
percent Roman Catholic, 24 to 28 percent Protestant, up to
16.5
percent members of indigenous Kimbanguist Church. About 1
percent
of population Muslim. Most other people practice
traditional
African religions.
Education and Literacy: Numbers of schools,
teachers, and
pupils have increased, but enrollment ratios relatively
low--78
percent for primary school and 23 percent for secondary
school in
1990. Only 56 percent of primary school-aged children
reach fourth
grade. Pervasive and accelerating qualitative decline at
all
levels. In early 1990s, most state-run schools reported to
have
closed. Adult literacy rate estimated at 72 percent (84
percent for
males, 61 percent for females) in 1992.
Health and Welfare: Life expectancy at birth in
1991
estimated at fifty-two for males and fifty-six for
females. In 1994
overall life expectancy estimated at forty-seven years,
forty-nine
for females and forty-six for males. Infectious and
parasitic
diseases--including malaria, trypanosomiasis (sleeping
sickness),
onchocerciasis (river blindness), and
schistosomiasis--major health
threat. Measles, diarrheal diseases, tetanus, diphtheria,
pertussis, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, and leprosy also
prevalent.
Majority of population also infected with intestinal
worms.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and other
sexually
transmitted diseases spreading rapidly. State-run health
care
system in virtual collapse in early 1990s. Private sources
of
health care reach only 50 percent of population. Only 14
percent of
population has access to safe water. Malnutrition
widespread,
especially among children.
Data as of December 1993
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