The Democratic Republic of Congo, a country located in Central Africa with a 25-mile-wide coast otherwise landlocked, is the second largest Country in Africa and is home to The Congo Basin Which makes up one of the most important wilderness areas left on Earth. At 500 million acres, it is larger than the state of Alaska and stands as the world’s second-largest tropical forest. The DRC has a seemingly unlimited amount of natural resources which includes diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt, cassiterite to timber and oil. However, This country has known nothing but crime, corruption, and misfortune since its independence in 1960. It is important to reflect on the past of the DRC to know why this country’s growth has been stunted for so long. In 1965, Joseph Mobutu the commander and chief of the national army at the time staged a coup and declared himself president and sole leader of the nation. From a span of more than 30 years, Mobutu looted his country’s banks and resources for his own personal gain, a term that could be used to describe this would be a “Kleptocracy” where almost every public official was receiving bribes and kickbacks in order to improve their own personal wealth and political standing. This type of governance lead to the exploitation of the natives where poverty, food shortage, and widespread civil unrest continues to shape the identity of the country.
Since 1996, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been embroiled in violence that has killed as many as 6 million people. The conflict has been the world’s bloodiest since World War II and continues to stunt the growth of the country which has seemingly infinite economic potential. Obviously, this type of turbulent social climate steers other countries away from wanting to invest in the region but there is still hope that the country can recover and become less unstable in the years to come. The Gross Domestic Product per capita in Congo was last recorded at 808.10 US dollars in 2017, when adjusted by purchasing power parity (PPP). When adjusted by Purchasing Power Parity it is equivalent to 5 percent of the world's average(Tradingeconomics.com). On the other hand, Switzerland’s Gross Domestic Product per capita was recorded at 57410.17 US dollars and is equivalent to 323 percent of the world's average while China’s Gross Domestic Product per capita was last recorded at 15308.71 US dollars and is roughly 86 percent of the world's average. This sharp contrast between the DRC and the other nations mentioned is a result of many factors, one being the DRC’s very low life expectancy rate. According to the latest WHO data published in 2018, life expectancy in DR Congo for Males is 58.9, female 62.0 and total life expectancy is 60.5 which gives DR Congo a World Life Expectancy ranking of 165 out of 192. Child Mortality rates in the DRC are also high with 94 deaths per 1,000 live birth(Bmc Public Health.com). These high rates of death across the DRC are a result of the political and economic upheaval that has struck the country the past three decades. An estimated 70 percent of congolese citizens have little to no access to basic healthcare and malaria still plagues the region. Between 2007 and 2013, the number of malaria deaths increased from 14,372 to 30,918 (nearly 54%) and the DRC still remains as one of the top malaria ridden countries in the world. The Sub-saharan country remains a hub for diseases as a result of the warm climate and unreliable filtration systems.
The education system in the DRC is also drastically in need of advancement, as it is plagued by low coverage and poor quality. 3.5 million children of primary school age are not in school, and of those who do attend, 44 percent start school late, after the age of six. National data indicate that only 67 percent of children who enter first grade will complete sixth grade. Of those who reach 6th grade, only 75 percent will pass the exit exam.(usaid.gov). The adult literacy rate in the DRC is 77.04%. While the male literacy rate is 88.52%, for females is 66.5%, showing the large contrast between both sexes. This creates an untapped workforce market which limits the country’s total economic labor force and thus the economic output in the long run gets stunted. Compared to Switzerland and China with literacy rates of 99% and 95%, the DRC continues to improve on their educational systems in the past decade but are still a long ways away from achieving a stable educational system.
Technology in the DRC is improving but still remains unreliable in rural areas. Remote rural places have small, low-power base transmission stations which result in poor connections. Major telecoms are transmitting between 2.5G to 4G, but most are still using 3G. Only a few base stations have access to on-grid power and it has been reported that mobile subscriptions in the DRC were at 35.27 million out of the total 78 million population. This shows the large amount of inequality when it comes to access to information in the country which in turn affects the economy and how information can be used for the country’s overall development.
The World Bank, an international financial institution has numerous infrastructure projects in the DRC consisting of 29 active projects representing a total of $3.8 billion. This includes regional projects and projects under the Great Lakes Initiative which is dedicated to protecting the DRC’s abundant wildlife and stirring economic growth in the region. Another notable project conducted by the World bank is their $147 million project called DRC Electricity Access & Service Expansion (EASE) means to accomplish its namesake by first improving the existing network, especially in critical areas, and then helping the private sector obtain or improve their access to the electrical grid. The project began in May 2017 and is set to be completed by October 2022(The Borgen Project). China has also played a pivotal role in new infrastructure projects across the country.Starting in 2007, Chinese and Congress officials came to an agreement. in return for investment in Congolese infrastructure, China would receive beneficial terms when dealing with the rich natural resources of the DRC which includes copper, gold, and timber. the Chinese government agreed to invest $8 billion into infrastructure in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Much of the work was to be done by Sincomines, a Chinese company, but setbacks due to the instability of the country have made the Chinese more hesitant to continue their work in the DRC.
When looking at the potential economic outlook for the DRC, the major obstacles that the country faces is stability in their institutions. The Government continues to be in upheaval as president Joseph Kabila will step down after a 16 year term where many say he also used the country's natural resources and wealth for his own personal gain. Also , the country is still recovering from Africa’s First World war where millions of Congolese citizens have and continue to do die from fighting that continues to rage on across the region. The DRC is a country with many problems but one thing is for certain, the country’s natural resources are second to none and hopefully once a stable leader takes over the reigns, real economic progress will come with it. This will lead to a better life for Congolese citizens and they’ll be able to get the help they desperately need.