Population: 

• It is the most populated French-speaking country of the world with 62,660,551 people. Forty-eight per cent of its population are children 0 to 15 years of age. Life expectancy is 51 years.

• The ministry focus of the PAOC is in the province of Katanga with approximately 20,000,000 inhabitants.  It is of interest to note that the size of this province alone is larger than the country of Zambia. The city of Lubumbashi in Katanga is the second largest city of the country and has an estimated population of 2,000,000 people.

Languages:

• The official languages are French and English.  However, the trade language for the province of Katanga is Swahili.

Economy:

• The country has vast mineral resources and agricultural potential.  Post-independence chaos, widespread maladministration and corruption enriched the powerful elite but impoverished the nation. 

• The road system hardly functions and continues to deteriorate. 

• Trade has been reduced to a trickle and profitable agricultural estates have reverted to forest. 

• Africa’s potentially most wealthy nation can no longer feed its own people and is dependent on foreign aid.

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