Democratic Republic of Congo

Question 1

• Where is the DRC?
• It is coastal?
• Is it an AC, EDC or an LIDC?
• What is the DRC’s population?
• What’s its fertility rate?

Answer 1

• Central Africa.
• It has one tiny stretch of coastline.
• LIDC.
• 93,000,000 (79,000,000 in 2015).
• 6.21 births per woman (6.44 in 2015).

Question 2

• What’s its GDP per capita?
• What’s its GNI per capita?
• What’s its life expectancy?
• What’s its literacy rate?
• What’s its HDI?

Answer 2

• $584 ($497 in 2015).
• $1170 ($840 in 2015).
• 61 yrs (59 yrs in 2015).
• 61%.
• 0.479 (0.463 in 2015).

Question 3

• The DRC was a colony of which European country?
• When was this country in power of the DRC?
• What was life like for native people?

Answer 3

• Belgium.
• 1885 to 1960.
• They weren’t allowed to vote, and had a very basic education.

Question 4

• Who seized power in 1965?
• Why was corruption widespread?
• What did this lead to?
• Why did wealth leave the country?
• What caused unemployment?
• Why did Belgium cancel development projects in the DRC?

Answer 4

• Mobutu Sese Seko.
• Mobutu allowed armed forces to take goods and wealth.
• Huge inequality in wealth.
• Big companies paid bribes to gain access to resources, therefore taking the wealth with them.
• Mobutu forced out foreign companies, destroying jobs.
• He refused to pay debts back to them.

Question 5

• Give 5 causes of the conflict over Mobutu’s rule.
• When was he overthrown?
• What did this lead to?

Answer 5

• There was damage to crops, property and infrastructure. It also forced people to flee their homes and made it difficult for them to seek medical care.
• 1997.
• A civil war until 2003.

Question 6

• Who became president in 2001?
• What did vow to do?
• How has development been since 2012?

Answer 6

• Joseph Kabila.
• Improve infrastructure, health, education, housing, jobs and access to power and water.
• There have been signs of economic growth since 2012, but development remains relatively slow.

Question 7

• What has caused an increase in the demand for coltan and wolframite?
• What is the connection between armed groups and these ores?
• What has caused millions of deaths?
• What is the name given to these ores?
• Why is it hard for the DRC to sell these resources?

Answer 7

• Increasing technological demand.
• In parts of the country, people are forced by armed groups to mine these ores.
• Conflict over mine ownership.
• “Conflict materials”.
• Many companies try to avoid these human rights issues.

Question 8

• How does the DRC’s geography affect its resources industry?
• What is the effect of the country’s size?
• What is the effect of the country’s coastline?
• What is the effect of the country’s terrain?
• How could the Congo river be useful in the future?
• Why might this be difficult?

Answer 8

• The DRC is rich in resources, but its geography makes it difficult to exploit this.
• Goods have to be transported thousands of miles.
• It limits ocean transport.
• The country is covered in rivers and forest, making it hard to build roads and railways.
• It has the potential to provide lots of hydroelectric power.
• The surrounding terrain is difficult to work with.

Question 9

• Food production is difficult in some areas. What does this cause?
• Where in the country are there long dry seasons?
• When can droughts occur?
• The country often floods. What does this cause?

Answer 9

• Malnutrition and poverty.
• The centre and south of the country.
• Between April and November.
• The ruination of crops, and the destruction of settlements and infrastructure.

Question 10

• What is MDG 1?
• Between 2005 and 2012, how did the proportion of people below the poverty line change?
• How did the percentage of people suffering from malnutrition change between 2000 and 2015?

Answer 10

• Eliminating extreme poverty and hunger.
• It decreased from 71% to 63%.
• It increased from 51% to 66%.

Question 11

• What is MDG 2?
• Between 1999 and 2013, how did the percentage of children who completed a primary school education change?

Answer 11

• Achieving global primary education.
• It increased from 35% to 72%.

Question 12

• What is MDG 3?
• How did the percentage of girls who finished primary school change between 1999 and 2013?
• How does this compare to the same statistic for boys?
• What gender inequality is there in the workplace?

Answer 12

• Empowering women and promote gender equality
• It increased from 32% to 65%.
• The boys’ statistic increased by more, increasing inequality.
• There are more men than women in paid work, and on average women earn less when doing the same job.

Question 13

• What is MDG 4?
• How did the child mortality rate change between 2000 and 2013?
• How has the proportion of children vaccinated against measles changed since 2000?

Answer 13

• Reducing child mortality.
• It increased from 17.6% to 12.0%.
• It has increased from 29% to over 70%.

Question 14

• What is MDG 5?
• How did the percentage of women dying during childbirth change between 2000 and 2015?
• What changes have occurred since 1990?

Answer 14

• Promoting maternal health.
• It decreased from 0.87% to 0.69% per birth.
• There has been an increase in the availability of healthcare for mothers before and during childbirth.

Question 15

• What is MDG 6?
• How has the percentage of people with HIV/AIDS changed since 2000?
• What is this partly due to?
• What happened to the proportion of people with malaria between 2000 and 2015?
• What is this partly due to?