Republic of the Congo

The country card for Republic of the Congo: the growth identity’s three terms, population and output, external debt by creditor and the data-quality flag, each with its source.
COG Brazzaville · Central Africa Confidence: low
Growth-pole chapters
Pole types
thin-state
Regional communities
ECCAS
Currency
XAF (CFA), CFA franc, CEMAC (BEAC), pegged to the euro
Official languages
fr

VintagesWEO April 2026WDI pulled 25 October 2026IDS 2025 (December 2025 release)WPP 2024, medium variantLast refreshed 25 October 2026About the data

The identity

GDP growth is output-per-worker growth plus growth in the employment-to-working-age ratio plus working-age population growth. All three are annual growth rates, so the bar adds.

0Output per worker: -4.00% a yearEmployment-to-working-age ratio: -0.01% a yearWorking-age population (15-64): +2.60% a yearimplied: -1.41% a yearimplied -1.41%observed: -1.52% a yearobserved -1.52%= 1 percentage point a year
Growth accounting over 2014-2024. Terms stack away from zero and add to the implied growth rate, which is marked against observed GDP growth on the same scale. A hatched block is a term not yet on the card: it is parked at the right, carries no width, and holds the sum back rather than letting a missing number pass as zero. Implied minus observed: +0.11 percentage points.
  • Output per worker-4.00%
  • Employment-to-working-age ratio-0.01%
  • Working-age population (15-64)+2.60%
  • Observed GDP growth-1.52%
  • Implied (the three terms summed)-1.41%
Overlay (beside the bar, never inside it) Value
Wage employment share 23.1%
Non-agricultural employment share 63.2%
Employment rate, women 51.7%
Employment rate, men 57.1%
Youth not in employment, education or training not yet fetched
Productivity growth, within-sector not yet fetched
Productivity growth, between-sector not yet fetched
Wage employment source ILO-modelled-employees

Generative-AI exposure: not yet fetched. The share of employment in the occupations the ILO's index places in the automation band sits beside the bar, never inside it: it is a share, not a growth rate.

Population path

6.3m202411.0m205020.0m2100
Total population, three WPP 2024 medium-variant anchor years. The cards carry totals only, not age structure, so this is a path and not a pyramid.
  • Population, 20246.3 million
  • Population, 205011.0 million
  • Population, 210020.0 million
  • Median age18.4 years
  • Total fertility rate4.11 births per woman
  • Dependency ratio76.8 per 100 of working age

Output

Levels are the IMF’s April 2026 estimates for 2025, with the World Bank’s most recent published year standing in where the IMF publishes no figure for this country. Observed growth is over the same window as the identity above, and the forecast runs five years out.

Field Value
GDP $15.6bn
GDP per capita $2,404
GDP at PPP $42.3bn
Observed GDP growth -1.52%
GDP growth, five-year forecast +3.42%
Urban share 64.1%
Informal employment share not yet fetched
Largest city Brazzaville
Largest city population 2.3 million
Largest city population, 2050 4.3 million

External debt

Multilateral: $1.34bnOther bilateral: $2.28bnOther private: $1.72bnNot split by the IDS creditor classes: $1.39bn$0bn$6.7bn
External debt by creditor class, IDS 2025. The classes shown cover $5.33bn of a $6.73bn stock; the grey remainder is debt the IDS creditor split does not assign here. A creditor class with no bar is one not yet on the card; it is not a zero. The bar stacks the three classes that divide publicly guaranteed debt by type of creditor and add up to it. The three lines below the rule cut the same total a different way, so they belong inside it and never beside it.
  • Multilateral$1.3bn
  • Other bilateral$2.3bn
  • Other private$1.7bn
  • Eurobonds, of which bonds, inside other private$0.2bn
  • Paris Club, of which owed to Paris Club members, across all three$0.6bn
  • China, of which owed to China, across all three$3.0bn
  • Total external debt stock$6.7bn
IDS 2025, debt owed to China$3.0bnBU CLA, cumulative commitments$5.0bn
Commitments exceed the recorded debt stock by $2.07bn, the usual wedge between what was promised, what was drawn, and what has been repaid.
  • IDS 2025, owed to China$3.0bn
  • BU CLA, cumulative commitments$5.0bn
Field Value
Debt service due 2026-2030 $2.6bn
Eurobonds outstanding not yet fetched
Restructuring status other
Collateralized or resource-backed debt 5 resource-backed loans recorded, 2006-2015, all oil-backed
S&P rating not yet fetched
Moody's rating not yet fetched
Fitch rating not yet fetched

Exports and the balance sheet

Field Value
Top three exports Petroleum oils, oils from bitumin. materials, crude (SITC 333): 65.5%; Copper (SITC 682): 17.1%; Ships, boats & floating structures (SITC 793): 3.7%
Commodity dependence 94.8%
Remittances received $0.0bn
Foreign direct investment $0.6bn
Official development assistance $0.4bn
AfCFTA status ratified
PAPSS member no
Afrobarometer lived poverty index 2.05

Data quality

Last census 2023. Last GDP rebase not recorded. Last labour-force survey 2011. SPI 38.9. Reports to the IMF under e-GDDS. Confidence: low.The rule: high means a census within fifteen years, an SPI score of 70 or better and a labour-force survey within five years; one failure is medium, two or more failures or a census before 2000 is low, and the flag is left uncomputed when one of the three inputs is itself missing (the rule, and the reasons to argue with it, on the About the data page).

Field Value
WPP estimate basis not recorded
Climate vulnerability medium
Fragility FCS: institutional and social fragility

Census: RGPH-5, enumerated April to June 2023, resident population 6,142,180. LFS: the last national survey measuring employment and the informal sector was the ECOM 2011, which put underemployment at 52.5 per cent; the Institut national de la statistique confirmed in 2026 that no updated employment data have been produced since, and is preparing a quarterly employment and informal sector survey with fieldwork planned for January 2027. ILOSTAT carries no survey-based labour observation for Congo, only modelled estimates, which is consistent with a fifteen-year gap. Recorded as 2011. Rebase and dissemination standard: not sourced; dsbb.imf.org is blocked from this environment.

The shelf

The latest reports on this country from the Fund and the Bank. Each line under “what it argued” is the publisher's own summary, quoted, not a paraphrase; where a summary says nothing the line is blank. A country with no Article IV consultation in the last three years says so, with the report that establishes it.

Report What it argued
IMF Article IV2024 Article IV, Fifth Review Under the Three-Year Arrangement Under the Extended Credit Facility,…IMF · July 2024 · No. 2024/251Ch. 21Ch. 37 “This paper discusses Republic of Congo’s 2024 Article IV Consultation, Fifth Review under the Three-year Arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility, Requests for Modification of Performance Criteria, Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria, and Financing Assurances Review.”IMF, abstract of Country Report No. 2024/251
IMF Selected IssuesSelected IssuesIMF · July 2024 · No. 2024/252Ch. 21 “This Selected Issues paper focuses on the macroeconomic impacts of government domestic arrears in the Republic of Congo.”IMF, abstract of Country Report No. 2024/252

Sources

Numbers on this card were last refreshed on 25 October 2026.

Release behind this card Last pulled
African Union AfCFTA signature and ratification register 25 October 2026
Africapolis 2025 25 October 2026
Afrobarometer Round 9 lived-poverty index 25 October 2026
Boston University Chinese Loans to Africa database, 2000-2024 25 October 2026
ILO modelled estimates, November 2025 25 October 2026
IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026 13 September 2026
ND-GAIN Country Index, 2026 release 25 October 2026
PAPSS Payments Network Coverage sheet 25 October 2026
UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant Not recorded
UNCTADstat merchandise trade matrix 25 October 2026
World Bank Group FY26 list of fragile and conflict-affected situations 25 October 2026
World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025 25 October 2026
World Bank Statistical Performance Indicators 25 October 2026
World Bank World Development Indicators 25 October 2026
World Bank World Development Indicators, cross-border flows 25 October 2026
hand-entered Not pulled
derived here from the three identity terms Not pulled
Field on this page Where the number comes from
AfCFTA status African Union AfCFTA signature and ratification register (22/05/2026)
Afrobarometer lived poverty index Afrobarometer Round 9 lived-poverty index, 2023 observation
Chinese loan commitments, cumulative Boston University Chinese Loans to Africa database, 2000-2024
Climate vulnerability ND-GAIN Country Index, 2026 release, 2024 observation
Collateralized or resource-backed debt Hand-entered, cited to documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/3699316438298…
Commodity dependence UNCTADstat merchandise trade matrix, 2025 observation
Debt service due 2026-2030 World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025 (2026-2030)
Dependency ratio UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Employment rate, men ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Employment rate, women ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Employment-to-working-age growth ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Eurobonds held by creditors World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025
External debt stock World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025
Foreign direct investment World Bank World Development Indicators, cross-border flows, 2025 observation
Fragility World Bank Group FY26 list of fragile and conflict-affected situations
GDP IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2025 observation
GDP at PPP IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2025 observation
GDP growth, five-year forecast IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2030 observation
GDP per capita IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2025 observation
Identity window UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
IMF dissemination standard Hand-entered, cited to dsbb.imf.org/e-gdds/important-dates-history
Implied GDP growth derived here from the three identity terms
Largest city Africapolis 2025, 2025 observation
Largest city population Africapolis 2025, 2025 observation
Largest city population, 2050 Africapolis 2025, 2050 observation
Last census Hand-entered, cited to ins-congo.cg/rapport-preliminaire/
Last labour-force survey Hand-entered, cited to fr.allafrica.com/stories/202607080595.html
Median age UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Non-agricultural employment share ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Observed GDP growth IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2024 observation
Official development assistance World Bank World Development Indicators, cross-border flows, 2023 observation
Output per worker growth ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Owed to China World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025, 2024 observation
Owed to multilaterals World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025
Owed to other bilaterals World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025
Owed to other private creditors World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025
Owed to Paris Club creditors World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025, 2024 observation
PAPSS member PAPSS Payments Network Coverage sheet (June 2026)
Population, 2024 UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Population, 2050 UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Population, 2100 UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Remittances received World Bank World Development Indicators, cross-border flows, 2021 observation
Restructuring status Hand-entered, cited to www.imf.org/en/Countries/COG
Statistical Performance Indicators score World Bank Statistical Performance Indicators
Top three exports UNCTADstat merchandise trade matrix, 2025 observation
Total fertility rate UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Urban share World Bank World Development Indicators, 2025 observation
Wage employment share ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Wage employment source ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Working-age population growth (15-64) UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant

Card schema african-economic-future/country_card/v1, built 2026-10-25. The release behind each key, and the day each was last pulled, are listed on the About the data page, and the record behind this page is one of the fifty-four in cards.csv and cards.json.

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