According to the 2010 revision of the World Population Prospects the total population was 65,966,000 in 2010, compared to only 12,184,000 in 1950, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous officially Francophone country, the fourth most populous nation in Africa.
The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 46.3%, 51.1% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 2.7% was 65 years or older.

D.R. Congo is made up of more than 200 tribes, the 4 largest tribes in the Congo are the Mongo, Luba, Kongo, and Mangbetu-Azonde. Most of the Congolese population lives in rural areas, while one-third of the population is urban.
About 80 percent of the Congolese population is Christian. Most non-Christians have traditional African religious beliefs.
French is the official language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is culturally accepted as the lingua franca facilitating communication among the many different ethnic groups of the Congo. According to the 2014 OIF report, 33 million Congolese people (47% of the population) can read and write French.

Approximately 242 languages are spoken in the country, but only four have the status of national languages: Kituba (“Kikongo yaleta”), Lingala, Tshiluba, and Swahili. Although some people speak these regional, or trade languages as first languages, most of the population speaks them as a second language after their own tribal language.