Total fertility rate of Democratic Republic of the Congo 1950-2020
Fertility in the Congo would begin to increase rapidly beginning in the 1960s, an increase attributed to the large-scale anti-venereal disease programs, and a reduction in prolonged postpartum abstinence (i.e. the time between childbirth and subsequent impregnation; a widespread practice in Central Africa). While fertility in the DRC’s urban population would fall, reductions in sterility and increases in mortality from the civil war in the country would result in fertility in the country’s rural regions rising greatly, driving the country’s total fertility rate up to a peak of 6.77 children per woman in the 1990s. However, following the end of the Second Congo War in 2003, which would see foreign military forces withdraw from the country, fertility has declined in the 21st century, and in 2020, it is estimated that a woman born in the Congo can expect to have just under six children over the course of their reproductive years.