How many babies are born in DR Congo each year?

An estimated 4.63 million babies are born in DR Congo in 2026, according to the UN World Population Prospects 2024 medium projection. That is about 12,690 a day and 3.50% of all births worldwide.

What is the birth rate in DR Congo?

DR Congo has an estimated 39.8 births per 1,000 people in 2026, and a total fertility rate of 5.80 children per woman.

Africa · Middle Africa

How many babies are born in DR Congo?

4.63 million babies born in DR Congo in 2026 — 3.50% of all births worldwide, and the 5th largest of any country. UN projection

12,690births per day
529per hour
9per minute
39.8births per 1,000 people
5.80children per woman
116.5 millionpopulation

Plus or minus about 6%. These years have not happened yet or have not been counted yet. They are the medium variant of the UN's projection, not a record of births that took place.

Births in DR Congo through history

Estimated annual births in DR Congo, 0 CE to 2026, on a logarithmic scale. The shaded band on the left marks the years where births are modelled rather than recorded. The marker sits on 2026.

Every figure refers to the area inside DR Congo's present-day borders. Before 1800 the state did not exist in its current form — see how borders are handled.
Year	Estimated births	Population	Per 1,000	Evidence
1 CE	~12K	~270K	42.8	Modelled estimate
1000	~120K	~2.9M	41.4	Modelled estimate
1500	~240K	~5.9M	41.1	Modelled estimate
1800	~215K	~5.16M	41.7	Historical reconstruction
1900	~394K	~9.45M	41.7	Historical reconstruction
1950	564K	12.3M	45.9	UN estimate
2000	2.29M	50.5M	45.3	UN estimate
2024	4.47M	109M	40.9	UN projection
2026	4.63M	116M	39.8	UN projection

What the numbers show

Annual births in DR Congo are at their highest in the whole run of estimates in 2026, at about 4.63M. That is roughly 396 times the estimated ~11.7K births a year in 1 CE.

At 5.80 children per woman, fertility in DR Congo is above the level of about 2.1 that would hold a population steady over the long run without migration.

See DR Congo on the map

Where these numbers come from

2026 figures are the UN World Population Prospects 2024 medium variant. Earlier years come from the UN's estimates (1950 onward), Gapminder's reconstructions (1800–1949) and a model applied to HYDE population estimates (before 1800). The full chain is set out in the methodology, and every source is listed on the sources page.