Democratic Republic Of The Congo Essay

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the LDCs (less developed countries) in Africa. It was ranked as the last country by the Human Development Index (HDI) in 2012 (Demographic Republic of Congo 1). Its current developmental state has close connections with many factors such as geographic location and developmental history. The government of DRC established series of long-term developmental plans that believed will bring benefits that will help improve its development. DRC’s current development level has many connections with its history. In 1885, Belgium carried out colonial rule by King Leopold II in DRC. During the colonial rule, Belgium government drained the resources in DRC away and killed millions of citizens in DRC. The …show more content…
The lack of stability in government and continuous war/conflicts has heavily affected DRC’s development which is one of the reasons DRC has such a low developmental level. DRC has 57.3 years old for life expectancy (2016), 63.8% for adult literacy rate (2016), and $476.9 for GDP per capita in 2014.(United Nation Statistics Division 1) Civil War in DRC used tons of resources and money which made DRC poor and led to low GDP per capita. With no money, there was lack of schools and hospital built and lack of educated people or well trained workers which led to DRC’s current development state. To deal with the problem, DRC had many long and short term plans for development in past years. In 1974, with the help from JICA, DRC started the project of constructing Matadi Bridge which lasted for 10 years. Matadi Bridge is the only suspension bridge that joins both sides of the Congo River. It facilitated movements of goods and people and played an important role in the economic and social functions in DRC. The bridge made transportation in DRC from one side of Congo River to another side much faster and decreased the cost of importing or exporting goods which will encourage more exports and imports.(JICA’s Regional