Compare · UN World Population Prospects 2024

Democratic Republic of the Congo and Russia, side by side

Line both places up by age in 2026. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, half are older than 17; in Russia, half are older than 42.

UN estimates for mid-2023: Democratic Republic of the Congo 105,789,732 people · Russia 145,440,501

Democratic Republic of the Congo 116 million people Half are older than 17 3 in 100 are 65 or older

Russia 143 million people Half are older than 42 18 in 100 are 65 or older

How to read this: each pyramid stacks a place’s people by age — babies at the bottom, the oldest at the top, men on the left and women on the right. A wide bottom means many children; a wide top means many older people.

Compare shapes Compare sizes

Each bar is a share of its own place’s people, so a small country and a large one can be read side by side.

Year 2026 · UN projection

estimatesprojections

men women projected

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries

COD × RUS · 2026 · age groups

If each place were 100 people

Shrink each population to 100 people and count them. Dots are children under 15, filled squares are people aged 15 to 64, and open squares are people 65 and over. The picture follows the year slider above.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Children, under 15: 46
Aged 15 to 64: 51
Aged 65 and over: 3

Russia

Children, under 15: 17
Aged 15 to 64: 65
Aged 65 and over: 18

COD × RUS · families and lifetimes

Children, and how long lives last

If the birth rates of this year held for a whole lifetime, a woman in the Democratic Republic of the Congo would have about 5.8 children and a woman in Russia about 1.5. Around 2.1 children per woman keeps a population the same size over time, leaving migration aside. Life expectancy at birth this year: about 62 years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 74 in Russia.

Children per woman, 2026

Each figure is one child: how many children a woman would have in her lifetime at that year’s rates.

Democratic Republic of the Congo 5.8

Russia 1.5

The dashed line at 2.1 is about what it takes for each generation to replace the one before it, leaving migration aside.

How long a newborn can expect to live, 2026

Each block is ten years of life, if the death rates of that year stayed the same all life long.

Democratic Republic of the Congo 62 years

Russia 74 years

Hatched marks are UN projections (medium variant), not measurements.

COD × RUS · 1950–2100 · how many

How big, and where they are heading

There are 143 million people in Russia and 116 million in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: about 20% more people than the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's population is 9.5 times what it was in 1950; Russia's population is 1.4 times what it was in 1950.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's population is still growing in 2100. Meanwhile Russia's population peaked in 1991. The UN expects the Democratic Republic of the Congo to have more people than Russia from 2033. In 2100: 431 million in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 126 million in Russia (UN projection, medium).

Show the numbers

Year	Democratic Republic of the Congo: people	Russia: people	Democratic Republic of the Congo: half older than	Russia: half older than	Democratic Republic of the Congo: children per woman	Russia: children per woman	Democratic Republic of the Congo: life expectancy	Russia: life expectancy
1950	12.2943 million	103.392 million	18.1	24.0	5.97	2.93	38.2	55.5
1960	15.2648 million	119.934 million	18.3	27.3	6.11	2.63	40.8	68.3
1970	20.1374 million	130.367 million	18.3	30.7	6.33	2.01	43.3	68.7
1980	26.7111 million	138.573 million	17.8	31.1	6.50	1.92	45.5	67.5
1990	36.6841 million	148.980 million	17.7	33.2	6.65	1.91	48.5	69.3
2000	50.5074 million	146.718 million	17.1	36.7	6.70	1.19	51.9	65.0
2010	68.5630 million	143.934 million	16.8	38.0	6.59	1.58	56.4	68.2
2023	105.790 million	145.440 million	16.8	40.5	6.05	1.45	61.9	73.2
2030*	131.532 million	141.889 million	17.2	43.2	5.42	1.49	63.0	74.4
2040*	172.596 million	138.282 million	18.8	44.9	4.38	1.52	64.5	76.2
2050*	218.246 million	136.133 million	21.0	42.7	3.66	1.54	66.0	77.9
2060*	266.679 million	132.893 million	23.3	44.4	3.14	1.55	67.2	79.5
2070*	314.382 million	129.711 million	25.6	44.9	2.77	1.57	68.4	81.1
2080*	358.921 million	127.838 million	28.1	43.9	2.50	1.58	69.6	82.4
2090*	398.481 million	127.144 million	30.6	44.8	2.30	1.59	70.7	83.8
2100*	430.709 million	126.387 million	32.8	46.0	2.16	1.59	71.9	85.0

* UN projection, medium variant. People at mid-year; ages and life expectancy in years.

COD − RUS · 1950–2100 · every age

Which ages each place has more of

Each column is a year and each row an age, from babies at the bottom to 100 at the top. The shade of a cell shows which place has more of its people at that age — the key beside the picture tells you which shade is the Democratic Republic of the Congo and which is Russia, and the in-between shade means the same. Because it compares shares, a small place and a large one can be compared fairly.

236 countries · 1950–2100

Where they sit among all countries

Every country in the world, every year from 1950 to 2100. The grey cloud shows where most countries are; the Democratic Republic of the Congo is drawn in solid blue squares and Russia in open orange squares, so you can see whether each is ahead of the crowd, behind it or in the middle.

More comparisons

Keep exploring

Each place on its own: Democratic Republic of the Congo · Russia. Or pick any two places with the boxes at the top of this page.

Other comparisons

Apparatus

Sources and method

Democratic Republic of the Congo and Russia are drawn here from one source and one release: the UN Population Division's World Population Prospects 2024, counted through 2023 and projected on its medium variant after that. Two places read off the same tables can be set against each other; two read off different tables cannot.

For how the median age is derived, why “100 people” can read a person high or low, and what the all-country pictures do and do not count, see the method.

250 comparisons have a page of their own; any other two places can be compared from the boxes at the top.

Sources: UN WPP 2024 · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries