By Damilare Adeleye
The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has announced an $80M contribution to support the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s second General Population and Housing Census (RGPH2).
This was disclosed on March 23, 2026, in Kinshasa during a donor roundtable involving technical and financial partners.
The Bank’s pledge forms a significant portion of the $200M total commitments secured at the event.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo last conducted a population census in 1984. Since then, the country has experienced significant demographic growth, with its population now estimated at over 112.8 million, nearly 4 times the 1984 figure.
According to details of the funding, $50M will be allocated to core census operations, while $30M will support capacity-building for national institutions, including the National Institute of Statistics and agencies involved in planning, programming, budgeting, and monitoring and evaluation.
Other development partners, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the United Nations (UN), also announced contributions at the roundtable.
Meanwhile, Côte d’Ivoire pledged support for data collection equipment and knowledge exchange, while the Congolese government has already mobilised $30M from its national budget.
President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, who chaired the roundtable, described the census as a defining national exercise.
“Far from being a simple technical or administrative exercise, this event marks a moment of truth for our country, where our nation decides to better understand itself in order to govern, plan, and transform more effectively,” he said.
Tshisekedi warned that planning without accurate and up-to-date data would undermine effective governance, noting that the census remains “an act of sovereignty, an instrument of public justice, and an essential lever for effective state action.”
Also speaking, Country Programme Officer for the DRC, Mohamed Coulibaly, described the intervention as historic, stressing that the Bank would leverage its experience across Africa to strengthen national statistical and planning systems.
He added that the support would enhance the capacity of institutions involved in planning, programming, budgeting, and monitoring and evaluation to ensure a transparent, effective, and sustainable census process.