Chiefdoms and sectors of the Democratic Republic of the CongoIn the Democratic Republic of the Congo, chiefdoms (fr. chefferies) and sectors (fr. secteurs) are rural administrative divisions of territories (fr. territoires). They are further subdivided into groupings (fr. groupements) which themselves are divided into villages. Chiefdoms and groupings are led by traditional leaders officially recognized by the government, whereas sector chiefs are appointed directly by the government.
Communes of the Democratic Republic of the CongoThe communes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are administrative divisions of both cities and territories. They are led by government appointed burgomasters (fr. bourgmestres) and are further divided into quarters (fr. quartiers) and embedded groupings (fr. groupements incorporé).
Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the CongoArticle 2 of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo divides the country into the capital city of Kinshasa and 25 named provinces. It also gives the capital the status of a province. Therefore, in many contexts Kinshasa is regarded as the 26th province. ListHistoryWhen Belgium annexed the Belgian Congo as a colony in November 1908, it was initially organised into 22 districts.
Cities of the Democratic Republic of the CongoThe cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are administrative divisions of provinces with the exception of Kinshasa which itself has the status of a province. Cities are further divided into communes. They are led by mayors except for Kinshasa which is led by a governor. Provincial citiesThe 25 provinces of DR Congo are divided into 33 cities (fr. villes, sing. ville) and 145 territories (fr. territoires, sing. territoire).
KinshasaKinshasa (; French: [kinʃasa]; Lingala: Kinsásá), formerly named Léopoldville (Dutch: Leopoldstad) from 1881 to 1966, is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-growing megacities, with an estimated population of 18.5 million in 2026.
Democratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo, and formerly named Zaire, is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is the second-largest country in Africa and the eleventh-largest in the world. With a population of about 124 million people, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the fourth-most populous country in Africa and the most populous Francophone country in the world.Organic lawAn organic law is a law, or system of laws, that form the foundation of a government, corporation or any other organization's body of rules. A constitution is a particular form of organic law. By countryFranceUnder Article 46 of the Constitution of France, organic laws (in French, lois organiques; in English sometimes translated as Institutional Acts) are a short, fixed list of statutes (in 2005, there were about 30 of them) specified in the Constitution.Administrative divisionAdministrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divided. Such a unit usually has an administrative authority with the power to take administrative or policy decisions for its area. Administrative divisions are often used as polygons in geospatial analysis.
French languageFrench (français or langue française) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, French and its closest relatives—the langues d'oïl, historically spoken in northern France and southern Belgium—descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. It was influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul and by the GermanicFrankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders.Territorial collectivityA territorial collectivity (French: collectivité territoriale, previously collectivité locale), or territorial authority, in many francophone countries, is an administrative division governed by public law that exercises within its territory certain powers devolved to it by the State as part of a decentralization process. In France, it also refers to a chartered administrative division of France with recognized governing authority.
Territories of the Democratic Republic of the CongoThe territories of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are administrative divisions of provinces. Territories are further divided into sectors, chiefdoms, and communes. They are led by an administrator and, for the most part, take the name of the town that is their administrative center.
Unitary stateA unitary state is a sovereign state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create or abolish administrative divisions (sub-national or sub-state units). Such units exercise only the powers that the central government chooses to delegate.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.