Where to live in DR Congo
We track 5 cities in DR Congo: Kananga, Kinshasa, Kisangani, Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi. Average temperatures run from 21°C to 26°C. We estimate a couple needs €2,598 to €2,835 a month to live centrally. For foreigners, long-term residency is possible, with conditions.
12 questions, about 4 minutes, no account needed. Taking the quiz is free, and so is seeing your #1 city. Full results for both of you are a one-time US$12 (€12 in Europe).
- Safety
- 33/100
- country-level estimate
- Healthcare
- 40/100
- country-level estimate
- Democracy
- 3.5/10
- estimated
Estimated from World Bank indicators and calibrated to the scales of our reference tables: safety from the Worldwide Governance Indicators Political Stability and Absence of Violence estimate (GOV_WGI_PV.EST, 2025) and life expectancy at birth (SP.DYN.LE00.IN, 2024), healthcare from the life expectancy at birth (SP.DYN.LE00.IN, 2024) and current health spending per person in US dollars (SH.XPD.CHEX.PC.CD, 2023), cost of living from the price level of GDP relative to the United States, from GDP per person in US dollars and at purchasing power parity (NY.GDP.PCAP.CD/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD, 2025) and democracy score from the Worldwide Governance Indicators Voice and Accountability estimate (GOV_WGI_VA.EST, 2025). Source: The World Bank (World Development Indicators, Worldwide Governance Indicators), CC BY 4.0.
Limited data for DR Congo. Figures for safety, healthcare, cost of living and political stability in DR Congo are country-level estimates from World Bank indicators, each named with its year. We have no tax, English, social openness or internet speed figures for DR Congo, so the quiz scores those factors conservatively and this page leaves them out.
The 5 cities we track
| City | Size | Setting | Avg temp | Rain a year | Est. cost a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kananga | large | inland | 25°C | 1,308 mm | €2,605 |
| Kinshasa | major | inland | 26°C | 1,429 mm | €2,835 |
| Kisangani | large | inland | 26°C | 1,488 mm | €2,598 |
| Lubumbashi | large | inland | 21°C | 1,065 mm | €2,659 |
| Mbuji-Mayi | large | inland | 25°C | 1,233 mm | €2,652 |
Source: City size from GeoNames, temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages), rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals), coast distance from Natural Earth. Cost is our model estimate for a couple living centrally, from the World Bank price level.
Residency and visas
Possible, with conditions. Realistic long-term residency runs through an employer-sponsored work-establishment visa or, for the self-funded, an investment-code 'special establishment' visa or a sufficient-means 'ordinary establishment' visa; there is no retirement or passive-income route and permanent residence needs ~10-15 years prior residence.
The cheapest self-funded routes we track for DR Congo:
- Investment: about $10k (DRC 'visa d'etablissement special' (5-yr) for ANAPI-approved Investment Code (Loi 004/2002) promoters; minimum approved investment USD 10,000 for a PME/PMI, USD 200,000 under the general regime (figures already USD-denominated in the code); as of June 2026)
For short visits, 4 of 198 passports can enter visa-free and 194 can get an e-visa or visa on arrival.
Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).