List of presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

This article lists the heads of state of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) since the country's independence in 1960.

The current head of state is President Joseph Kabila, since 17 January 2001.

Heads of state of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1960–present)

(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)

Republic of the Congo (1960–1964)
№		Name		Birth–Death	Took office	Left office	Political Party
Presidents
	1	Joseph Kasa-Vubu		1910–1969	1 July 1960	1 August 1964	ABAKO
Democratic Republic of the Congo (1964–1971)
Presidents
	(1)	Joseph Kasa-Vubu		1910–1969	1 August 1964	24 November 1965^[1]	ABAKO
style="background:Template:Popular Movement of the Revolution/meta/color" \|	2	Joseph-Désiré Mobutu		1930–1997	24 November 1965	27 October 1971	Military / Popular Movement of the Revolution
Republic of Zaire (1971–1997)
President
style="background:Template:Popular Movement of the Revolution/meta/color" \|	(2)	Mobutu Sese Seko^[2]		1930–1997	27 October 1971	16 May 1997^[3]	Popular Movement of the Revolution
Democratic Republic of the Congo (1997–present)
Presidents
style="background:Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" \|	3	Laurent-Désiré Kabila	File:Laurent-Désiré Kabila cropped.jpg	1939–2001	17 May 1997	16 January 2001^[4]	Independent
style="background:Template:People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy/meta/color" \|	4	Joseph Kabila		1971–	26 January 2001 Acting since 17 January 2001	Incumbent	Independent / People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy

^ Deposed in the 1965 coup d'état
^ Previously named Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; changed name on 10 January 1972 due to the policy of Zairianisation
^ Deposed in the First Congo War
^ Assassinated

v t e President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (list)
Republic of the Congo (1960–1971)	Joseph Kasa-Vubu Joseph Mobutu
Republic of Zaire (1971–1997)	Joseph Mobutu/Mobutu Sese Seko
Democratic Republic of the Congo (1997–present)	Laurent-Désiré Kabila Joseph Kabila Félix Tshisekedi

v t e Years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Congo Free State	1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908
Belgian Congo	1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960
Republic of Congo	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964
Democratic Republic of the Congo	1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971
Zaire	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
DR Congo	1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024