Goma is the capital and largest city of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the northern shore of Lake Kivu in the Albertine Rift. It lies only 13 to 18 kilometres south of the active volcano Mount Nyiragongo and had a 2024 population of about 782,000, plus roughly 500,000 additional displaced persons; the city has been repeatedly shaped by volcanic activity and by the wars that followed the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and as of January 2025 the M23 rebel group controls the city after a fresh offensive.
Facts
Area (sq km) Founding Year Founding Year Population Estimate Year Elevation Band Climate Zone Sources
1. Goma (Wikidata)
P1082 (population)
population 781,875 (2024)
P625 (coordinate location)
latitude -1.6641, longitude 29.22286
P2046 (area)
area 75.2 sq km
P1082 (population), P585 (point in time)
population 781875 (2024)
View the Source2. Goma (Wikipedia)
History
In 1906, officers of the Congo Free State established Goma post opposite Gisenyi as a military outpost
- In Group: Cities of Middle Africa (World), Wikipedia; part-of country and UN M49 subregion
View the Source3. GeoNames: Goma - GeoNames
GeoNamescities500 record 216281
-1.67409 29.22845 P PPLA CD 11 01 78200 1518 Africa/Lubumbashi
Place record, elevation
Elevation ca. 1518 m
View the Source 4. CIA World Factbook (factbook.json archive): The World Factbook archive: Democratic Republic of the Congo
CIA World Factbook (factbook.json archive)Geography note and CoastlineQuote, Geography note and Coastline
the narrow strip of land that controls the lower Congo River is the DRC's only outlet to the South Atlantic Ocean
View the Source 5. Koeppen-Geiger map (Kottek et al., University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna): World Map of the Koeppen-Geiger Climate Classification, present climate data
Koeppen-Geiger map (Kottek et al., University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna)Koeppen-Geiger-ASCII.txt grid cell -1.75, 29.25Quote, Koeppen-Geiger-ASCII.txt grid cell -1.75, 29.25
-1.75 29.25 Cfb
View the Source Wikidata: Goma
Wikidata Q204381, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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