More than 200 languages are spoken in the DRC. French is the official language. Four African languages are also widely spoken: Swahili in the east, Kikongo in the area between Kinshasa and the coast, Tshiluba in the south, and Lingala along the Congo River. Some 73% of the DRC’s people are nominally Christians, primarily Roman Catholics, who account for about 53 % of the total population.