Which country is the largest in the Southern African Development Community by total area?

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the largest country in the Southern African Development Community by total area.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo covers about 2.34 million square kilometres and is the largest member of the Southern African Development Community, commonly called SADC. Although much of the country is geographically Central African, it belongs to this regional organization.

The country contains most of the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest after the Amazon. The Congo River and its tributaries form a major transport and ecological network, while eastern highlands rise near the Great Rift Valley.

Angola, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, and other SADC members are also large countries. A common mistake is to assume that the biggest country in the organization must be geographically classified as Southern Africa; regional organizations often span broader areas than conventional geographic subregions.