Kinshasa is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is also known as Congo Kinshasa. The city is located on the Congo River.

Once a site of fishing villages, Kinshasa is now an urban area with a population of nearly 8 million in 2007. The city of Brazzaville (about 1.5 million inhabitants in 2007 with its suburbs), capital of the Republic of Congo, lies just across the Congo River from Kinshasa. Together with Brazzaville, the combined conurbation of Kinshasa-Brazzaville has thus nearly 11 million inhabitants. Because the administrative boundaries cover such a vast area, over 60% of the city's land is rural in nature.

Kinshasa ties with Johannesburg for the status of the second largest city in sub-Saharan Africa and the third largest in the whole continent after Lagos and Cairo. It is often considered the second largest francophone city in the world after Paris, though on criteria such as number of native speakers Montreal retains this distinction, as African languages, especially Lingala, are more widely spoken in Kinshasa than French is. If current demographic trends continue, Kinshasa will surpass Paris in population before 2020.