Home

Rwanda: A Brief Overview

The Republic of Rwanda is a small, primarily rural, landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of East-Central Africa bordered by Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda. About the size of Maryland with a population of 9.9 million people, the "Land of a Thousand Hills" is predominantly covered with savanna grassland, yet it represents the most densely populated country on the African continent.

Situated in the middle of Rwanda, the capital city of Kigali (population approximately 900,000) is the political, economic, cultural, and transportation center of the country. It sprawls across four ridges, the highest being Mt. Kigali with an elevation slightly over 6,000 feet above sea level. The Mille Collines, a hotel that became a refugee center during the genocide and made famous in the movie Hotel Rwanda, is in the Kiyovu area and represents one of several world-class hotels in the city. The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, hopes to develop Kigali into the business, intellectual, cultural, tourist, and technological hub of Africa.

Currently, about 90% of Rwandans are engaged in (primarily subsistence) agriculture, including coffee, tea, pyrethrum (insecticide from chrysanthemums), bananas, beans, sorghum, potatoes, and livestock.  Other industries in Rwanda include cement, small-scale beverages, soap, furniture, shoes, plastic goods, textiles, and cigarettes. The official languages of the country are Kinyarwanda, French, and English, and the ethnic groups include Hutu (84%), Tutsi (15%), and the Twa/Pygmy (1%) (the latter representing one of the oldest cultures on earth). The predominant religions are Roman Catholic (57%) followed by Protestant (26%), Adventist (11%), Muslim (5%), and Traditional African (<1%).

In 2007, the United Nations published a report that ranked countries according to the Human Development Index (HDI) that factors life expectancy, literacy, education, and standards of living. Basically, it’s a measure of general well-being, especially child welfare. Considering age structure, birth and death statistics, the presence of a generalized HIV/AIDS epidemic, high literacy and poverty rates, and a poor communication and information infrastructure it is no surprise that Rwanda was ranked 161 out of 177 countries.

Rwanda

United States
       

Age Structure

0-14

41.90%

20.20%

15-64

55.70%

67.20%

65+

2.50%

12.60%

Median Age

18.60%

36.60%

Birth & Mortality Rates

Total Fertility Rate (births/woman)

5.37

2.09

Birth Rate (per 1,000)

40.16

14.16

Life Expectancy at Birth

48.99

78

Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births)

85.27

6.37

Mortality Rate Under 5 (per 1,000 births)

203.00

(2005 estimate)

7.00

(2005 estimate)

Death Rate (per 1,000)

14.91

8.26

HIV/AIDS (2003 estimates)

HIV/AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate

5.10%

0.60%

People Living with HIV/AIDS

250,000

950,000

HIV/AIDS Deaths

22,000

(2005 estimate)

17,011

(2005 estimate)

Literacy

Age 15+ who can read and write

70.40%

99.00%

Gross Domestic Product & Poverty

GDP (purchasing power parity)

$8.576 billion

$13.86 trillion

GDP per capita

$1,000

$46,000

Population  Below Poverty Line

60%

(2001 estimate)

12%

(2004 estimate)

Communication

Telephones/Population*

.2%

60%

Cell Phones/Population*

3%

80%

Internet Hosts

1,592

3,950,000

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

2

(2002 estimate)

7,000

(2002 estimate)

Internet Users/Population*

.7%

70%
         

Note: All statistics are 2007 estimates unless otherwise indicated

Sources: The 2008 World Factbook; The World Bank Key Development Data & Statistics

*Gross estimates