| Rwanda |
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| Background: In 1959, three years before independence from Belgium, the majority ethnic group, the Hutus, overthrew the ruling Tutsi king. Over the next several years, thousands of Tutsis were killed, and some 150,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries. The children of these exiles later formed a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and began a civil war in 1990. The war, along with several political and economic upheavals, exacerbated ethnic tensions, culminating in April 1994 in the genocide of roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The Tutsi rebels defeated the Hutu regime and ended the killing in July 1994, but approximately 2 million Hutu refugees - many fearing Tutsi retribution - fled to neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and the former Zaire. Since then, most of the refugees have returned to Rwanda, but several thousand remained in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (the former Zaire) and formed an extremist insurgency bent on retaking Rwanda, much as the RPF tried in 1990. Despite substantial international assistance and political reforms - including Rwanda's first local elections in March 1999 and its first post-genocide presidential and legislative elections in August and September 2003 - the country continues to struggle to boost investment and agricultural output, and ethnic reconciliation is complicated by the real and perceived Tutsi political dominance. Kigali's increasing centralization and intolerance of dissent, the nagging Hutu extremist insurgency across the border, and Rwandan involvement in two wars in recent years in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to hinder Rwanda's efforts to escape its bloody legacy. |
| Geography and Environmental |
Capital: name: Kigali
geographic coordinates: 1 57 S, 30 04 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
| Area Total: 26,338 sq km |
| Area Land: 24,948 sq km |
| Area Water: 1,390 sq km |
| Area Comparative: slightly smaller than Maryland |
| Coastline: 0 km (landlocked) |
| Climate: temperate; two rainy seasons (February to April, November to January); mild in mountains with frost and snow possible |
| Terrain: mostly grassy uplands and hills; relief is mountainous with altitude declining from west to east |
| Elevation Extremes Lowest Point: Rusizi River 950 m |
| Elevation Extremes Highest Point: Volcan Karisimbi 4,519 m |
| Natural Resources: gold, cassiterite (tin ore), wolframite (tungsten ore), methane, hydropower, arable land |
| Land Use Arable Land: 45.56% |
| Land Use Permanent Crops: 10.25% |
| Land Use Other: 44.19% (2005) |
| Irrigated Land: 90 sq km (2003) |
| Natural Hazards: periodic droughts; the volcanic Virunga mountains are in the northwest along the border with Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Environment Current Issues: deforestation results from uncontrolled cutting of trees for fuel; overgrazing; soil exhaustion; soil erosion; widespread poaching |
| Geography Note: landlocked; most of the country is savanna grassland with the population predominantly rural |
| Population |
Population: 9,907,509
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2007 est.) |
| Age Structure 0 to 14 Years: 41.9% (male 2,082,474/female 2,065,251) |
| Age Structure 15 to 64 Years: 55.7% (male 2,748,189/female 2,765,767) |
| Age Structure 65 Years And Over: 2.5% (male 98,796/female 147,032) (2007 est.) |
| Median Age Total: 18.6 years |
| Median Age Male: 18.4 years |
| Median Age Female: 18.8 years (2007 est.) |
| Population Growth Rate: 2.766% (2007 est.) |
| Birth Rate: 40.16 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Death Rate: 14.91 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Sex Ratio At Birth: 1.03 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Under 15 Years: 1.008 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 15 to 64 Years: 0.994 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 65 Years And Over: 0.672 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Total Population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
| Infant Mortality Rate Total: 85.27 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Male: 90.41 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Female: 79.99 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
| Life Expectancy At BirthTotalPopulation: 48.99 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Male: 47.87 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Female: 50.16 years (2007 est.) |
| Total Fertility Rate: 5.37 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate: 5.1% (2003 est.) |
| HIV AIDS People Living With HIV AIDS: 250,000 (2003 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Deaths: 22,000 (2003 est.) |
| Religions: Roman Catholic 56.5%, Protestant 26%, Adventist 11.1%, Muslim 4.6%, indigenous beliefs 0.1%, none 1.7% (2001) |
| Languages: Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French (official), English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial centers |
| Literacy Definition: age 15 and over can read and write |
| Literacy Total Population: 70.4% |
| Literacy Male: 76.3% |
| Literacy Female: 64.7% (2003 est.) |
| Administrative Divisions: 5 provinces (in French - provinces, singular - province; in Kinyarwanda - prefigintara for singular and plural); East, Kigali, North, South, West |
| Legal System: based on German and Belgian civil law systems and customary law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Economy |
| Overview: Rwanda is a poor rural country with about 90% of the population engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture. It is the most densely populated country in Africa and is landlocked with few natural resources and minimal industry. Primary foreign exchange earners are coffee and tea. The 1994 genocide decimated Rwanda's fragile economic base, severely impoverished the population, particularly women, and eroded the country's ability to attract private and external investment. However, Rwanda has made substantial progress in stabilizing and rehabilitating its economy to pre-1994 levels, although poverty levels are higher now. GDP has rebounded and inflation has been curbed. Despite Rwanda's fertile ecosystem, food production often does not keep pace with population growth, requiring food imports. Rwanda continues to receive substantial aid money and obtained IMF-World Bank Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative debt relief in 2005-06. Rwanda also received Millennium Challenge Account Threshold status in 2006. Kigali's high defense expenditures have caused tension between the government and international donors and lending agencies. Energy shortages, instability in neighboring states, and lack of adequate transportation linkages to other countries continue to handicap growth. |
| GDP Purchasing Power Parity: $13.54 billion (2006 est.) |
| GDP Real Growth Rate: 5.8% (2006 est.) |
| GDP Composition By Sector Agriculture: 39.4% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Industry: 23.3% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Services: 37.3% (2006 est.) |
| Labor Force: 4.6 million (2000) |
Labor Force By Occupation: agriculture: 90%
industry and services: 10% |
| Unemployment Rate: NA% |
Household Income Or Consumption By Percentage Share: lowest 10%: 4.2%
highest 10%: 24.2% (1985) |
| Inflation Rate Consumer Prices: 6.7% (2006 est.) |
| Industries: cement, agricultural products, small-scale beverages, soap, furniture, shoes, plastic goods, textiles, cigarettes |
| Industrial Production Growth Rate: 7% (2001 est.) |
| Energy |
| Electricity Production: 93 million kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Production By Source Fossil Fuel: 2.3% |
| Electricity Production By Source Hydro: 97.7% |
| Electricity Production By Source Nuclear: 0% |
| Electricity Production By Source Other: 0% (2001) |
| Electricity Consumption: 196.5 million kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Exports: 10 million kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Imports: 120 million kWh (2004) |
| Oil Production: 0 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Oil Consumption: 5,400 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Oil Proved Reserves: 0 bbl (1 January 2002) |
| Natural Gas Production: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Consumption: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Proved Reserves: 56.63 billion cu m (1 January 2005 est.) |
| Exports: $135.4 million f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Exports Commodities: coffee, tea, hides, tin ore |
| Exports Partners: Germany 11%, China 6.5%, Belgium 4.5% (2005) |
| Imports: $390.4 million f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Imports Commodities: foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, steel, petroleum products, cement and construction material |
| Imports Partners: Kenya 18.9%, Uganda 6.6%, Belgium 5.8%, Germany 5.6%, Israel 4.3% (2005) |
| Debt External: $1.4 billion (2004 est.) |
| Economic Aid Recipient: $425 million (2003) |
| Communications |
| Telephones Main Lines In Use: 23,000 (2004) |
| TelephonesMobileCellular: 290,000 (2005) |
| Telephone System General Assessment: telephone system primarily serves business and government |
| Telephone System Domestic: the capital, Kigali, is connected to the centers of the provinces by microwave radio relay and, recently, by cellular telephone service; much of the network depends on wire and HF radiotelephone |
| Telephone System International: country code - 250; international connections employ microwave radio relay to neighboring countries and satellite communications to more distant countries; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) in Kigali (includes telex and telefax service) |
| Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 0, FM 8 (two main FM programs are broadcast through a system of repeaters, three international FM programs include the BBC, VOA, and Deutchewelle), shortwave 1 (2005) |
| Radios: 601,000 (1997) |
| Television Broadcast Stations: 2 (2004) |
| Televisions: NA; probably less than 1,000 (1997) |
| Internet Service Providers-ISPs: 2 (2002) |
| Internet Users: 38,000 (2005) |
| Transportation |
| Waterways: Lac Kivu navigable by shallow-draft barges and native craft (2005) |
| Airports: 9 (2006) |
| Military Expenditures Percent Of GDP: 2.9% (2005 est.) |
| Disputes International: fighting among ethnic groups - loosely associated political rebels, armed gangs, and various government forces in Great Lakes region transcending the boundaries of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda - abated substantially from a decade ago due largely to UN peacekeeping, international mediation, and efforts by local governments to create civil societies; nonetheless, 57,000 Rwandan refugees still reside in 21 African states, including Zambia, Gabon, and 20,000 who fled to Burundi in 2005 and 2006 to escape drought and recriminations from traditional courts investigating the 1994 massacres; the 2005 DROC and Rwanda border verification mechanism to stem rebel actions on both sides of the border remains in place |
| Refugees And Internally Displaced Persons: refugees (country of origin): 41,403 (Democratic Republic of the Congo), 4,400 (Burundi) (2006) |