KEY FACTS
Joined Commonwealth: November 2009
Population: 11,458,000 (2012)
GDP p.c. growth: 2.3% p.a. 1990–2012
UN HDI 2012: world ranking 167
Official languages: Kinyarwanda, French, English
Time: GMT plus 2hr
Currency: Rwandan franc (Rwfr)
Geography
Area: 26,338 sq km
Coastline: none
Capital: Kigali
The Republic of Rwanda is a landlocked country with land borders with four countries: Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo (clockwise from the north). Water covers 1,390 sq km of the country; the largest lakes include Bulera, Ihema, Kivu (straddling the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo), Mugesera and Muhazi, and there are many rivers. The country comprises five provinces.
Main towns:
Kigali (capital, pop. 1.03m in 2010), Ruhengeri (117,500), Gisenyi (113,000), Butare (107,300), Gitarama (87,700), Ruhango (74,700), Byumba (74,700), Cyangugu (68,800), Kabuga (57,400), Nyanza (55,300), Rwamagana (53,000), Kibungo (48,900), Kibuye (47,900) and Gikongoro (34,800).
Society
KEY FACTS 2012
Population per sq km: 435
Life expectancy: 64 years
Net primary enrolment: 99%
Population:
11,458,000 (2012); 19 per cent of people live in urban areas; growth 2.1 per cent p.a. 1990–2012; birth rate 36 per 1,000 people (53 in 1970); life expectancy 64 years (44 in 1970). The main ethnic groups are Hutus, comprising an estimated 85 per cent of the population; Tutsis (14 per cent); and Twa (less than one per cent). Censuses carried out since the conflict of the 1990s have not included ethnicity.
Language:
Kinyarwanda, French and English are the official languages, and Kiswahili is widely spoken.
Education:
Public spending on education was four per cent of GDP in 2012. There are nine years of compulsory education starting at the age of seven. Primary school comprises six years and secondary six, with two cycles each of three years. The school year starts in January. Some 37 per cent of pupils complete primary school (2009). In October 2008 the government decided to change the medium of education from French to English. The National University of Rwanda was established in 1963 with faculties of medicine and social sciences, and a teacher-training college. Faculties of law, science and technology, and the National Institute of Education followed, all now located at Butare in the south. Among other important tertiary institutions are the Kigali Health Institute; the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology; the Rwanda Institute of Administration and Management; and the School of Finance and Banking. The female–male ratio for gross enrolment in tertiary education is 0.70:1 (2011). Literacy among people aged 15–24 is 77 per cent (2010)
