Location of Rwanda. Source: Vardion/Wikipedia

Map of Rwanda. Source: CIA World Factbook

Satellite image of Rwanda. Source: Cwolfsheep/Wikipedia/The Map Library

Rwanda is a small nation in central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of the Congo, west of Tanzania, south of Uganda and north of Burundi. Most of the country is high savanna grassland with a predominantly rural population. Western Rwanda includes part of the highlands that separate the two greatest river basins of Africa, the Nile and the Congo.  Much of the boder with the Democratic Republic of the Congo lies through Lake Kiva, one of Africa's Great Lakes, which within the Albertine Rift of the Africa's Great Rift System, and ultimately feeds the Congo River. The volcanic Virunga mountains are in the northwest, also along the border with Democratic Republic of the Congo. Moving east from the mountainous,  the mostly grassy uplands and hills decline in altitude from west to east.

Rwanda's major environmental issues include: deforestation results from uncontrolled cutting of trees for fuel; overgrazing; soil exhaustion; soil erosion; and, widespread poaching. It is susceptible to periodic droughts.

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 Zaire. Since then, most of the refugees have returned to Rwanda, but several thousand remained in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC; 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 DRC continue to hinder Rwanda's efforts to escape its bloody legacy.

Geography

Location: Central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of the Congo

Geographic Coordinates: 2 00 S, 30 00 E

Area: 26,338 km² (24,948 km² land and 1,390 km² water)

arable land: 45.56%
permanent crops: 10.25%
other: 44.19% (2005)

Land Boundaries: 893 km. Border countries: Burundi 290 km, Democratic Republic of the Congo 217 km, Tanzania 217 km, Uganda 169 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime Claims: none (landlocked)

Natural Hazards: periodic droughts; the volcanic Virunga mountains are in the northwest along the border with Democratic Republic of the Congo

Terrain: Mostly grassy uplands and hills; relief is mountainous with altitude declining from west to east. Its lowest point is the Rusizi River (950 metres) and its highest point is Volcan Karisimbi (4,519 metres).

Climate: Temperate; two rainy seasons (February to April, November to January); mild in mountains with frost and snow possible

Government

Government Type: republic; presidential, multiparty system

Capital: Kigali

Independence Date: 1 July 1962 (from Belgium-administered UN trusteeship)

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

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

International Environmental Agreements

Rwanda is party to international agreements on: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, and Wetlands. It has signed, but not ratified the international agreement known as the Law of the Sea.

People and Society

Population: 10,186,063

Age Structure:

0-14 years: 41.9% (male 2,143,479/female 2,124,588)
15-64 years: 55.7% (male 2,826,557/female 2,842,020)
65 years and over: 2.4% (male 99,721/female 149,698) (2008 est.)

Population Growth Rate: 2.779% (2008 est.)

Birth Rate: 39.97 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death Rate: 14.46 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net Migration Rate: 2.29 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Life Expectancy at Birth: 49.76 years (2008 est.)

Total Fertility Rate: 5.31 children born/woman (2008 est.)

Languages: Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French (official), English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial centers

Literacy (2003 est.): 70.4% (male: 76.3% - female: 64.7%)

Water

Total Renewable Water Resources: 5.2 cu km (2003)

Freshwater Withdrawal:  Total: 0.15 cu km/yr (24% domestic, 8% industrial, 68% agricultural). Per capita: 17 cu m/yr (2000)

Agriculture

Agricultural Products: coffee, tea, pyrethrum (insecticide made from chrysanthemums), bananas, beans, sorghum, potatoes; livestock

Irrigated Land: 90 sq km (2003)

Resources

Natural Resources: gold, cassiterite (tin ore), wolframite (tungsten ore), methane, hydropower, arable land.

Energy

Health

Prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Adults: 5.1% (2003 est.)

Major Infectious Diseases: degree of risk: very high

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne disease: malaria (2008)

Conflict

International Disputes: 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): 46,272 (Democratic Republic of the Congo); 4,400 (Burundi) (2007)

Economy

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. The government has embraced an expansionary fiscal policy to reduce poverty by improving education, infrastructure, and foreign and domestic investment and pursuing market-oriented reforms, although energy shortages, instability in neighboring states, and lack of adequate transportation linkages to other countries continue to handicap growth.

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $8.44 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (Official Exchange Rate): $3.32 billion (2007 est.)

GDP- real growth rate: 6% (2007 est.)

GDP- per capita (PPP): $900 (2007 est.)

GDP- composition by sector:

agriculture: 36.9%
industry: 21.7%
services: 41.4% (2007 est.)

Population Below Poverty Line: 60% (2001 est.)

Industries: cement, agricultural products, small-scale beverages, soap, furniture, shoes, plastic goods, textiles, cigarettes

Exports: coffee, tea, hides, tin ore

Export Partners: China 9.3%, Germany 7%, US 5.1% (2006)

Imports: foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, steel, petroleum products, cement and construction material

Import Partners: Kenya 19.6%, Uganda 6.9%, Germany 6.2%, Belgium 6.2%, China 5.2% (2006)

Economic Aid Recipient: $576 million (2005)

Currency: Rwandan franc (RWF)

Ports and Terminals: Cyangugu, Gisenyi, Kibuye.

Further Reading

1. CIA World Factbook
2. Rwanda country profile