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Where is Rwanda?
About Rwanda
The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

Rwanda is a below-average size country in central Africa.

Rwanda is landlocked country with no coastal border.

The land is mostly grassy uplands and hills.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Rwanda, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 2 00S
Longitude - 308 00E

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Check the weather in Kigali now.

This is the time in Kigali now

The Rwandan flag is three horizontal stripes of sky blue, at the top, yellow and green with a golden sun with 24 rays in the top corner of the flag away from the flagpole. Blue represents happiness and peace, yellow economic development and mineral wealth and green, hope of prosperity and natural resources. The sun is for unity, as well as enlightenment and transparency from ignorance.

The capital of Rwanda is Kigali.

Rwanda is a presidential republic with a president as head of state and head of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Rwanda is the Rwandan franc. Rwanda is a member of the Commonwealth.

Kinyarwanda, French, English and Swahili/Kiswahili are the official languages.

Hear the National Anthem


These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Rwandan National Anthem called Rwanda, Our Beautiful Country. It was adopted in 2001. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

Rwanda, our beautiful and dear country, adorned of hills, lakes and volcanoes
Motherland, would be always filled of happiness, us all your children: Abanyarwanda
Let us sing your glare and proclaim your high facts, you, maternal bosom of us all
Would be admired forever, prosperous and cover of praises.

Invaluable heritage, that God protects to you, you filled us priceless goods
Our common culture identifies us, our single language unifies us
That our intelligence, our conscience and our forces, fill you with varied riches
For an unceasingly renewed development.

Our valorous ancestors, gave themselves bodies and souls
As far as making you a big nation, you overcame the colonial-imperialistic yoke
That has devastated Africa entirely, and has your joy of your sovereign independence
Acquired that constantly we will defend 

Maintain this cape, beloved Rwanda, standing, we commit for you
So that peace reigns countrywide, that you are free of all hindrance
That your determination hires progress tat you have excellent relations with all countries
And that finally your pride is worth your esteem.

We have already written our own history of England but are asking schools in Rwanda to provide us with a detailed history of their own country. Check how here.


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The total land area of Rwanda is 24,668 sq kms which is the 47th largest in Africa.

Rwanda has lakes, rivers and canals which total 1,670 sq kms.

Rwanda has boundaries with 4 countries

• Burundi 315 kms
• Tanzania 222 kms
• Democratic Republic of Congo 221 kms
• Uganda 172 kms

Rwanda has no coastline.

The highest point in Rwanda is Volcan Karisimbi at 4,519 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Rwanda is 12.19 million people, making it the 25th largest country in Africa by population.

Of this number 6.23 million are females and 5.96 million are males.

A person from Rwanda is called a Rwandan.

To be a citizen of Rwanda, your father must be a citizen of Rwanda. If your father is stateless or unknown, the mother must be a citizen of Rwanda. It is not sufficient to be born in Rwanda. You have to live in Rwanda for 10 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Rwanda, by population are:-

• Kigali 745,261 people
• Butare 89,600
• Gitarama 87,613
• Ruhengeri 86,685
• Gisenyi 83,623

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



17.2% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Rwanda is 29.8 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Rwanda is 6.3 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 4.0 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 3.3 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 26.2 and for males is 32.0. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 23.0.

The elderly dependency ratio is 5.0. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 20.1. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Rwanda spends 7.5% of its total income on health care.

There are 0.13 doctors per 1,000 people.

We have no figures for the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people.

5.8% of the population are estimated as obese.

86.6% of the urban population and 71.9% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

58.5% of the urban population and 62.9% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Rwanda releases 0.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 43rd highest in Africa.

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Rwanda spends 3.2% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 4 in Rwanda. Primary education is for six years until age 13 and secondary education must continue till 16 but can go on to 18/19. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the middle of January and finishes at the beginning of November. There is usually a 2 week break at the beginning of April and a 4 wwek break from mid-July to mid-August.

68.0% of females and 73.2% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

22.6% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 24.8% are unemployed while with males 20.6% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Rwanda is 6.23 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

2.7% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 4 paved airports in Rwanda, which is the 39th highest number in Africa.


There are no railways in Rwanda.


There are 4,700 kilometres of roads in Rwanda, which means Rwanda is in 42nd place for the most kilometres of roads in Africa.

There are 1 major national newspaper in Rwanda.

There are 8.82 million mobile phone users.

Less than 1% of the people have a fixed landline.



3.72 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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