Rwanda
- Capital:
- Kigali
- Continent:
- Africa
- Region(s):
- Eastern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa
- Abbreviation:
- RWA
* As of 6/9/2025
1 birth
Every 1.3 minutes
1 death
Every 6.2 minutes
1 immigrant
Every 1.4 hours
1 person
Every 1.6 minutes
Rwanda is a sovereign state in central Africa with a widely varied geography. Rwanda has one of the highest population densities in Africa (1,060/sq mi) with a young, mostly rural population.
94% of the people in Rwanda practice some form of Christianity, making it the dominant religion by far. Of the remaining population, 4.6% practice Islam, and 1.4% practice something else. Of the 94% of the population that is Christian, 56.9% are Catholic, 26.0% are Protestant, and 11.1% are Seventh-Day Adventists. Within the small percentage of people that practice other religions, there are a few secretive and small groups of Buddhists and Hindus- most of which have immigrated from elsewhere.
Since the turn of the 21st century, Rwanda has been experiencing significant economic growth- largely due to policy reform. Unfortunately, it is projected that the current growth is unsustainable because the foundation of the government is institutionally weak. The main industries within Rwanda are agriculture, energy, industry, and tourism.
Rwanda was first settled by hunter-gatherers, then Bantu settlers. In 1884, Germany colonized the country, then Belgium during WWI. In 1959, the Hulu people revolted, massacring a large number of Tutsi people and establishing a new state three years later. The Tutsi launched a civil war in 1990, then a genocide in 1994 in which Hutu extremists killed up to one million Tutsi and Hutu.