Country · Africa
Rwanda
Republic of Rwanda
Rwanda is a country in Eastern Africa. Its capital city is Kigali. About 12.3 million people live there, in an area of 26 338 square kilometres.
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Where is Rwanda?
Rwanda lies in Eastern Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the southern half of the world, roughly 223 km from the equator.
Rwanda is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 4 countries: Burundi, DR Congo, Tanzania and Uganda.
How big is Rwanda?
Rwanda covers 26 338 square kilometres.
That is about 10 times the size of Luxembourg.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 144th largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 467.1 people on every square kilometre.
Who lives in Rwanda?
About 12.3 million people live in Rwanda.
That is the 75th biggest population in the world.
People here speak English, French and Kinyarwanda.
They pay with the Rwandan franc (Fr).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 39 years.
The land of Rwanda
The land in Rwanda sits on average 1 598 metres above sea level — high enough that much of it counts as mountain country.
Because it is landlocked, everything that arrives by ship has to cross one of its 4 neighbours first.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Rwanda different?
Websites from here often end in .rw.
Rwanda and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 2 live in Rwanda.
It takes up about 0.02 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa it is the 46th largest of 54 countries, and the 28th most populated.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Rwanda and its neighbours
DR Congo, its largest neighbour, is about 89 times bigger.
DR Congo has more people: 84.1 million against 12.3 million.
Nature and animals
The longest river is the Nile, running 6 650 km from source to mouth.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Rwanda?
The capital of Rwanda is Kigali. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Rwanda?
About 12.3 million people live in Rwanda, which makes it the 75th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Rwanda?
Rwanda borders Burundi, DR Congo, Tanzania and Uganda — 4 neighbours in total.
How big is Rwanda?
Rwanda covers 26 338 square kilometres, making it the 144th largest country in the world. That is about 10 times the size of Luxembourg.
Which continent is Rwanda in?
Rwanda is in Africa, in the part called Eastern Africa.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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