Country · Africa
Rwanda
Republic of Rwanda
Rwanda is a country in Eastern Africa. About 12.3 million people live there, in an area of 26 338 square kilometres. Its capital city is Kigali.
Picture credit: Emmanuelkwizera (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Adrien K (CC BY 2.0) · Francisco Anzola (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
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.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per 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 of Rwanda sits on average 1 598 metres above sea level — high enough that much of it counts as mountain country.
Because it is landlocked, anything that comes by ship has to cross one of its 4 neighbours to get here.
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 one lives in Rwanda.
It takes up about 0.02 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa the country ranks 46th of 54 by size, and 28th by population.
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 highest mountain in the country is Mount Karisimbi, at 4 507 metres. The longest river in the country is the Nyabarongo. The largest lake in the country is Lake Kivu.
Where this country lands in the record lists
How big is Rwanda compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 356 times as big as Rwanda: 9 372 610 km² against 26 338 km².
- The United Kingdom is about 9.2 times as big as Rwanda: 242 900 km² against 26 338 km².
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?
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.
What is the highest mountain in Rwanda?
The highest mountain in Rwanda is Mount Karisimbi, 4 507 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the longest river in Rwanda?
The longest river in Rwanda is the Nyabarongo, about 351 kilometres long.
What is the largest lake in Rwanda?
The largest lake in Rwanda is Lake Kivu. The whole lake covers about 2 700 km², and part of it belongs to neighbouring countries.
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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