Rwanda
|
| Basic Facts |
| Country name |
conventional long form: Republic of Rwanda
conventional short form: Rwanda local long form: Republika y'u Rwanda local short form: Rwanda former: Ruanda, German East Africa |
| Gevernment type | republic; presidential, multiparty system |
| Capital |
name: Kigali
geographic coordinates: 1 57 S, 30 04 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
| Flag description | three horizontal bands of sky blue (top, double width), yellow, and green, with a golden sun with 24 rays near the fly end of the blue band |
| Currency | Rwandan franc (RWF) |
| Internet country code | .rw |
| Ports and terminals | Cyangugu, Gisenyi, Kibuye |
| Agriculture products | coffee, tea, pyrethrum (insecticide made from chrysanthemums), bananas, beans, sorghum, potatoes; livestock |
| Industries | cement, agricultural products, small-scale beverages, soap, furniture, shoes, plastic goods, textiles, cigarettes |
| Geography |
| Location | Central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Coordinates | 2 00 S, 30 00 E |
| Continent | Africa |
| Area |
total: 26,338 sq km
land: 24,948 sq km water: 1,390 sq km |
| Boundaries |
total: 893 km
border countries: Burundi 290 km, Democratic Republic of the Congo 217 km, Tanzania 217 km, Uganda 169 km |
| Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) |
| Climate | temperate; two rainy seasons (February to April, November to January); mild in mountains with frost and snow possible |
| Terrain | mostly grassy uplands and hills; relief is mountainous with altitude declining from west to east |
| Natural resources | gold, cassiterite (tin ore), wolframite (tungsten ore), methane, hydropower, arable land |
| Natural hazards | periodic droughts; the volcanic Virunga mountains are in the northwest along the border with Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| People |
| Population | 8,648,248
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.) |
| Ethnic groups | Hutu 84%, Tutsi 15%, Twa (Pygmoid) 1% |
| Religions | Roman Catholic 56.5%, Protestant 26%, Adventist 11.1%, Muslim 4.6%, indigenous beliefs 0.1%, none 1.7% (2001) |
| Languages | Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French (official), English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial centers |
