Demographics of Rwanda

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Rwanda, including population density, ethnicity, education higher level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Rwanda's population density, even after the 1994 genocide, is among the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa at 230 inhabitants per square kilometre (600/sq mi). This country has few villages, and nearly every family lives in a self-contained compound on a hillside. The urban concentrations are grouped around administrative centers.

Over half of the adult population is literate, but no more than 5% have received secondary education.

Ethnic groups

The Rwandan population largely consists of three ethnic groups. The Hutus, who comprise the majority of the population (85%), are farmers of Bantu origin. The Tutsis (14% before the Genocide, probably less than 10% now) are a pastoral people who arrived in the area in the 15th century. Until 1959, they formed the dominant caste under a feudal system based on cattleholding.

The Twa (pygmies) (1%) are thought to be the remnants of the earliest settlers of the region.

Population

Children carrying firewood near Lake Kivu
A graph showing Rwanda's total population, Data of FAO, year 2005; number of inhabitants in thousands.

In 1950, Rwanda had a very narrow population pyramid, with less than 250,000 males and females between 0–10 years old. The graph only gets narrower as it goes up with virtually no-one living past 50 years of age. In 2017, we see the population of Rwanda increase dramatically from 1950 with about 750,000 people between 0–20 years old, the graph remains very narrow in the older ages section but has improved from 1950. By 2050, it is predicted that more people will be living longer and the structure will broaden overall. By 2100, it is predicted that there will be more people aged between 30–60 than between 0–20 as previous years have shown.[1]

According to the 2019 revision of the World Population Prospects[2][3] the total population was 1,230,197 in 2018, compared to only 2,072,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 42.6%, 54.7% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 2.7% was 65 years or older .[4]

Population
Total population (in thousands) Population aged 0–14 (%) Population aged 15–64 (%) Population aged 65+ (%)
1950 2,07245.152.32.6
1955 2,38646.350.82.9
1960 2,77148.149.12.8
1965 3,22147.849.52.7
1970 3,74947.849.72.5
1975 4,39047.749.92.4
1980 5,17948.149.72.2
1985 6,08148.949.12.0
1990 7,11049.148.72.2
1995 5,57048.449.32.3
2000 8,09845.452.02.6
2005 9,20242.455.02.7
2010 10,62442.654.72.7
2012 10,51641.1655.653.19

Structure of the population [5]

Structure of the population (1 July 2012 estimates, data refer to national projections):

Age group Male Female Total %
Total 5,342,112 5,691,029 11,033,141 100
0–4 973,447 957,104 1,930,551 17.50
5–9 770,292 763,709 1,534,001 13.90
10–14 608,836 621,378 1,230,213 11.15
15–19 552,629 568,101 1,120,730 10.16
20–24 525,485 550,486 1,075,971 9.75
25–29 508,839 540,872 1,049,712 9.51
30–34 366,700 416,072 782,772 7.09
35–39 241,362 291,340 532,702 4.83
40–44 197,005 228,728 425,733 3.86
45–49 165,096 193,402 358,499 3.25
50–54 153,080 180,759 333,839 3.03
55–59 107,200 132,234 239,433 2.17
60–64 71,924 92,299 164,223 1.49
65–69 38,125 58,585 96,710 0.88
70–74 29,285 46,236 75,521 0.68
75–79 17,736 27,557 45,293 0.41
80+ 15,071 22,178 37,239 0.34
Age group Male Female Total Percent
0–14 2,352,575 2,342,191 4,694,766 42.55
15–64 2,889,320 3,194,282 6,083,602 55.14
65+ 100,217 154,556 254,773 2.31

Structure of the population (DHS 2013; males 9,546, females 10,726, total 20,272):

Age Group Male (%) Female (%) Total (%)
0–4 16.2 14.5 15.3
5–9 15.2 13.5 14.3
10–14 14.0 12.6 13.3
15–19 10.3 9.9 10.1
20–24 8.2 9.0 8.6
25–29 8.3 8.3 8.3
30–34 7.2 7.3 7.3
35–39 4.4 4.9 4.7
40–44 3.5 4.3 4.0
45–49 3.1 3.6 3.3
50–54 3.1 3.4 3.3
55–59 2.1 2.3 2.2
60–64 1.7 2.1 1.9
65–69 1.0 1.5 1.3
70–74 0.6 1.1 0.9
75–79 0.5 0.6 0.6
80+ 0.6 0.9 0.8
Age group Male (%) Female (%) Total (%)
0–14 45.4 40.6 42.9
15–64 51.9 55.3 53.5
65+ 2.7 4.1 3.6

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events is in Rwanda not complete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. [4]

Period Live births per year Deaths per year Natural change per year CBR* CDR* NC* TFR* IMR*
1950–1955118,00055,00063,00052.924.728.18.00160
1955–1960137,00060,00077,00053.323.429.98.15152
1960–1965155,00065,00090,00051.921.930.08.15143
1965–1970178,00072,000106,00051.020.730.38.10137
1970–1975211,00082,000128,00051.820.331.58.20134
1975–1980250,00092,000158,00052.319.333.08.25132
1980–1985294,00092,000202,00052.216.335.98.25124
1985–1990326,000123,000203,00049.418.730.77.80120
1990–1995258,000263,000−5,00040.741.5−0.86.30128
1995–2000278,000136,000142,00040.719.920.86.00118
2000–2005344,000125,000219,00039.814.425.45.60108
2005–2010404,000122,000281,00040.712.328.45.43100
* CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman)
We can also see that in 1990-1995 had a large decrease in population. This is due to the fact 1994 was the center of a genocide.

Births and deaths[6]

Year Population Live births Deaths Natural increase Crude birth rate Crude death rate Rate of natural increase TFR
2012 404,067 139,499 264,568

Fertility and Births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):[7]

Year CBR (Total) TFR (Total) CBR (Urban) TFR (Urban) CBR (Rural) TFR (Rural)
1992 40.0 6.23 (4.2) 38.0 4.51 (3.3) 41.0 6.33 (4.3)
2000 5.8 (4.7) 5.2 (4.1) 5.9 (4.8)
2005 43.2 6.1 (4.6) 39.8 4.9 (3.6) 43.8 6.3 (4.8)
2007–08 39.2 5.5 (3.7) 37.4 4.7 (3.3) 39.6 5.7 (3.8)
2010 34.4 4.6 (3.1) 30.6 3.4 (2.6) 35.0 4.8 (3.2)
2014–15 32.6 4.2 (3.1) 34.3 3.6 (2.7) 32.3 4.3 (3.2)

Fertility data as of 2014–15 (DHS Program):[8]

Province Total fertility rate Percentage of women age 15–49 currently pregnant Mean number of children ever born to women age 40–49
Kigali3.66.94.6
South4.06.95.0
West4.67.45.9
North3.76.35.6
East4.68.45.9

Life expectancy

Period Life expectancy in
Years
Period Life expectancy in
Years
1950–1955 40.0 1985–1990 48.1
1955–1960 41.5 1990–1995 23.7
1960–1965 43.0 1995–2000 44.7
1965–1970 44.1 2000–2005 50.6
1970–1975 44.6 2005–2010 60.1
1975–1980 45.8 2010–2015 65.2
1980–1985 49.8

Source: UN[9]

Other demographic statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019.[10]

  • One birth every 1 minutes
  • One death every 7 minutes
  • One net migrant every 58 minutes
  • Net gain of one person every 2 minutes

The following demographic are from the CIA World Factbook[11] unless otherwise indicated.

Population

12,187,400 (July 2018 est.)
11,901,484 (July 2017 est.)

Age structure

Population pyramid of Rwanda in 2017
0–14 years: 40.98% (male 2,521,169 / female 2,473,055)
15–24 years: 19.45% (male 1,187,249 / female 1,183,278)
25–54 years: 32.93% (male 1,903,087 / female 2,109,839)
55–64 years: 4.15% (male 225,273 / female 280,545)
65 years and over: 2.49% (male 120,952 / female 182,953) (2018 est.)

Median age

total: 19.2 years. Country comparison to the world: 200th
male: 18.5 years
female: 20 years (2018 est.)
Total: 19 years
Male: 18.3 years
Female: 19.8 years (2017 est.)

Birth rate

29.8 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 39th

Death rate

6.3 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 154th

Total fertility rate

3.75 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 41st

Population growth rate

2.3% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 34th
2.45% (2017 est.)

Mother's mean age at first birth

23 years (2014/15 est.)
note: median age at first birth among women 25-29

Contraceptive prevalence rate

53.2% (2014/15)

Net migration rate

0.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 68th

Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio: 77.3 (2015 est.)
youth dependency ratio: 72.4 (2015 est.)
elderly dependency ratio: 5 (2015 est.)
potential support ratio: 20.1 (2015 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 17.2% of total population (2018)
rate of urbanization: 2.86% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 64.5 years (2018 est.)
male: 62.6 years (2018 est.)
female: 66.5 years (2018 est.)
total population: 64.3 years
male: 62.3 years
female: 66.3 years (2017 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.70 male(s)/female
total population: 1.00 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

Nationality

noun: Rwandan(s)/Rwandese
adjective: Rwandan/Rwandese

Ethnic groups[12]

91% Hutu, 8% Tutsi, 1% Twa.

Religions

Protestant 49.5% (includes Adventist 11.8% and other Protestant 37.7%), Roman Catholic 43.7%, Muslim 2%, other 0.9% (includes Jehovah's Witness), none 2.5%, unspecified 1.3% (2012 est.)

Languages[12]

  • Kinyarwanda only (official universal Bantu vernacular) 93.2%
  • Kinyarwanda and other language(s) 6.2%
  • French (official) and other language(s) 0.1%
  • English (official) and other language(s) 0.1%
  • Swahili (or Kiswahili used in commercial centers) 0.02%
  • Other 0.03%
  • Unspecified 0.3% (2002 est.)

Education expenditure

3.5% of GDP (2016)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.)

total population: 70.5% (2015 est.)
male: 73.2% (2015 est.)
female: 68% (2015 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 11 years (2017)
male: 11 years (2017)
female: 11 years (2017)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

total: 1.9% (2014 est.)
male: 1.4% (2014 est.)
female: 2.5% (2014 est.)

See also

References

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