Did You Know: Rwanda is Mainland Africa's Most Crowded African Country
Besides being mainland Africa most crowded African country other curious facts are in Rwanda South, the Virgin Mary appeared and in Rwanda West, Kwita Izina gorilla naming ceremony is quite famous.
Part of our African Geography Hub — discover how Africa’s land, people, and natural features shape its story.
The African island of Mauritius is Africa’s most densely populated African country, Rwanda is mainland Africa’s most densely populated crowded African country. Neighboring country to Rwanda, Burundi is the third most densely populated African country and the second most densely populated on mainland Africa.
Rwanda has a total population of around 12.7 million people living inside 26,338 square kilometers or 10,169 square mile, roughly the size of the U.S. state of Maryland. Rwanda is Africa’s second most crowed African country but is the fourth smallest on the African mainland after The Gambia, Eswatini, and Djibouti.
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| Rwanda schoolteachers in training. |
Rwanda has a population density of 525 people per square kilometer or 1,360 people per square mile.
For reference, there are 93 residents per square mile in the U.S. Rwanda, known as the land of a thousand hills, landlocked, lying south of the Equator in east-central Africa with mostly a population of rural residents with a total population in 2020 of 12.7 million people and is projected to surpass 20 million people in 2042 and 30 million people in 2076 living on a land area smaller than the size of the U.S. state of Maryland excluding portions of Rwanda that has unlivable land.
Rwanda's Eastern province is mostly agricultural and the largest, most densely populated of Rwanda's five provinces. Akagera National Park, the country’s most visited national park, is the only income-generating tourism attraction in Eastern Province.
Western province is one of the poorest and least developed and forms a branch of the Great Rift Valley known as the Albertine Rift abundant with Chimpanzees, golden monkeys and other primates live alongside hundreds of brightly-colored birds, orchids and butterflies. Rwanda has Volcanoes National Park, Akagera National Park, Nyungwe National Park and Gishwati Mukura National Park. The Kwita Izina gorilla naming ceremony is held at the Volcanoes National Park yearly when new baby gorillas are named for purpose of conservation.
Rwanda Africa's Second Most Densely Populated Country:| Area | Capital City | Population % | Interesting Facts |
| Rwanda, Eastern | Rwamagana | 26.2 | Houses the most visited national park |
| Rwanda, Kigali City | Kigali City | 11.3 | Located in the center of Rwanda |
| Rwanda, Northern | Byumba | 15.4 | Seeds of the 1994 killings planted |
| Rwanda, Southern | Nyanza | 24.2 | Virgin Mary appeared |
| Rwanda, Western | Kibuye | 22.8 | Kwita Izina gorilla naming ceremony |
Kigali City is located in the center of Rwanda with just over one million inhabitants. Founded as an administrative outpost in 1907 Kigali City became the capital of the country at independence in 1962. The Kigali Genocide Memorial, which, through education and peace building, honors the memory of the more than one million Rwandans killed in 1994. The three permanent exhibitions and burial gardens form part of a meaningful tribute to those who were killed and murdered.
With such a densely populated country, of course Rwanda has a thriving fashion scene. Kigali Fashion Week takes place every July, and hosts dozens of international, local, and upcoming young designers, while the Rwanda Cultural Fashion Week showcases even more local and international talent every September.
In Southern Rwanda, Kibeho Parish is a global pilgrimage destination for Roman Catholics since the Virgin Mary appeared on three separate occasions between October 1981 - November 1989 foretelling though horrifying visions of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. This is the only Vatican approved supernatural appearance by the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus coming down from heaven to earth on the continent of Africa.
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Southern Rwanda Kibeho Parish Virgin Mary |
Fighting between the Armed Forces of the mainly Hutu Government of Rwanda and the Tutsi-led Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) first broke out in October 1990 across the border between Rwanda and its northern neighbor, Uganda. In Northern Rwanda is where the seeds of genocide began.
In April 1994, the Presidents of Rwanda and of Burundi were killed while returning from peace talks in Tanzania, when the Rwandese plane crashed under questionable circumstances as it was landing in Kigali, Rwanda's capital.
This set began a devastating sequence of political and ethnic killings where by October 1994, estimates suggested that out of a population of 7.9 million, at least 1 million people had been killed, 2 million fled to other countries and as many as 2 million people were internally displaced.
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