Rwanda is a poor rural country with about 90% of the population engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture. it is the most densely populated country in africa and is landlocked with few natural resources and minimal industry. primary foreign exchange earners are coffee and tea. the 1994 genocide decimated rwanda's fragile economic base, severely impoverished the population, particularly women, and eroded the country's ability to attract private and external investment. however, rwanda has made substantial progress in stabilizing and rehabilitating its economy to pre-1994 levels, although poverty levels are higher now. gdp has rebounded and inflation has been curbed. despite rwanda's fertile ecosystem, food production often does not keep pace with population growth, requiring food imports. rwanda continues to receive substantial aid money and obtained imf-world bank heavily indebted poor country (hipc) initiative debt relief in 2005-06. rwanda also received millennium challenge account threshold status in 2006. the government has embraced an expansionary fiscal policy to reduce poverty by improving education, infrastructure, and foreign and domestic investment and pursuing market-oriented reforms, although energy shortages, instability in neighboring states, and lack of adequate transportation linkages to other countries continue to handicap growth.
Deforestation results from uncontrolled cutting of trees for fuel; overgrazing; soil exhaustion; soil erosion; widespread poaching
Republic; presidential, multiparty system
10,186,063 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, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (july 2008 est.)
Central africa, east of democratic republic of the congo
Total: 26,338 sq km land: 24,948 sq km water: 1,390 sq km
Slightly smaller than maryland
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
Name: kigali geographic coordinates: 1 57 s, 30 04 e time difference: utc+2 (7 hours ahead of washington, dc during standard time)
18 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription (2008)
Fighting among ethnic groups - loosely associated political rebels, armed gangs, and various government forces in great lakes region transcending the boundaries of burundi, democratic republic of the congo, rwanda, and uganda - abated substantially from a decade ago due largely to un peacekeeping, international mediation, and efforts by local governments to create civil societies; nonetheless, 57,000 rwandan refugees still reside in 21 african states, including zambia, gabon, and 20,000 who fled to burundi in 2005 and 2006 to escape drought and recriminations from traditional courts investigating the 1994 massacres; the 2005 droc and rwanda border verification mechanism to stem rebel actions on both sides of the border remains in place