Burundi

Republic of Burundi
Motto: 
  • "Ubumwe, Ibikorwa, Amajambere" (Kirundi)
  • "Muungano, Kazi, Maendeleo" (Swahili)
  • "Unité, Travail, Progrès" (French)
  • "Union, Work, Progress" (English)
Anthem: "Burundi Bwacu" (Kirundi)
"Our Burundi"
CapitalGitega
3°30′S 30°00′E / 3.500°S 30.000°E / -3.500; 30.000
Largest cityBujumbura
Official languages
Ethnic groups
  • ~3,000 Europeans
  • ~2,000 South Asians
Religion
(2020)[1]
Demonym(s)Burundian
GovernmentUnitary dominant-party presidential republic under an authoritarian dictatorship[2][3][4]
• President
Évariste Ndayishimiye[5]
Prosper Bazombanza
Gervais Ndirakobuca
LegislatureParliament
• Upper house
Senate
• Lower house
National Assembly
Establishment history
1680–1966
• Part of German East Africa
1890–1916
• Part of Ruanda-Urundi
1916–1962
• Independence from Belgium
1 July 1962
• Republic
28 November 1966
17 May 2018
Area
• Total
27,834 km2 (10,747 sq mi)[8] (142nd)
• Water (%)
10[7]
Population
• 2024 estimate
14,151,540 [9] (78th)
• Density
473/km2 (1,225.1/sq mi) (17th)
GDP (PPP)2023 estimate
• Total
Increase $12.594 billion[10] (164th)
• Per capita
Increase $890[10] (193rd)
GDP (nominal)2023 estimate
• Total
Decrease $3.184 billion[10] (173rd)
• Per capita
Decrease $225[10] (192nd)
Gini (2020)Positive decrease 37.5[11]
medium inequality
HDI (2022)Decrease 0.420[12]
low (187th)
CurrencyBurundian franc (FBu) (BIF)
Time zoneUTC+2 (CAT)
Drives onright
ISO 3166 codeBI
Internet TLD.bi
Website
mae.gov.bi

Burundi,[a] officially the Republic of Burundi,[b] is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with population of over 14 million people.[14] It is bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and southeast, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west; Lake Tanganyika lies along its southwestern border. The capital city is Gitega and the largest city is Bujumbura.[15]

The Twa, Hutu and Tutsi peoples have lived in Burundi for at least 500 years. For more than 200 of those years, Burundi was an independent kingdom. In 1885, it became part of the German colony of German East Africa.[16] After the First World War and Germany's defeat, the League of Nations mandated the territories of Burundi and neighboring Rwanda to Belgium in a combined territory called Rwanda-Urundi. After the Second World War, this transformed into a United Nations Trust Territory. Burundi gained independence in 1962 and initially retained the monarchy; a 1966 coup replaced the monarchy with a one-party republic. Over the next 27 years, Burundi was ruled by a series of Tutsi dictators and notably experienced a genocide of Hutus in 1972. In July 1993, Melchior Ndadaye became Burundi's first Hutu president following the country's first multi-party presidential election. His assassination three months later during a coup attempt provoked the 12-year Burundian Civil War. In 2000, the Arusha Agreement was adopted, which was largely integrated in a new constitution in 2005. Since the 2005 post-war elections, the country's dominant party has been the National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD–FDD), widely accused of authoritarian governance and perpetuating the country's poor human rights record.

Burundi remains primarily a rural society, with just 13.4% of the population living in urban areas in 2019.[17] Burundi is densely populated, and many young people emigrate in search of opportunities elsewhere. Roughly 85% of the population are of Hutu ethnic origin, 15% are Tutsi, and fewer than 1% are Twa.[18] The official languages of Burundi are Kirundi, French, and English—Kirundi being officially recognised as the sole national language.[19] English was made an official language in 2014.[20]

One of the smallest countries in Africa, Burundi's land is used mostly for subsistence agriculture and grazing. Deforestation, soil erosion, and habitat loss are major ecological concerns.[21] As of 2005, the country was almost completely deforested. Less than 6% of its land was covered by trees, and over half of that being for commercial plantations.[22] Burundi is the poorest country in the world by nominal GDP per capita, and is one of the least developed countries. It faces widespread poverty, corruption, instability, authoritarianism, and illiteracy. The 2018 World Happiness Report ranked the country as the world's least happy with a rank of 156.[23] Burundi is a member of the African Union, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, United Nations, East African Community (EAC), OIF and the Non-Aligned Movement.

  1. ^ "National Profiles". Archived from the original on 10 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  2. ^ Douet, Marion. "'Not In The Regime's DNA': Authoritarian Burundi's Slow Reopening". Barrons. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Inside the most brutal dictatorship you've never heard of". British GQ. 10 September 2019. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  4. ^ Féron, Élise (14 November 2023). "'Throwing in my two cents': Burundian diaspora youth between conventional and transformative forms of mobilization". Globalizations: 1–16. doi:10.1080/14747731.2023.2282256. ISSN 1474-7731.
  5. ^ "Burundi's ruling party wins presidential election". Reuters. 26 May 2020. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference auto was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Annuaire statistique du Burundi (PDF) (Report) (in French). ISTEEBU. July 2015. p. 105. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  8. ^ "Quelques données pour le Burundi" (in French). ISTEEBU. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  9. ^ "Burundi Population (2024) - Worldometer". www.worldometers.info. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2023 Edition. (Burundi)". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. 10 October 2023. Archived from the original on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  11. ^ "World Bank Open Data".
  12. ^ "HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2023-24" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. pp. 274–277. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 May 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  13. ^ "Constitution de la République du Burundi promulguée le 07 juin 2018". 3 July 2018. Archived from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  14. ^ "Burundi Population (2024) - Worldometer". www.worldometers.info. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  15. ^ "Loi n°1/04 du 04 février 2019 portant Fixation de la Capitale Politique et de la Capitale Economique du Burundi". 13 February 2019. Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  16. ^ Strizek, Helmut (2006). Geschenkte Kolonien: Ruanda und Burundi unter deutscher Herrschaft [Donated colonies: Rwanda and Burundi under German rule]. Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag. ISBN 978-3861533900.
  17. ^ "Burundi", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 31 January 2024, archived from the original on 22 January 2021, retrieved 5 February 2024
  18. ^ Eggers, p. ix.
  19. ^ Maurer, Sous la direction de Bruno (1 October 2016). Les approches bi-plurilingues d'enseignement-apprentissage: autour du programme Écoles et langues nationales en Afrique (ELAN-Afrique): Actes du colloque du 26–27 mars 2015, Université Paul-Valéry, Montpellier, France. Archives contemporaines. ISBN 9782813001955. Archived from the original on 10 April 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018 – via Google Books.
  20. ^ "Burundi: l'anglais officialisé aux côtés du français et du kirundi". RFI (in French). 29 August 2014. Archived from the original on 14 July 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  21. ^ Bermingham, Eldredge, Dick, Christopher W. and Moritz, Craig (2005). Tropical Rainforests: Past, Present, and Future. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, p. 146. ISBN 0-226-04468-8
  22. ^ Butler, Rhett A. (2006). "Burundi". Mongabay. Archived from the original on 5 May 2006.
  23. ^ Collinson, Patrick (14 March 2018). "Finland is the happiest country in the world, says UN report". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 March 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2018.


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