AFRICA

Rwanda

Nicknamed the 'land of a thousand hills', Rwanda is a compact, mountainous country where mountain gorillas roam volcanic forests and the capital, Kigali, is famed for being remarkably clean.

WHAT THE FLAG MEANS ◢

Three horizontal bands of blue, yellow and green, the blue covering the upper half, with a golden sun and rays in the upper fly separated from the disc by a blue ring. The constitution describes it in those terms and assigns no meanings, leaving the details to specific laws. It was adopted in 2001 to replace the flag flown at the time of the genocide. The colours are conventionally read as blue for happiness and peace, yellow for economic development and green for prosperity, with the sun for unity and enlightenment.

Rwanda FACTS ◢

Capital	Kigali
Continent	Africa
Population	14,569,341 (2025)
Area	26,338 km²
Population density	553/km²
Currency	Rwandan franc (RWF)
Official languages	English, French, Kinyarwanda, Kiswahili
Calling code	+250
Internet TLD	.rw
Time zone	UTC+02:00
Drives on the	Right
ISO codes	RW / RWA

DID YOU KNOW? ◢

It's one of the best places on Earth to see endangered mountain gorillas in the wild, in Volcanoes National Park.
Plastic bags have been banned since 2008, part of a national push for cleanliness.
Once a month, citizens take part in Umuganda, a morning of community service where even the capital's traffic pauses.
It's one of only a handful of countries where women hold a majority of seats in the national parliament.