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This page was last updated on 19 June 2008
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| Introduction | Burundi | Top of Page

Background: | Burundi's first democratically elected president was assassinated in October 1993 after only 100 days in office, triggering widespread ethnic violence between Hutu and Tutsi factions. More than 200,000 Burundians perished during the conflict that spanned almost a dozen years. Hundreds of thousands of Burundians were internally displaced or became refugees in neighboring countries. An internationally brokered power-sharing agreement between the Tutsi-dominated government and the Hutu rebels in 2003 paved the way for a transition process that led to an integrated defense force, established a new constitution in 2005, and elected a majority Hutu government in 2005. The new government, led by President Pierre NKURUNZIZA, signed a South African brokered ceasefire with the country's last rebel group in September of 2006 but still faces many challenges.

| Geography | Burundi | Top of Page

Location: | Central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of the Congo
Geographic coordinates: | 3 30 S, 30 00 E
Map references: | Africa
Area: | total: 27,830 sq km land: 25,650 sq km water: 2,180 sq km
Area - comparative: | slightly smaller than Maryland
Land boundaries: | total: 974 km border countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo 233 km, Rwanda 290 km, Tanzania 451 km
Coastline: | 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims: | none (landlocked)
Climate: | equatorial; high plateau with considerable altitude variation (772 m to 2,670 m above sea level); average annual temperature varies with altitude from 23 to 17 degrees centigrade but is generally moderate as the average altitude is about 1,700 m; average annual rainfall is about 150 cm; two wet seasons (February to May and September to November), and two dry seasons (June to August and December to January)
Terrain: | hilly and mountainous, dropping to a plateau in east, some plains
Elevation extremes: | lowest point: Lake Tanganyika 772 m highest point: Heha 2,670 m
Natural resources: | nickel, uranium, rare earth oxides, peat, cobalt, copper, platinum, vanadium, arable land, hydropower, niobium, tantalum, gold, tin, tungsten, kaolin, limestone
Land use: | arable land: 35.57% permanent crops: 13.12% other: 51.31% (2005)
Irrigated land: | 210 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources: | 3.6 cu km (1987)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural): | total: 0.29 cu km/yr (17%/6%/77%) per capita: 38 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards: | flooding, landslides, drought
Environment - current issues: | soil erosion as a result of overgrazing and the expansion of agriculture into marginal lands; deforestation (little forested land remains because of uncontrolled cutting of trees for fuel); habitat loss threatens wildlife populations
Environment - international agreements: | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea
Geography - note: | landlocked; straddles crest of the Nile-Congo watershed; the Kagera, which drains into Lake Victoria, is the most remote headstream of the White Nile

| People | Burundi | Top of Page

Population: | 8,691,005 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.)
Age structure: | 0-14 years: 46.3% (male 2,021,320/female 1,998,502) 15-64 years: 51.2% (male 2,210,157/female 2,240,921) 65 years and over: 2.5% (male 87,600/female 132,505) (2008 est.)
Median age: | total: 16.7 years male: 16.4 years female: 17 years (2008 est.)
Population growth rate: | 3.443% (2008 est.)
Birth rate: | 41.72 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death rate: | 12.91 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net migration rate: | 5.62 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 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: 0.66 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2008 est.)
Infant mortality rate: | total: 60.77 deaths/1,000 live births male: 67.6 deaths/1,000 live births female: 53.73 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: | total population: 51.71 years male: 50.86 years female: 52.6 years (2008 est.)
Total fertility rate: | 6.4 children born/woman (2008 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: | 6% (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: | 250,000 (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: | 25,000 (2003 est.)
Major infectious diseases: | degree of risk: very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne disease: malaria (2008)
Nationality: | noun: Burundian(s) adjective: Burundian
Ethnic groups: | Hutu (Bantu) 85%, Tutsi (Hamitic) 14%, Twa (Pygmy) 1%, Europeans 3,000, South Asians 2,000
Religions: | Christian 67% (Roman Catholic 62%, Protestant 5%), indigenous beliefs 23%, Muslim 10%
Languages: | Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area)
Literacy: | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 59.3% male: 67.3% female: 52.2% (2006 est.)

| Government | Burundi | Top of Page

Country name: | conventional long form: Republic of Burundi conventional short form: Burundi local long form: Republique du Burundi/Republika y'u Burundi local short form: Burundi former: Urundi
Government type: | republic
Capital: | name: Bujumbura geographic coordinates: 3 22 S, 29 21 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Administrative divisions: | 17 provinces; Bubanza, Bujumbura Mairie, Bujumbura Rurale, Bururi, Cankuzo, Cibitoke, Gitega, Karuzi, Kayanza, Kirundo, Makamba, Muramvya, Muyinga, Mwaro, Ngozi, Rutana, Ruyigi
Independence: | 1 July 1962 (from UN trusteeship under Belgian administration)
National holiday: | Independence Day, 1 July (1962)
Constitution: | 28 February 2005; ratified by popular referendum
Legal system: | based on German and Belgian civil codes and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: | NA years of age; universal (adult)
Executive branch: | chief of state: President Pierre NKURUNZIZA (since 26 August 2005); First Vice President Yves SAVINGUVU - Tutsi (since 9 November 2007); Second Vice President Gabriel NTISEZERANA - Hutu (since 9 February 2007); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President Pierre NKURUNZIZA (since 26 August 2005); First Vice President Yves SAVINGUVU - Tutsi (since 9 November 2007); Second Vice President Gabriel NTISEZERANA - Hutu (since 9 February 2007) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by president elections: the president is elected by popular vote to a five-year term (eligible for a second term); note - the constitution adopted in February 2005 permits the post-transition president to be elected by a two-thirds majority of the parliament; vice presidents nominated by the president, endorsed by parliament election results: Pierre NKURUNZIZA was elected president by the parliament by a vote of 151 to 9; note - the constitution adopted in February 2005 permits the post-transition president to be elected by a two-thirds majority of the legislature
Legislative branch: | bicameral Parliament or Parlement, consists of a National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (minimum 100 seats, 60% Hutu and 40% Tutsi with at least 30% being women; additional seats appointed by a National Independent Electoral Commission to ensure ethnic representation; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and a Senate (54 seats; 34 members elected by indirect vote to serve five-year terms, with remaining seats assigned to ethnic groups and former chiefs of state) elections: National Assembly - last held 4 July 2005 (next to be held in 2010); Senate - last held 29 July 2005 (next to be held in 2010) election results: National Assembly - percent of vote by party - CNDD-FDD 58.6%, FRODEBU 21.7%, UPRONA 7.2%, CNDD 4.1%, MRC-Rurenzangemero 2.1%, others 6.2%; seats by party - CNDD-FDD 59, FRODEBU 25, UPRONA 10, CNDD 4, MRC-Rurenzangemero 2; Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - CNDD-FDD 30, FRODEBU 3, CNDD 1
Judicial branch: | Supreme Court or Cour Supreme; Constitutional Court; High Court of Justice (composed of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court)
Political parties and leaders: | governing parties: Burundi Democratic Front or FRODEBU [Leonce NGENDAKUMANA]; National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Front for the Defense of Democracy or CNDD-FDD [Jeremie NGENDAKUMANA]; Unity for National Progress or UPRONA [Aloys RUBUKA] note: a multiparty system was introduced after 1998, included are: National Council for the Defense of Democracy or CNDD [Leonard NYANGOMA]; National Resistance Movement for the Rehabilitation of the Citizen or MRC-Rurenzangemero [Epitace BANYAGANAKANDI]; Party for National Redress or PARENA [Jean-Baptiste BAGAZA]
Political pressure groups and leaders: | none
International organization participation: | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, CEPGL, COMESA, EAC, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (subscriber), ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM, OIF, OPCW, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador Celestin NIYONGABO chancery: Suite 212, 2233 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: [1] (202) 342-2574 FAX: [1] (202) 342-2578
Diplomatic representation from the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador Patricia Newton MOLLER embassy: Avenue des Etats-Unis, Bujumbura mailing address: B. P. 1720, Bujumbura telephone: [257] 223454 FAX: [257] 222926
Flag description: | divided by a white diagonal cross into red panels (top and bottom) and green panels (hoist side and fly side) with a white disk superimposed at the center bearing three red six-pointed stars outlined in green arranged in a triangular design (one star above, two stars below)

| Economy | Burundi | Top of Page

Economy - overview: | Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural with more than 90% of the population dependent on subsistence agriculture. Economic growth depends on coffee and tea exports, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings. The ability to pay for imports, therefore, rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices. The Tutsi minority, 14% of the population, dominates the government and the coffee trade at the expense of the Hutu majority, 85% of the population. An ethnic-based war that lasted for over a decade resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, forced more than 48,000 refugees into Tanzania, and displaced 140,000 others internally. Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in 15 adults has HIV/AIDS. Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short supply. Burundi's GDP grew around 5% annually in 2006-07. Political stability and the end of the civil war have improved aid flows and economic activity has increased, but underlying weaknesses - a high poverty rate, poor education rates, a weak legal system, and low administrative capacity - risk undermining planned economic reforms. Burundi will continue to remain heavily dependent on aid from bilateral and multilateral donors; the delay of funds after a corruption scandal cut off bilateral aid in 2007 reduced government's revenues and its ability to pay salaries.
GDP (purchasing power parity): | $2.896 billion (2007 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate): | $1.001 billion (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: | 3.6% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP): | $400 (2007 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 33.7% industry: 20.9% services: 45.4% (2007 est.)
Labor force: | 2.99 million (2002)
Labor force - by occupation: | agriculture: 93.6% industry: 2.3% services: 4.1% (2002 est.)
Unemployment rate: | NA%
Population below poverty line: | 68% (2002 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: | lowest 10%: 1.7% highest 10%: 32.8% (1998)
Distribution of family income - Gini index: | 42.4 (1998)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): | 8.4% (2007 est.)
Investment (gross fixed): | 24.4% of GDP (2007 est.)
Budget: | revenues: $264.2 million expenditures: $335.4 million; including capital expenditures of $NA (2007 est.)
Agriculture - products: | coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc (tapioca); beef, milk, hides
Industries: | light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, soap; assembly of imported components; public works construction; food processing
Industrial production growth rate: | 6.4% (2007 est.)
Electricity - production: | 137 million kWh (2005)
Electricity - consumption: | 161.4 million kWh (2005)
Electricity - exports: | 0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports: | 34 million kWh; note - supplied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2005)
Oil - production: | 0 bbl/day (2005)
Oil - consumption: | 2,900 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - exports: | 0 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - imports: | 2,687 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - proved reserves: | 0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)
Natural gas - production: | 0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - consumption: | 0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - exports: | 0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - imports: | 0 cu m (2005)
Natural gas - proved reserves: | 0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
Current account balance: | -$124 million (2007 est.)
Exports: | $44.5 million f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Exports - commodities: | coffee, tea, sugar, cotton, hides
Exports - partners: | Switzerland 33.7%, UK 12.2%, Pakistan 8.5%, Rwanda 5.3%, Egypt 4.2% (2006)
Imports: | $272 million f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Imports - commodities: | capital goods, petroleum products, foodstuffs
Imports - partners: | Saudi Arabia 12.6%, Kenya 8.2%, Japan 7.8%, Russia 4.7%, UK 4.6%, France 4.4%, China 4.4% (2006)
Economic aid - recipient: | $365 million (2005)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: | $176.2 million (31 December 2007 est.)
Debt - external: | $1.2 billion (2003)
Market value of publicly traded shares: | $NA
Currency (code): | Burundi franc (BIF)
Exchange rates: | Burundi francs per US dollar - 1,065 (2007), 1,030 (2006), 1,138 (2005), 1,100.91 (2004), 1,082.62 (2003)
Fiscal year: | calendar year

| Communications | Burundi | Top of Page

Telephones - main lines in use: | 31,100 (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular: | 153,000 (2005)
Telephone system: | general assessment: primitive system; telephone density one of the lowest in the world; fixed-line connections stand at well less than 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular usage is increasing but remains at a meager 2 per 100 persons domestic: sparse system of open-wire, radiotelephone communications, and low-capacity microwave radio relay international: country code - 257; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) (2007)
Radio broadcast stations: | AM 0, FM 4, shortwave 1 (2001)
Television broadcast stations: | 1 (2001)
Internet country code: | .bi
Internet hosts: | 163 (2007)
Internet users: | 60,000 (2006)

| Transportation | Burundi | Top of Page

Airports: | 8 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways: | total: 1 over 3,047 m: 1 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways: | total: 7 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 3 (2007)
Heliports: | 1 (2007)
Roadways: | total: 12,322 km paved: 1,286 km unpaved: 11,036 km (2004)
Waterways: | mainly on Lake Tanganyika (2005)
Ports and terminals: | Bujumbura

| Military | Burundi | Top of Page

Military branches: | National Defense Force (Forces de Defense Nationales, FDN): Army (includes Naval Detachment and Air Wing), Gendarmerie (2008)
Military service age and obligation: | 16 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; children as young as 10 years of age have been conscripted into the armed forces; the enrollment of children is still not prohibited (2007)
Manpower available for military service: | males age 16-49: 1,878,544 females age 16-49: 1,851,676 (2008 est.)
Manpower fit for military service: | males age 16-49: 1,083,899 females age 16-49: 1,062,488 (2008 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually: | males age 16-49: 98,105 females age 16-49: 98,533 (2008 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: | 5.9% (2006 est.)

| Transnational Issues | Burundi | Top of Page

Disputes - international: | conflicts among Tutsi, Hutu, other ethnic groups, associated political rebels, armed gangs, and various government forces have abated somewhat in the Great Lakes region; UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB) completed its mandate in December 2006 after a three-year peace-keeping mission
Refugees and internally displaced persons: | refugees (country of origin): 9,849 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) IDPs: 100,000 (armed conflict between government and rebels; most IDPs in northern and western Burundi) (2007)
Trafficking in persons: | current situation: tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - (2008)

This page was last updated on 19 June 2008