Rwanda is a small, landlocked country in central Africa, a little south of the equator. It measures about 230 kilometers (140 miles) from west to east. It is often called the Land of a Thousand Hills.

Size

Boundary data from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, shared through the United Nations, place the country between longitudes 28.86° and 30.90° east and latitudes 1.05° and 2.84° south. That makes Rwanda about 227 kilometers (141 miles) wide from west to east, and about 198 kilometers (123 miles) from north to south.

Rwanda's total area is 26,338 square kilometers (10,169 square miles), of which about 2,120 square kilometers is water and swamp. It borders Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west.

Size comparisons

• Rwanda is a little more than one and a half times as wide as Brunei, which measures about 145 kilometers (90 miles) from west to east.
• The Grand Canyon, about 450 kilometers long when measured along its river, is almost exactly twice as long as Rwanda is wide.
• West Virginia, about 430 kilometers (265 miles) from west to east, is a little less than twice as wide as Rwanda.
• Rwanda is a little more than five marathons wide, at 42.195 kilometers (26.2 miles) each.
• Mount Karisimbi, Rwanda's highest peak at 4,507 meters (14,787 feet), is about half as tall as Mount Everest, which is 8,849 meters (29,032 feet) tall.

Land of a thousand hills

Most of Rwanda is high, hilly country. The land ranges from about 950 meters (3,100 feet) above sea level to 4,507 meters at the top of Karisimbi. The country has five volcanoes, 23 lakes and many rivers, some of which form part of the source of the Nile.

Karisimbi is the highest of Rwanda's Virunga volcanoes, a chain of five dormant volcanoes. Volcanoes National Park is named after them and is known for its endangered mountain gorillas. Lake Kivu lies in the west of the country.

Climate and people

Rwanda has two rainy seasons, from March to May and from October to November. In the rainy months, an average of 110–200 millimeters (4–8 inches) of rain falls each month.

About 13.2 million people lived in Rwanda in 2022, according to the national statistics institute. The capital is Kigali.

Sources

• Rwanda: Subnational Administrative Boundaries. National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda and UN OCHA, Humanitarian Data Exchange, 2022.
• About Rwanda. Government of Rwanda.
• Statistical Yearbook 2014. National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, 2014.
• Volcanoes National Park. Rwanda Development Board, Visit Rwanda.
• Brunei Darussalam Statistical Yearbook 2025. Department of Economic Planning and Statistics, Brunei Darussalam, 2026.
• Park Statistics. Grand Canyon National Park, National Park Service.
• TIGERweb: States, January 1, 2026 vintage. US Census Bureau, 2026.
• Marathon. World Athletics.
• 8,848.86 metres. That's the height of Mt Everest now. The Kathmandu Post, 2020.