Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa, bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura. Although the country is landlocked, much of the southwestern border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika.
The Twa, Tutsi and Hutu peoples have lived in Burundi for at least five hundred years and, for over two hundred years, Burundi was ruled as a kingdom. At the beginning of the twentieth century, however, Germany and Belgium occupied the region and Burundi and Rwanda became a European colony known as Ruanda-Urundi. Social differences between the Tutsi and Hutu have since contributed to political unrest in the region, leading to civil war in the middle of the twentieth century. Presently, Burundi is governed as a presidential representative democratic republic.
Burundi is one of the five poorest countries in the world. It has one of the lowest per capita GDPs of any nation in the world and a low gross domestic product largely due to warfare, corruption, poor access to education and the effects of HIV/AIDS
Burundi Country Information:
Capital
(and largest city) Bujumbura
3°30′S 30°00′E
Official languages
Kirundi
French
Vehicular
languages
Kirundi
Swahili
Ethnic groups
85% Hutu
14% Tutsi
1% Twa
~3,000 Europeans
~2,000 South Asians
Demonym Burundian
Government Republic
– President Pierre Nkurunziza
– 1st Vice President Terence Sinunguruza
– 2nd Vice President Gervais Rufyikiri
Legislature Parliament
– Upper house Senate
– Lower house National Assembly
Status
– Part of Ruanda-Urundi
(UN trust territory) 1945–1962
– Independence 1 July 1962
– Republic 1 July 1966
Area
– Total 27,834 km2 (145th)
10,745 sq mi
– Water (%) 7.8
Population
– 2012 estimate 8,749,000 (89th)
– 2008 census 8,053,574
– Density 314.3/km2 (45th)
814.2/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2011 estimate
– Total $5.184 billion
– Per capita $614
GDP (nominal) 2011 estimate
– Total $2.356 billion
– Per capita $279
Gini (1998) 42.4 (medium)
HDI (2010) Increase 0.282 (low) (166th)
Currency Burundian franc (FBu) (BIF)
Time zone CAT (UTC+2)
– Summer (DST) not observed (UTC+2)
Drives on the right
Calling code +257
ISO 3166 code BI
Internet TLD .bi