Rwanda Population

Rwanda has achieved a notable fertility decline through determined family-planning and development policy, though birth rates remain above the replacement level. As one of Africa's most densely populated countries, pressure on land makes slowing growth a national priority. Its recovery and demographic management since the 1994 genocide are central to its story.

With roughly 14.7 million people as of 2026, Rwanda ranks 77th in the world by population. In Eastern Africa, where it lies, that future is driven by fertility, longevity and the movement of people across its borders. It packs in roughly 615 people per square kilometre.

Rwanda is projected to keep growing until about 2100, when its population peaks at roughly 32.7 million before a gradual decline sets in, leaving it near 32.7 million by 2100.

The median age is set to climb from about 20 today to roughly 38 by 2100, even as life expectancy improves from about 68 years. For now it remains one of the world's youngest populations, with a large generation about to reach working age. That ageing slowly changes everything from the size of the workforce to the cost of care and pensions.

Fertility is high, around 3.64 births per woman, the engine of rapid, sustained growth.

These figures follow the UN's medium variant, the most widely cited scenario. The low and high variants, driven mainly by differing fertility assumptions, fan out into a wide range by 2100, so treat each number as a central estimate rather than a precise forecast.