Introduction
Background: Burundi's first democratically elected president was assassinated in October 1993 after only one hundred days in office. Since then, some 200,000 Burundians have perished in widespread, often intense ethnic violence between Hutu and Tutsi factions. Hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced or have become refugees in neighboring countries. Burundi troops, seeking to secure their borders, briefly intervened in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1998. A new transitional government, inaugurated on 1 November 2001, signed a power-sharing agreement with the largest rebel faction in December 2003 and set in place a provisional constitution in October 2004. Implementation of the agreement has been problematic, however, as one remaining rebel group refuses to sign on and elections have been repeatedly delayed, clouding prospects for a sustainable peace.
Geography
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; wet seasons from February to May and September to November, and dry seasons from 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: 35.05%; permanent crops: 14.02%; other: 50.93% (2001)
Irrigated land: 740 sq km (1998 est.)
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
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
Population: 6,370,609
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 and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2005 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 46% (male 1,479,941/female 1,450,808)
15-64 years: 51.3% (male 1,617,864/female 1,653,331)
65 years and over: 2.6% (male 66,199/female 102,466) (2005 est.)
Median age: total: 16.6 years; male: 16.27 years; female: 16.95 years (2005 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.22% (2005 est.)
Birth rate: 39.66 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Death rate: 17.43 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female; under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female; 65 years and over: 0.65 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2005 est.)
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Infant mortality rate: total: 69.29 deaths/1,000 live births;
male: 75.87 deaths/1,000 live births; female: 62.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 43.5 years; male: 42.91 years
female: 44.12 years (2005 est.)
Total fertility rate: 5.81 children born/woman (2005 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 diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne disease: malaria (2004)
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: 51.6%;
male: 58.5%; female: 45.2% (2003 est.)
Government
Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Burundi;
conventional short form: Burundi; local long form: Republika y'u Burundi
local short form: Burundi; former: Urundi
Government type: republic
Capital: Bujumbura
Administrative divisions: 16 provinces; Bubanza, Bujumbura, 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: 13 March 1992; provided for establishment of a plural political system; supplanted on 20 October 2004 by a provisional constitution approved by the parliament which extended the transition; a 28 February 2005 popular referendum ratified the new constitution which set ethnic quotas for government positions, and tentatively scheduled general elections for April 2005
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 Domitien NDAYIZEYE (since 30 April 2003); note - NDAYIZEYE, a Hutu, was sworn in as president for the second half of the three-year transitional government inaugurated on 1 November 2001; Vice President Frederic NGENZEBUHORO (since 11 November 2004)
head of government: President Domitien NDAYIZEYE (since 30 April 2003); note - NDAYIZEYE, a Hutu, was sworn in as president for the second half of the three-year transitional government inaugurated on 1 November 2001; Vice President Frederic NGENZEBUHORO (since 11 November 2004)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by president
elections: NA; current president assumed power on 30 April 2003 as part of the transitional government established by the 2000 Arusha Accord; note - next presidential election is scheduled for 22 April 2005
Legislative branch: bicameral, consists of a National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (expanded from 121 to approximately 140 seats under the transitional government inaugurated 1 November 2001; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and a Senate (54 seats; term length is undefined, the current senators will likely serve out the three-year transition period)
elections: last held 29 June 1993 (next was scheduled to be held in 1998, but was suspended by presidential decree in 1996; elections are currently planned to be held by April 2005)
election results: percent of vote by party - FRODEBU 71.04%, UPRONA 21.4%, other 7.56%; seats by party - FRODEBU 65, UPRONA 16, civilians 27, other parties 13
Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Cour Supreme; Constitutional Court; Courts of Appeal (there are three in separate locations); Tribunals of First Instance (17 at the province level and 123 small local tribunals)
Economy
Economy - overview: Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural with roughly 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. Since October 1993 an ethnic-based war has resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, forced 450,000 refugees into Tanzania, and displaced 140,000 others internally. Doubts about the prospects for sustainable peace continue to impede development. Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in ten adults has HIV/AIDS. Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short supply.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $4.001 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 3% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $600 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 48.1%; industry: 19% ;
services: 32.9% (2004 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%: 1.8%
highest 10%: 32.9% (1998)
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 42.5 (1998)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8.5% (2004 est.)
Investment (gross fixed): 10.7% of GDP (2004 est.)
Budget: revenues: $152.5 million
expenditures: $187.7 million, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 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: 18% (2001)
Electricity - production: 132 million kWh (2002)
Electricity - consumption: 137.8 million kWh (2002)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2002)
Electricity - imports: 15 million kWh; note - supplied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2002)
Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption: 2,750 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports: NA
Oil - imports: NA
Current account balance: $-59.5 million (2004 est.)
Exports: $31.84 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Exports - commodities: coffee, tea, sugar, cotton, hides
Exports - partners: Switzerland 25.8%, Germany 12.2%, Belgium 7.9%, US 5.5%, Thailand 5.3%, Rwanda 5.2% (2004)
Imports: $138.2 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Imports - commodities: capital goods, petroleum products, foodstuffs
Imports - partners: Kenya 11.7%, Tanzania 9.6%, US 9.1%, Belgium 9%, France 8.8%, Italy 5.4%, Japan 4.8%, Uganda 4.8%, Zambia 4.2% (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $76.89 million (2004 est.)
Debt - external: $1.133 billion (2002)
Economic aid - recipient: $92.7 million (2000)
Currency (code): Burundi franc (BIF)
Exchange rates: Burundi francs per US dollar - 1,100.91 (2004), 1,082.62 (2003), 930.75 (2002), 830.35 (2001), 720.67 (2000)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications
Telephones - main lines in use: 23,900 (2003)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 64,000 (2003)
Telephone system: general assessment: primitive system
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)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 0, FM 4, shortwave 1 (2001)
Television broadcast stations: 1 (2001)
Internet country code: .bi
Internet hosts: 22 (2003)
Internet users: 14,000 (2003)
Transportation
Highways: total: 14,480 km; paved: 1,028 km; unpaved: 13,452 km (1999 est.)
Waterways: mainly on Lake Tanganyika (2004)
Ports and harbors: Bujumbura
Airports: 8 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 1; over 3,047 m: 1 (2004 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 7; 914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 3 (2004 est.)
Transnational Issues
Disputes - international: Tutsi, Hutu, other conflicting ethnic groups, associated political rebels, armed gangs, and various government forces continue fighting in the Great Lakes region, transcending the boundaries of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda in an effort to gain control over populated and natural resource areas; government heads pledge to end conflict, but localized violence continues despite the presence of about 6,000 peacekeepers from the UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB) since 2004; although some 150,000 Burundian refugees have been repatriated, as of February 2005, Burundian refugees still reside in camps in western Tanzania as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Refugees and internally displaced persons: refugees (country of origin): 60,288 (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
IDPs: 140,000 (armed conflict between government and rebels; most IDPs in northern and western Burundi) (2004)
