Rwanda vs Burundi

Why people mix them up

Rwanda and Burundi are a matched pair: two small, densely populated, hilly countries stacked on top of each other in the African Great Lakes region, with almost the same area, similar populations, closely related languages (Kinyarwanda and Kirundi) and a shared history as the Belgian territory of Ruanda-Urundi until 1962. Both have Hutu and Tutsi populations and both suffered terrible ethnic violence in the 1990s. On a map they look like two halves of one country.

How to tell them apart

• Rwanda is the northern one, bordering Uganda; Burundi is the southern one, bordering Tanzania along most of its east and south.
• Burundi has a long shoreline on Lake Tanganyika; Rwanda's big lake is Lake Kivu, on its western border with DR Congo.
• Rwanda's flag is blue, yellow and green horizontal stripes with a yellow sun; Burundi's is a white diagonal cross on red and green with three red stars in the centre.
• Rwanda's capital is Kigali; Burundi's political capital is Gitega, with Bujumbura, on Lake Tanganyika, as its economic capital.
• Rwanda has English, French, Kinyarwanda and Swahili as official languages; Burundi uses Kirundi, French and English.
• Rwanda borders Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and DR Congo; Burundi borders Rwanda, Tanzania and DR Congo but not Uganda.

Memory hook

Alphabetically Burundi comes first, but geographically it is "below": B for Bottom, R for Rwanda on top next to Uganda.

On the map

Find Lake Victoria in East Africa and look at its south-western side, where Uganda, Tanzania and DR Congo come together. The small country immediately south of Uganda and west of Tanzania is Rwanda. Directly below it, touching the northern end of long, thin Lake Tanganyika, is Burundi. Both are small, so zoom in and tap the upper one for Rwanda and the lower one for Burundi.