Population, GDP, natural resources, leaders and history of Burundi: the Magna Factbook country file, with its Magna grade (MCC, ranked #168 of 195).
Burundi is a presidential republic in Central Africa, east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, west of Tanzania. The country's capital is Gitega (political capital), Bujumbura (commercial capital); it covers 27,830 sq km. Independence: 1 July 1962 (from UN trusteeship under Belgian administration). Terrain: hilly and mountainous, dropping to a plateau in east, some plains. 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 Celsius but is generally moderate; average annual rainfall is about 150 cm with two wet seasons (February to May and September to November) an…
| Capital | Gitega (political capital), Bujumbura (commercial capital) |
|---|---|
| Population | 13,590,102 (2024 est.) |
| GDP (PPP) | $11.739 billion (2024 est.) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | $800 (2024 est.) |
| Real GDP growth | 3.5% (2024 est.) |
| Inflation | 20.2% |
| Unemployment | 1.0% |
| Public debt | 48.4% of GDP (2016 est.) |
| Exports | $378.229 million (2023 est.) |
| Imports | $1.433 billion (2023 est.) |
| Life expectancy | 68.1 years (2024 est.) |
| Median age | 17.6 |
| Urbanization | 14.8% of total population (2023) |
| Government | presidential republic |
| Independence | 1 July 1962 (from UN trusteeship under Belgian administration) |
| Languages | Kirundi (official), French (official), English (official, least spoken), Swahili (2008 est.) |
MCC · 38/100 — The Magna grade is our 0–100 composite of structural national power — five dimensions, 100+ indicators. It is the Bureau's own assessment, not a mirror of World Bank or CIA figures.
Momentum 0 — Quarterly momentum: the Bureau's read on the country's trajectory over the last quarter, from −10 (deteriorating fast) to +10 (accelerating).
An uneventful quarter, recorded without embellishment: no breakthrough to celebrate, no setback to mourn.
The longer forces — demographics, trade routes, regional balances — kept doing what they do, and the country rode them steadily.
Nickel, Uranium, Rare earths, Cobalt, Copper, Platinum, Vanadium, Hydropower, Niobium, Tantalum, Gold, Tin, Tungsten.
Évariste Ndayishimiye — President. President Evariste NDAYISHIMIYE (since 18 June 2020)
Burundi maintains 25 embassies and 3 consulates abroad, hosts 19 foreign diplomatic missions, holds permanent missions to UN New York, AU Addis Ababa. The breadth of a diplomatic network is a direct measure of diplomatic power — it shows how far a country’s influence, alliances and interests reach.
| Embassies abroad | 25 |
|---|---|
| Consulates abroad | 3 |
| Foreign missions hosted | 19 |
| Multilateral missions | UN New York, AU Addis Ababa |
Source: Consular Affairs Center, Diplomatic and Consular Networks Database and Rankings, January 2026 (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0). https://zenodo.org/records/18109976
Transport networks are economic power made physical — ports, runways, railways and pipelines decide what a country can move, sell and defend.
| Sea access | Landlocked — no seacoast; exports move through transit corridors across neighbouring countries. |
|---|---|
| Airports (total) | 6 (registration prefix 9U) |
Bujumbura Melchior Ndadaye International Airport (BJM) — Bujumbura; Gitega Airport (GID) — Gitega.
Sources: OurAirports public-domain extract (2026-10-02); per-entry Wikipedia links included; CIA World Factbook via cia_factbook snapshot (2026-09-28); theodora.com CIA mirror (CIA World Factbook Transportation section), scraped 2026-10-02
| Political system | presidential republic |
|---|---|
| Next election | No election currently scheduled. |
MCC · 38 Ranked #168 of 195 countries in the Magna Country Rankings. Full ranking breakdown for Burundi.
Historical timeline of Burundi
