Republika y’u Rwanda Intara y’Iburengerazuba

 1.      Overview of Western Province status

 This part focuses on the Western Province geographical situation, Administrative and demographic situation, population, relief and climatic situation.

Table1: Western Province Districts Coordinates

 District

Habitation status

The majority of the population in Rwanda lives in rural areas. But according to EICV4, the Western Province is second to the City of Kigali ( 74.8 % and ( 13%) of population living in urban areas while the proportions of people living in urban areas for the remaining provinces were between  8% and 9%.)

Table 2:  Distribution of the Population by residence.

Source: Fourth Rwanda Population and Housing Census 2012

Table 3: The District surface area (km2), number of Sector, Cells and Villages

 Names of the district

Demography  

According to the 4^th Rwanda Population and Housing Census, the Western Province has 2,471,239 inhabitants and is the 3^rd populated after the Eastern Province with 2,595,703 inhabitants and the Southern Province with 2,589,975 inhabitants.  The number of women is more than the number of men in all provinces except City of Kigali.

Table 4: Distribution of the resident Population per District in the Western province.

The country has experienced rapid demographic and social changes in the last two decades following the 1994 genocide. Considering the projection of the population as determined by the Rwanda 4^th Population and Housing Census, 2012 (NISR), the current population of the Western Province is estimated to the 2,783,993.

While the population density of Rwanda in 2012 was 415 inhabitants per square kilometer (the highest in EA) the population density of the Western Province is 420 inhabitants per square kilometer and some of its districts are among recorded districts which have the highest densities of population (Rubavu District is the fourth densely populated, after districts of City of Kigali and it has 1,039 inhabitants/km2).