Access to health care facilities and improved conditions have seen a jump in life expectancy of Rwandans in the last 20 years, according to the latest statistics released by the National Institute of Statistics (NISR) on Monday.
The housing census by NISR revealed that life expectancy has moved from 51.2 years in 2002 to 69.6 years in 2023.
Yusuf Murangwa, the Director General at NIRS attributes the jump to many socioeconomic programs which include among others access to primarily health care services, food security, drinking water, education and hygiene.
The fifth Population and Housing Census results were officially released on the first day of the ongoing 18th National Dialogue Council, Umushyikirano, 2023.
“Rwanda population increased from 10.5 million in 2012 to 13.2 million in 2022, indicating an annual population growth rate of 2.3 percent.” He pointed out.
Adding that, in comparison the females are 51.5 percent while the males are 48.5 percent.
The outlook shows that people in urban areas are 27.9 percent of the total population while the rest reside in the rural areas. Eastern Province has the highest population at 26.9 percent while the Southern Province has the highest number of recent out-migrants.
Total fertility rate of women aged 15-49 is 3.8 in rural areas and 3.2 in urban areas.
The findings also indicate that for the last decade, the population of youth dropped from 70.3 percent in 2012 to 65.3 percent in 2022 and is expected to further go down to 54.3 percent by 2050.
However, the proportion of the population aged 16-64 increased from 53.4 percent in 2012 to 56 percent in 2022, and is expected to rise to 61.4 percent by 2050.
According to the outlook, there are 3.312,743 households, and the current average household size stands at 4 people.
On the literacy level, the population of Rwandans with no education decreased to 22.3 percent from 33.5 percent in 2002.
The data is compiled in a 130-page report and contain analytical information about the socio-economic indicators, such as education levels, access to electricity, water, telephones, trends in human settlement and housing, sectors of employment, among others.
Umushyikirano kicked off on Monday, February 27 and will conclude on Tuesday, February 28.
The national dialogue is an annual event however, it had not gathered since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
