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tags: rwanda
---

# Urban & Rural Areas
Urban growth is closely related to the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. Well-managed urbanization, informed by an understanding of population trends over the long run, can help to maximize the benefits of agglomeration while minimizing environmental degradation and other potential adverse impacts of a growing number of city dwellers.[^key_facts]

Growth in the urban population is driven by overall population increase and by the upward shift in the percentage living in urban areas. Together, these two factors are projected to add 2.5 billion to the world’s urban population by 2050, with almost 90 % of this growth happening in Asia and Africa.[^key_facts]

| Year [^w_meters] | Urban Pop % | Urban Pop |
| --------------- | ----------- | --------- |
| 2000 | 15.1 | 1,197,920 |
| 2020 | 17.6 | 2,281,330 |
| 2040 (forecast) | 23.2 | 4,562,582 |

- Large scale urbanization has already taken place in Rwanda, with the pace of it much faster than official records suggest because the definition of urban areas needs refining. [^world_bank]

- Urbanization appears to have had a positive impact on structural transformation and helped raise the national average of GDP per worker. [^world_bank]

- The link between urbanization and the creation of non-farm jobs is stronger in areas with a higher population density and better connectivity in terms of transport and access to markets. [^world_bank]

| City [^biggest_cities] | Population |
|:---------:|:----------:|
| Kigali | 859,332 |
| Gisenyi | 136,830 |
| Ruhengeri | 59,333 |
| Butare | 50,220 |
| Gitarama | 49,038 |
| Byumba | 34,544 |
| Cyangugu | 27,416 |
| Nyanza | 25,417 |
| Bugarama | 24,679 |
| Kayonza | 21,482 |

> We need to work on the factors that attract people to towns to achieve this type of urbanization and transform our cities into settlements. We must be able to identify sites for settlement and source the funds we need to support that.
James Musoni, Rwanda’s Minister of Infrastructure

> Urbanization not only involves a demographic transition but, more importantly, facilitates socio-economic transformation. It is time to rethink the urbanization strategy to leverage its potential for economic growth and the improvement of welfare.
Narae Choi, World Bank Urban Development Specialist

- RURAL AREAS

| Year | Rural Pop % | Rural Pop |
| ---- |:-----------:|:---------:|
| 2000 | 84.9 | 6767. |
| 2020 | 82.4 | 10880. |
| 2040 | 76.8 | 15031. |

- Most of the population lives in rural areas
- What are the difficulties that these people face when it comes to financial institutions and interacting with money
- Some participants send money to family in rural areas
- What is the procedure when it comes to sending money to someone who lives in a rural area?
- What are the difficulties?
- Availability of financial services?
- Some people who live very far away from the city can go to the bank or they service provider that easy
- Distance between finacial institution and some rural parts might be very long

REFERENCES:
[^key_facts]: https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-KeyFacts.pdf
[^world_bank]: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/rwanda/publication/leveraging-urbanization-for-rwandas-economic-transformation
[^biggest_cities]: http://www.citypopulation.de/en/rwanda/cities/
[^w_meters]: https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/rwanda-population/