What is the difference in the global population hockey stick between Burundi and Rwanda?

265,000 people, with Rwanda ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Burundi and Rwanda?

241 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2023.

Where does this data come from?

HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as The global population hockey stick. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Burundi vs Rwanda: The global population hockey stick

Burundi

13.69 million people

in 2023

Rwanda

13.95 million people

in 2023

Burundi rank

79th

Rwanda rank

78th

The global population hockey stick over time

Burundi
Rwanda

How they compare

Rwanda currently reports 13.95 million people against 13.69 million people in Burundi, a difference of 265,000 people.

The two have swapped places 5 times across 241 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Burundi ahead.

Burundi ranks 79th and Rwanda ranks 78th of 239 countries.

Across the 40 decades both report, Burundi averaged higher in 25 and Rwanda in 15.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Burundi	Rwanda	Difference	Ahead
1000s	312,000 people	288,000 people	24,000 people	Burundi
1100s	379,600 people	350,400 people	29,200 people	Burundi
1200s	447,200 people	412,800 people	34,400 people	Burundi
1300s	514,800 people	475,200 people	39,600 people	Burundi
1400s	582,400 people	537,600 people	44,800 people	Burundi
1500s	650,000 people	600,000 people	50,000 people	Burundi
1600s	715,000 people	660,000 people	55,000 people	Burundi
1700s	780,000 people	720,000 people	60,000 people	Burundi
1710s	745,062 people	736,737 people	8,325 people	Burundi
1720s	753,857 people	745,120 people	8,737 people	Burundi
1730s	763,147 people	753,971 people	9,176 people	Burundi
1740s	772,985 people	763,339 people	9,646 people	Burundi
1750s	783,431 people	773,281 people	10,150 people	Burundi
1760s	794,555 people	783,864 people	10,691 people	Burundi
1770s	806,439 people	795,163 people	11,276 people	Burundi
1780s	819,182 people	807,272 people	11,910 people	Burundi
1790s	832,901 people	820,301 people	12,600 people	Burundi
1800s	899,097 people	928,368 people	29,271 people	Rwanda
1810s	899,369 people	928,674 people	29,305 people	Rwanda
1820s	964,052 people	1.00 million people	37,643 people	Rwanda
1830s	1.12 million people	1.18 million people	59,095 people	Rwanda
1840s	1.30 million people	1.39 million people	86,705 people	Rwanda
1850s	1.44 million people	1.52 million people	79,257 people	Rwanda
1860s	1.51 million people	1.53 million people	23,014 people	Rwanda
1870s	1.59 million people	1.55 million people	44,244 people	Burundi
1880s	1.68 million people	1.58 million people	102,719 people	Burundi
1890s	1.69 million people	1.57 million people	118,036 people	Burundi
1900s	1.56 million people	1.46 million people	100,973 people	Burundi
1910s	1.45 million people	1.37 million people	78,308 people	Burundi
1920s	1.52 million people	1.44 million people	76,952 people	Burundi
1930s	1.75 million people	1.66 million people	88,777 people	Burundi
1940s	2.05 million people	1.94 million people	103,461 people	Burundi
1950s	2.48 million people	2.53 million people	52,593 people	Rwanda
1960s	3.10 million people	3.41 million people	306,072 people	Rwanda
1970s	3.80 million people	4.56 million people	753,985 people	Rwanda
1980s	4.96 million people	6.24 million people	1.27 million people	Rwanda
1990s	5.93 million people	7.37 million people	1.45 million people	Rwanda
2000s	7.54 million people	9.01 million people	1.47 million people	Rwanda
2010s	10.83 million people	11.52 million people	689,157 people	Rwanda
2020s	13.15 million people	13.51 million people	358,375 people	Rwanda

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher the global population hockey stick, Burundi or Rwanda?: Rwanda, at 13.95 million people against 13.69 million people in Burundi as of 2023.
What is the difference in the global population hockey stick between Burundi and Rwanda?: 265,000 people, with Rwanda ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Burundi and Rwanda?: 241 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2023.
How do Burundi and Rwanda rank globally for the global population hockey stick?: Burundi ranks 79th and Rwanda ranks 78th of 239 countries.
Where does this data come from?: HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as The global population hockey stick. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

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Burundi vs Rwanda: The global population hockey stick. Statizoid, drawing on HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 04 September 2026, from https://population.statizoid.com/compare/world-population-over-the-last-12000-years-and-un-projection-until-2100/burundi/rwanda/

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<a href="https://population.statizoid.com/compare/world-population-over-the-last-12000-years-and-un-projection-until-2100/burundi/rwanda/">Burundi vs Rwanda: The global population hockey stick</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: The global population hockey stick
Unit: people
Source: HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 239 places, 51,002 data points, 1000–2023
Last refreshed: 28 August 2026

Population by country, available from 10,000 BCE to 2023, based on data and estimates from different sources.