Kigali is the largest city and capital of Rwanda. It became the capital upon the country’s independence in 1962, since then, the city has become Rwanda's economic, cultural, and transport hub and hosts the main residence and offices of the President and government ministries.

Kigali is located in the centre of the country on the Ruganwa River and is divided into three administrative districts, Nyarugenge, which lies in the south west, Kicukiro in the south east, and Gasabo, which occupies the northern half of the city's territory. Kigali lies in a region of rolling hills, between the two mountains of Mount Kigali and Mount Jali,

Like the rest of Rwanda, Kigali has a temperate tropical highland climate, with temperatures that are cooler than typical for equatorial countries because of its high elevation. Under the Köppen climate classification, Kigali is in the tropical savanna climate zone, straddling the subtropical highland climate.

• The city of Kigali was founded in 1907 by German administrator and explorer Richard Kandt.
• Rwanda has the world’s highest representation of women in parliament. 64% of Rwanda’s members of parliament are women.
• In 2007, Rwanda became the first country in the world to legislate an outright ban on plastic bags.
• Kigali is by far the largest city in Rwanda with a population of 745,261, and more than a million people living in the greater metropolitan area.
  • Head of state: President Paul Kagame, since 2000.
  • Language: English, French, Kinyarwanda.
  • Country motto: Unity, Work, Patriotism
  • Currency: Rwandan franc (RWF)
  • GDP nominal: US$10.2 billion; GDP per capita US$ 2,444
  • Median Age: 19.2 years
  • Religion: 93.8% Christianity, 2.2% Islam, 3% unaffiliated, 0.7% Folk.

Rwanda is a presidential republic in which the chief of state is the president, elected by popular vote for a seven-year term, and is eligible for a second term, and the head of government is the prime minister. The bicameral parliament consists of a senate of 26 members, both elected and appointed to serve eight-year terms, and a chamber of deputies of 80 seats, including 53 members elected by popular vote, 24 women elected by local bodies, and three selected by youth and disability organizations, all to serve five-year terms.

Kigali is politically stable. The government consists of a province-level city administered by a city council who appoints an executive committee to run the day-to-day operations of the city. The executive committee consists of a mayor and two deputies.

The city is split into three administrative districts called sectors: Gasabo, Kicukiro, and Nyarugenge.

Rwanda is considered a developing economy and as such it is a rural country with about 90 percent of the population engaged in agriculture. It is the most densely populated country in Africa and is landlocked with few natural resources and minimal industry.

Primary foreign exports are coffee, tea, pyrethrum extract, tin, tantalite, and gold. Imports include machinery and equipment, petroleum products, and foodstuffs.

Mines for tin ore operates nearby Kigali, and the city built a smelting plant in the 1980s.

Tourism currently provides an important input to the economy as well. The government has encouraged development of this sector, which is centred on the country’s attractive landscapes and wildlife diversity. National parks are the primary attraction.

An area showing growth promise is the exhauster truck market, with five out of seven companies having been active for three years or less.

The Rwanda Stock Exchange, located in Kigali, opened in 2008.
 

he government has an Infrastructure department that takes the lead role of planning and developing infrastructure in Kigali. It is responsible for overseeing the construction of roads, providing street lights at night and handling solid & liquid waste issues.

Kigali is the hub of the Rwanda transport network, with hourly express bus routes to all major towns in the country. There are also taxi minibus services (matatus) leaving from Kigali for the major towns and motorbike taxis.

It is noted that public transport within Kigali is shifting from using small matatus to bigger city buses, which are connecting the most important sectors. These buses use a cash-free payment system called Tap&Go.

The city has an international airport, Kigali International Airport which is limited by its location on the top of a hill, that is why a brand new airport is currently under construction in the Nyamata area, about 40 km from Kigali.

Kigali International Airport has passenger connections daily to Nairobi and less frequently to Addis Ababa, Brussels, Bujumbura and Johannesburg. There are also weekly cargo flights to Amsterdam.