Rwanda
Rwanda is a fast-growing digital economy, having achieved high visibility due to its digital achievements. In the 2022 Global Startup Ecosystem Index, Rwanda holds the eighth position among startup ecosystems in the Middle East and Africa, securing the fourth spot in Africa overall. International aspects are stressed in Rwanda’s ICT Hub Strategy, which calls for partnership with global organisations/institutions to develop the tech-based solutions needed to address socioeconomic challenges in areas such as education, health, and agriculture.
Cybersecurity
The National Cybersecurity Strategic Plan and the ICT Sector Strategic Plan outline the objective of promoting regional and international cooperation, research, and development in the field of cybersecurity. It further talks about the importance of ensuring that ICT-related legal and regulatory frameworks comply with international cybersecurity standards and best practices. The National Cyber Security Authority is in charge, among other issues, of regional and international cooperation, and research and development in cybersecurity. Establishing partnerships with international organisations for capacity building in cybersecurity is envisioned in the ICT Hub Strategy. Notable is the country’s goal of becoming a regional hub for security, through building a sustainable cybersecurity industry as outlined in the ICT Sector Strategic Plan and ensuring a secure and resilient cyberspace as outlined in the Smart Rwanda Master Plan.
Child online protection
The Child Online Protection Policy calls for the establishment of formal cooperation frameworks with regional and global COP communities. It also envisages the ratification of COP-related treaties and protocols and the strengthening and amending relevant criminal laws in line with international standards and best practices.
Data governance
The concept of data sovereignty has been at the core of the government’s National Data Revolution Policy, which requires that national data be hosted locally: ‘Rwanda shall retain exclusive sovereign rights on her national data with control and power over its own data.’ However, the policy mentions the importance of collaborating with regional and international stakeholders in building a data industry, and notes that the government will work on attracting investors in the data industry.
Data protection regulations adopt the extraterritorial approach of the EU’s GDPR.
This means that entities outside of the country that handle citizens’ data are subject to the law. Rwanda intends to develop a national AI policy focused on the ethical use of AI in support of social and economic development.
Digital skills
The National Talent Policy aims to transform Rwanda ‘from a consumer/importer to a producer/exporter of ICTs to the region and global scene’ by setting up an IT elite corps. Other policy objectives include digital literacy for all by enhancing digital literacy across all levels of society; a digitally savvy workforce, by workforce upskilling; and coordination of digital literacy initiatives by formulating standards and providing relevant coordination mechanisms.
Digital governance
Smart Africa is an alliance of African heads of state and government dedicated to accelerating sustainable socio-economic development in the knowledge economy. Initiated by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the alliance began with seven heads of states from Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Mali, Gabon, and Burkina Faso. Smart Africa has been working towards a single digital market for the continent. To this end, it has facilitated digital economy policies that each of the alliance members have adopted and is implementing at different stages.
General profile
Official name: Republic of Rwanda
National internet domain: RW
Area: 26,338 km2
Capital: Kigali
Population: 12,208,407
Population growth: 2.47
Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.Life expectancy at birth: 69.33
Total years (2020year)Rule of law estimate: 0.20
Rule of Law captures perceptions of the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5 (Estimate 2021)
Regulatory quality estimate: 0.16
Political stability: 0.17
Economic info
Currency: Rwandan franc
Unemployment: 1.61
Unemployment, total (% of total labor force)GDP (current US$): 11,070,356,519.48
GDP growth (annual %): 10.88
GDP per capita (current US$): 833.83
Inflation, consumer prices (annual %): -0.39
GNI (current US$): 10,844,261,645.06
The Gross National Income, GNI, formerly referred to as gross national product (GNP), measures the total domestic and foreign value added claimed by residents, at a given period in time, usually a year, expressed in current US dollars using the World Bank Atlas method. GNI comprises GDP plus net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) from non-resident sources.Ease of doing business score: 76.48
The ease of doing business score benchmarked economies concerning their proximity to the best performance in each area measured by Doing Business for the year 2019. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from0 = lowest performance to 100 = best performance
Digital profile
Internet and social media penetration:
Individuals using the internet, total (%): 23.8 (2020)
Social media statistics: 927.5 thousand
Estimate for 2022Male internet users: No data
Male internet users as a % of total male populationFacebook users: 696.3 thousand
Estimate for 2022Female internet users: No data
Female Internet users as a % of total female populationInstagram users: 309.8 thousand
Estimate for 2022Households with internet access at home (%): 9.3 (2017)
Linkedin users: 260.0 thousand
Estimate for 2022Fixed broadband subscriptions: 0.2 (2021)
Total fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) refers to fixed subscriptions to high-speed access to the public internet (a TCP/IP connection), at downstream speeds equal to, or greater than, 256 kbit/s.Twitter users: 162.3 thousand
Estimate for 2022Mobile infrastructure and access:
Mobile ownership: 56.43
Mobile phone ownership as a % of total population (Estimate for 2021)Mobile Infrastructure: 61.51
Mobile Infrastructure index: High-performance mobile internet coverage availability. It includes parameters such as network coverage, performance, quality of supporting infrastructure and amount of spectrum assigned to mobile network operators (Estimate for 2021)Male mobile ownership: No data
Male mobile phone ownership as a % of total male populationMobile Affordability: 30.28
Mobile Affordability index : The availability of mobile services and devices at price points that reflect the level of income across a national population. It includes parameters such as mobile tariffs, headset prices, taxation and inequality (Estimate for 2021)Female mobile ownership: No data
Female mobile phone ownership as a % of total female populationCybersecurity Index: 79.95
Cybersecurity Index (Estimate for 2021): ITU cybersecurity valueNetwork performance: 50.19
Network performance index: Quality of mobile services measured by download speed, upload speed and latencies (Estimate for 2021)Mobile download speeds: 35.36
Mobile download speeds: Average download speed for mobile users (originally in Mbit/s) (Estimate for 2021)Mobile uploads speeds: 28.66
Mobile uploads speeds: average uploads speed for mobile users (originally in Mbit/s) (Estimate for 2021)Mobile Latencies: 86.54
Mobile Latencies: Average latency for mobile users (originally in milliseconds) (Estimate for 2021)Speedtest-Broadband: 10.3
Speedtest-Broadband: The value is expressed in Mbps (Estimate for 2021)Network coverage: 88.79
Network coverage (% of total population) (Estimate for 2021)2G Coverage: 99.94
Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)3G Coverage: 98.0
Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)4G Coverage: 99.0
Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)5G Coverage: 0.0
Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)Operating system and browser market share estimate for 2022:
Operating system market share (%):
Desktop, Tablet & Console Operating System Market Share: Estimate for 2022Browser market share (%):
Browser Market Share Worldwide: Estimate for 2022Android: 28.69
Chrome: 73.92
Win10: 50.48
Safari: 4.13
iOS: 5.99
Edge: 11.34
OS X: 1.76
Firefox: 2.14
Win11: 2.46
Samsung Internet: 1.04
The UN E-Government Survey 2022:
The UN E-Government Survey is the assessment of the digital government landscape across all UN member states. The E-Government Survey is informed by over two decades of longitudinal research, with a ranking of countries based on the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies.E-Government Rank: 119
Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies. Estimate gives the country's rank.E-Government Index: 0.55
The EGDI is a composite measure of three important dimensions of e-government, namely: provision of online services, telecommunication connectivity and human capacity. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.E-Participation Index: 0.64
The E-Participation Index (EPI) is derived as a supplementary index to the United Nations E-Government Survey. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.Online Service Index: 0.79
The online services index was developed by the UN to evaluate the scope and quality of government online services. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.Human Capital Index: 0.53
The Human Capital Index (HCI) quantiï¬_x0081_es the contribution of health and education to the productivity of the next generation of workers. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.Telecommunication Infrastructure Index: 0.32
Telecommunication Infrastructure Index- Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII) Composite Indicator that measures the countries' Telecommunication infrastructure readiness to adopt the opportunities offered by Information and Communication Technology as to enhance their competitiveness. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.ICT information:
ICT skills
Information economy indicators
Individuals with basic ICT skills (%): No data
Share of ICT goods, % of total exports (value) 0.88 (2019)
Individuals with standard ICT skills (%): No data
Share of ICT goods, % of total import (value): 5.26 (2019)
Individuals with advanced ICT skills (%): No data
Most visited website: bbc.com
The survey conducted in 2022 excluded global dominant sites (e.g., YouTube, Facebook, and Google) and search engines (e.g., Yahoo, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, Naver, and Yandex) to level the playing field and discount middle-man visits. Likewise, it did not include adult, betting, illegal streaming/downloading services, and malicious websites.
