BURUNDI

ABOUT BURUNDI

The Republic of Burundi is located on Lake Tanganyika and is one of the seven states of the East African Community. Around twelve million inhabitants live in an area of around 28,000 square kilometres – making Burundi one of the smallest states in Africa (for comparison, Baden-Württemberg: approx. 35,000 square kilometres).

According to the Global Hunger Index, Human Development Report (185th out of 189) and others, it is one of the poorest countries in the world. Around 70 per cent of the population live below the poverty line and 54 per cent of children under the age of five are considered undernourished or malnourished. The reasons for the many challenges facing Burundian society lie in the civil war (1993-2005) and its serious consequences.

According to UN OCHA (status report 30 June 2020), 1.74 million people were dependent on humanitarian aid, but only 16% of the necessary resources were available to meet these needs. According to a report by the organisation Care Austria, this figure has since risen to 2.3 million people. Nowhere else in the world do more people suffer from chronic malnutrition. At the same time, Burundi receives the least attention in an international comparison.