About the size of Maryland, Burundi is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of East Africa, bordered by Tanzania, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Lake Tanganyika. Its population of 13.5 million makes it one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

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• Some 90 percent of Burundi’s workers are in agriculture.

• Coffee is the country’s largest export crop and the source of foreign currency.

• More than half the population lives below the poverty line.

• Youth under 15 make up more than 40 percent of the overall population.

• The capital moved to Gitega in 2019, but Bujumbura remains the commercial center.

• Primary education has been free and compulsory since 2005.

• Just over one-third of students continue to secondary school.

• Nearly all young people under 25 are literate, and the literacy rate overall has risen to 75 percent.

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Located near the Equator, Burundi has cooler temperatures than other tropical regions, thanks to its mountain chains and a high plateau, reaching elevations up to 9,055 feet (2,760 meters) at the peak of Mount Heha, and 6, 000 feet (1,800 meters) on the country’s southeast plateaus.