The target of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is very ambitious – eliminating poverty. And yet, despite great efforts and progress made on the reduction of poverty worldwide, achievement of the 2030 UN target is still far away. Over the past three decades, the poverty rate has dropped by 10 percentage points every 10 years, from more than 40% in the early 1980s to 10% in the mid-2010s. 

Rwanda is one contributor to this poverty reduction: the country’s poverty rate reduced from 56.7% in 2005–2006 to 44.9% in 2010–2011 and 39.1% in 2013–2014 (NISR, 2015). If we want to continue to reduce poverty in Rwanda, we have to look at the determinants of poverty in the country and generate new ways to tackle it, as well as continuing along existing paths, where appropriate.

This quantitative study looks at the determinants of poverty in Rwanda to help fight poverty in a sustainable way.