Health in Burundi

Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a population of 14.4 million people as of 2025. Generally, there have been some improvements in the key health indicators such as life expectancy, child mortality and maternal mortality over the last fifty years. According to UNWPP, the life expectancy of Burundi has gradually increased from 40.9 years in 1950 to 63.7 years in 2023. Despite the improvement in life expectancy, it remains below the current world average of 73.2 years . Over the past forty years, the maternal mortality rate has greatly reduced from 1428 deaths per 100000 live births in 1985 to 392 deaths per 100000 live births in 2023. However, this maternal mortality rate is two times higher than the world average of 197 deaths per 100,000 live births. In addition, child mortality has also declined gradually in the last 20 years from 170 deaths per 1000 live births in 1995 to 49 per 1000 live births in 2023. The total fertility rate of Burundi reduced from 7.0 births per woman in 1960 to 4.9 births per woman in 2022, though it remains higher than the global average. The low life expectancy and high child mortality rate, and high fertility rate in Burundi, indicate that the overall health status of the country is generally poor.

Civilians in Burundi have lived through years of conflict due to the civil war, leaving many civilians facing economic crisis. The government has had limited capacity to invest in the health system, so the health infrastructure is poor. The link between health and poverty is undeniable. Many Burundians do not have access to primary health care. Despite this, the Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Burundi is fulfilling what it should be for the right to health based on income levels. Burundi had the lowest consumption of antibiotics of any country in the world in 2015 with a rate of 4.4 defined daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants per day.