Which groups make up Burundi’s main ethnic communities?

The principal ethnic communities in Burundi are the Hutu and the Tutsi. The Hutu constitute the overwhelming majority of the population, while the Tutsi represent a significant minority.1

In addition to these two groups, the population includes the Twa people, who are a Pygmy hunter-gatherer population and were the original inhabitants of the region. There is also a small number of Swahili-speaking peoples from neighboring Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.12

It is important to note that while these groups are often categorized by historical roles—with the Hutu traditionally being farmers and the Tutsi being pastoralists—these distinctions were historically fluid. Over centuries of intermarriage and shared use of the Rundi language, physical and social boundaries between the groups became less distinct. The rigid ethnic divisions often associated with the country were significantly exacerbated by European colonial policies that favored the Tutsi minority over the Hutu majority.1234