Burundi Provinces

Burundi is one of the smallest countries in Africa, and since 2025 one of the simplest to learn: its 18 provinces were merged into five. Most maps and guidebooks still show the old list, so a round here is easy to lose to a province name that did not exist a few years ago.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: Where they sit: the west and south, and the north, centre and east
In the game: 5 provinces

Start

What you are looking at

The five provinces of Burundi, as the 2025 reform drew them: Buhumuza, Bujumbura, Burunga, Butanyerera and Gitega. Each is a block of the old ones, so the map is five wide pieces rather than the many narrow ones an older atlas shows. Gitega holds the political capital, and Bujumbura, on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, the largest city.

Burunga is the biggest, running down the whole south and west side of the country, with Lake Tanganyika on its western edge. Bujumbura is the smallest, a western province wedged between the lake, the Congolese border and the provinces to the east.

The groups are informal. Burundi has no tier between its provinces and the country, so the groups are an unofficial cut into two parts of the map, to drill it a piece at a time. The borders of the provinces match those of the Burundi Communes exactly.

How to place one

Start with Burunga. It is the largest, and it takes the whole south.
Put Bujumbura on the lake. It is the province on the western edge, north of Burunga.
Take the north next. Butanyerera is the province along the border with Rwanda.
Fill the middle and the east. Gitega is the centre of the country, and Buhumuza is the province along the Tanzanian border.