It is one of the country's official languages alongside French,[2] English,[3] and Swahili.

Since the 1994 genocide, the complications of relations with successive French governments and the return of numerous Tutsi refugees from anglophone Uganda meant an increase in the use of English by a higher proportion of the population and administration.

A Rwandan historian, Antoine Mugesera, stated that French is still used among the educated, but Kinyarwanda is used for matters relating to simple topics and messages.

[7] French was spoken by a bit under 6% of the population according to the 2012 census and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.

[10] Inhabitants of Rwanda's Nkombo Island speak Mashi, a language closely related to Kinyarwanda.