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By Annonciata Byukusenge
The unemployment rate in Rwanda remained unchanged at 13.40 percent in the third quarter of 2025 from 13.40 percent in the second quarter of 2025. The unemployment rate in Rwanda averaged 15.74 percent from 2001 until 2025, reaching an all-time high of 24.30 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 and a record low of 1.00 percent in the fourth quarter of 2001
Josiane Uwamariya wakes up at five in the morning every day. Her main activity consists of sewing clothes and making bags in Rwanda in the Kinigi center, Musanze district, in the Northern Province, Rwanda.
The 20-year-old teen mother never envisioned that her life would be outside of school because she dropped out of school in her second year of high school when she was 17 years old. She was raped and became pregnant prematurely.
When she gave birth in May 2022, she immediately began living a life outside of school, not in training or at work, as she says.
Other girls and I, who were raped and dropped out of school, faced a difficult life because we lived for more than three years without employment or study. This life was difficult for me and my child because my parents immediately abandoned me and threw me out of the house. I went to live with my maternal grandmother.”
Her colleague, Niyonasenze Joselyne, also says that living without a place to live in terms of employment is a serious problem. She said, “If you are not in school, not at work, or not in training, you have no hope for the future, and begging your neighbors is not possible. I think this problem is prevalent among young girls because when we are raped and give birth, everything immediately stops.”
The Fifth General Population and Housing Census of August 2022 showed that about 41% of women of working age were not in work, school, or training institutions.
These are those aged between 16 and 30, where the results of this census show that the percentage has increased in the last five years, because in 2018, they were 40.8 percent compared to 23.9% of the opposite sex.
The problem of teenage girls being raped is not unique to Musanze, as in the South, in the Huye district, teenage girls who have been raped also have the problem of dropping out of school, not having a job, or not attending training.
Mugisha Claire, 18 years old, says she was raped when she was 16, and because of family problems, including the premature birth of their first child, she dropped out of school.
“I was in the first year of secondary school. Because of the bullying I was facing, I decided to live with my grandmother. When I was about to give birth, I returned to my village so that my mother could take me to the hospital, because I did not have an identity card, and the person who raised me also went to live in Kigali.”
In May 2024 (Q2), the full count of the young population aged 16-30 years who were neither in employment nor in education or training was estimated to be 1,058,245.
The share of youth (16-30 years) neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET) was 29.0% in May 2024 (Q2), with a higher rate among females (36.1%) than among males (21.5%). The comparison of the current NEET rate with the results of the same quarter one year earlier shows that the NEET rate decreased by 4.7 percentage points at the national level. In the same way, a decrease of 5.8 percentage points and 3.5 percentage points was observed among the male and female populations, respectively.
How did teen mothers come to participate in the workforce?
At the end of 2023, a community health worker went to Josiane Uwamariya’s grandmother and informed her that there is a training center that supports teen mothers for training.
“She told me that if I am interested, I will learn a vocation at that training center. I asked her the requirements, and she told me that the criteria are to be a teen mother from a vulnerable family. She made a sacrifice and came to see me because I didn’t have a phone.”
She added that she started the training at the Women’s Training Center known as Isimbi in October 2023. This training center is located in the Musanze district, Kinigi sector, Muhabura cell.
“At Isimbi, I learned how to use a sewing machine, and after six months, I learned to sew. I graduated with my colleagues in the same class. They gave us machines to help us work so that we could have a better life for ourselves and our children, and they also gave us other basic materials, including looms and other fabrics to sew different clothes.”
The same at Mugisha in Huye district, she learned to sew at Vuga Ukire Family. This organization empowers teen mothers. It is located in the Huye sector, Rukira cell.
What does the MIGEPROF say about the increasing number of teenage pregnancies?
The Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Uwimana Consolée, says that Rwanda will not tolerate those who impregnate teenagers, which is why laws have been enacted to punish them.
“Parents are responsible for the problems of children who are impregnated, because they do not follow up properly and do not talk to them.”
She highlighted this during a meeting with members of the Rwandan Unity, Human Rights, and Combating Genocide Committee on February 11, 2025.
In the country’s second economic growth plan, the Rwandan government says it will create 1.25 million jobs over five years to address the problem of unemployment among youth and women, as revealed in the fifth general population and housing census, which found that 41% of youth and women of working age are unemployed.
The Second National Strategy for Transformation (NST2) is a five-year government program for Rwanda from 2024 to 2029. Its main priorities are creating jobs, boosting exports, improving education, reducing stunting and malnutrition, and enhancing public service delivery. This strategy builds on the first NST plan and aims to guide Rwanda toward its long-term Vision 2050. NST2 (2024 – 2029). Aims to create 2.5 million decent and productive jobs, with a focus on youth and women.
