The Human Cost
800,000
disputed broad estimate
The 800,000 display total sits within the United Nations range of 500,000 to one million genocide victims. The military/civilian split is only a visualization allocation and should not recast murdered Tutsi and moderate Hutu as battlefield losses; RPF and government combat deaths are separately uncertain.
Each dot below represents 1,000 human lives. Scroll to watch the scale unfold.
Working allocation: 50,000 soldiers killed in combat, from wounds, or from disease. Each = 1,000 lives.
750,000 civilians killed — from violence, famine, disease, and displacement. Wars are not fought only by soldiers.
incl. 49,000 civilians
incl. 45,000 civilians
incl. 12,000 civilians
incl. 10,000 civilians
incl. 2 civilians
How Rwanda's dead compare to other conflicts and events.
2 dead
Approximately 2 million Hutus fled Rwanda after the RPF victory, fearing reprisals — including ~50,000 who died of cholera in Goma camps
95 dead
An estimated 95% of the Tutsi population of Kibuye Prefecture was killed
250,000 dead
Approximately 250,000–500,000 women and girls were raped during the genocide; HIV was deliberately spread as a weapon
500,000 dead
Estimates of total dead range from 500,000 to 1,000,000; 800,000 is the most widely cited figure and is used by the UN
533,333 dead
The Rwandan genocide proceeded at a rate approximately five times faster than the Holocaust in its most intensive phase