Development Trends in Rwanda
Senior 6 · English
Development Trends in Rwanda
Lesson 3 of 4
25 min
Let's begin
Describing development is describing change: what went up, what went down, how fast, compared with what, and whether the change is finished or still going on. This lesson brings together the grammar that does those jobs: the vocabulary of trends, the choice between the present perfect and the past simple, the passive for achievements, and comparisons built on real figures. It ends with word stress that changes a noun into a verb.
A short report written for this course from MINECOFIN's NST2 document and NISR's national accounts. The underlined forms are the grammar of this lesson.
Five Indicators, Seven Years
Between 2017 and 2024, access to electricity rose from 34.4% to 78.9%, so it more than doubled in seven years. Over the same period, 1,252 health posts were in place by 2024, compared with 473 in 2017: more than two and a half times as many. More than 27,000 classrooms were built, and the number of government services online has grown from 155 to over 680.
Growth has continued since the strategy ended. According to NISR, the economy grew by 9.4% in 2025. Industry was the fastest-growing sector, at 11%, while services grew by 9% and agriculture by 7%. Not every indicator is as encouraging, however: in 2023, youth unemployment stood at 20.8%, the highest of the unemployment rates the strategy reports.
Definition
Terms in this lesson
Reports on development describe how numbers move. Learn the verbs, the nouns and the prepositions together.
| Up | Down | No change | How much or how fast |
|---|---|---|---|
| rise, increase, grow, climb; double, triple | fall, decrease, decline, drop; halve | remain stable, stay the same, level off | sharply, steeply, rapidly · steadily, gradually · slightly |
| a rise in, an increase in, growth in | a fall in, a decrease in, a decline in | a period of stability | a sharp rise, a steady fall, a slight increase |
| Preposition | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| from … to | the start and end values | Life expectancy rose from 66.6 to 69.9 years. |
| by | the size of the change (verb) | It rose by 3.3 years. |
| of | the size of the change (noun) | a rise of 3.3 years |
| in | what changed (noun) | a rise in life expectancy |
| at | a level at one moment | Youth unemployment stood at 20.8%. |
Worked example
From a table to a sentence
Data (MINECOFIN, NST2): life expectancy 66.6 years at the start of NST1; 69.9 years at the end.
Result: During NST1, life expectancy rose steadily from 66.6 to 69.9 years, an increase of 3.3 years.
Unit 3 set out the basic difference. In reports, the choice depends on the time expression.
| Past simple: a finished time | Present perfect: up to now |
|---|---|
| in 2025, between 2017 and 2024, during NST1, last year, ago | since 2017, so far, over the past seven years, recently, yet, already (no finished time) |
| Access to electricity rose from 34.4% to 78.9% between 2017 and 2024. | Access to electricity has more than doubled since 2017. |
| The economy grew by 9.4% in 2025. | The economy has grown strongly since NST1 ended. |
| Passive: Over 27,000 classrooms were built during NST1. | Passive: Many new classrooms have been built since 2017. |
When you describe what has been achieved, the result is usually more important than who achieved it, so the passive is natural: More than 27,000 classrooms were built. Name the doer only when it adds information: The strategy was prepared by MINECOFIN. For figures that are calculated rather than counted, use It is estimated that … or … is estimated at …: GDP was estimated at Frw 23,387 billion in 2025.
| Pattern | Example (MINECOFIN or NISR figures) | Check |
|---|---|---|
| the + compound superlative | Industry was the fastest-growing sector in 2025. | 11% against 9% and 7% |
| comparative + than + figures | Industry grew faster than agriculture (11% against 7%). | |
| more than + double / triple | Street lighting more than tripled, from 664 km to 2,185 km. | 2,185 ÷ 664 ≈ 3.3 |
| multiple + as many / as much … as | There were more than two and a half times as many health posts in 2024 as in 2017. | 1,252 ÷ 473 ≈ 2.6 |
| superlative with a limit | Youth unemployment was the highest of the unemployment rates reported. | 20.8% against 17.2% overall |
Worked example
Choosing the right comparison
NISR, 2025: agriculture grew by 7%, industry by 11%, services by 9%.
Tip
Let the time expression choose the tense. Underline the time words first. In 2025, between 2017 and 2024, during NST1 → past simple. Since 2017, so far, over the past seven years → present perfect. No time words at all, and the result matters now → present perfect.
Warning
Describing graphs in English, from the Interactive English YouTube channel (about 7 minutes, 2018). Collect five verbs or phrases for describing change that this lesson does not list, and say whether each describes a rise, a fall or no change.
Same spelling, different stress. In many two-syllable words, the noun is stressed on the first syllable and the verb on the second. Say each pair aloud.
| Noun (stress first) | Verb (stress second) | Example |
|---|---|---|
| an IN-crease | to in-CREASE | an INcrease in exports · exports inCREASED |
| a DE-crease | to de-CREASE | a DEcrease in stunting · stunting deCREASED |
| an EX-port, an IM-port | to ex-PORT, to im-PORT | tea is an EXport · Rwanda exPORTS tea |
| PRO-gress | to pro-GRESS | good PROgress · the work proGRESSED |
| a RE-cord | to re-CORD | a REcord harvest · NISR reCORDS the data |
| PRO-duce (farm products) | to pro-DUCE | fresh PROduce · farms proDUCE food |
Spelling traps: development (no e after p) · government and environment (an n before the m) · achievement (i before e) · infrastructure · economy, economic, economist · priorities (y → ies) · programme (British; program for computers) · accommodation and committee (double letters).
Practice
Sources and credits
