Demographics of Uganda

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Uganda, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Ugandan people

Languages
English and Regional languages
Religion
Christianity

Population

According to the 2019 revision of the World Population Prospects[1][2] the total population was 42,729,036 in 2018, compared to only 5,158,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2015 was 48.1 percent, 49.4 percent was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 2.5 percent was 65 years or older.[3]

	Total population (x 1000)	Population aged 0–14 (%)	Population aged 15–64 (%)	Population aged 65+ (%)
1950	5,158	43.1	54.0	3.0
1955	5,899	45.1	52.1	2.8
1960	6,788	45.9	51.5	2.6
1965	8,014	46.6	50.9	2.6
1970	9,446	46.9	50.5	2.6
1975	10,827	47.3	50.0	2.6
1980	12,548	47.6	49.7	2.6
1985	14,631	47.8	49.6	2.7
1990	17,384	48.0	49.3	2.7
1995	20,413	48.5	48.8	2.7
2000	23,758	48.7	48.6	2.7
2005	28,042	48.8	48.7	2.5
2010	33,149	49.1	48.5	2.5
2014 Census Results	34,856	47.9	49.2	2.7

United Nations population projections

Numbers are in thousands.

UN medium var

2050

101,873

Refugee population

According to the UNHCR, Uganda hosts over 1.1 million refugees on its soil as of November 2018.[4] Most come from neighbouring countries in the African Great Lakes region, particularly South Sudan (68.0 percent) and Democratic Republic of the Congo (24.6%).[4]

Vital statistics

Registration of births and deaths in Uganda is not yet complete. The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs prepared the following estimates. [3]

Period	Live births per year	Deaths per year	Natural change per year	CBR*	CDR*	NC*	TFR*	IMR*
1950–1955	283 000	135 000	148 000	51.3	24.5	26.8	6.90	160
1955–1960	317 000	139 000	178 000	50.0	22.0	28.0	6.95	145
1960–1965	365 000	144 000	220 000	49.3	19.5	29.8	7.05	130
1965–1970	428 000	152 000	276 000	49.0	17.4	31.6	7.12	117
1970–1975	494 000	156 000	338 000	48.7	16.7	33.3	7.10	112
1975–1980	573 000	187 000	386 000	48.9	16.6	32.8	7.10	111
1980–1985	673 000	222 000	451 000	49.3	16.9	32.8	7.10	113
1985–1990	802 000	269 000	533 000	49.6	18.1	32.8	7.10	116
1990–1995	955 000	353 000	602 000	49.8	19.0	31.3	7.06	110
1995–2000	1 096 000	399 000	686 000	48.8	18.1	30.4	6.95	98
2000–2005	1 261 000	381 000	845 000	47.8	14.7	32.1	6.75	81
2005–2010	1 411 000	363 000	1 026 000	46.1	11.9	33.2	6.38	70
2010–2015	1 576 000	370 000	1 207 000	43.7	10.2	33.2	6.38	61
* CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman)

Fertility and births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)(Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):[5][6][7]

Year	CBR (Total)	TFR (Total)	CBR (Urban)	TFR (Urban)	CBR (Rural)	TFR (Rural)
1982-1984		7.4		6.1		7.6
1985-1988		7.4		5.7		7.6
1995	47.8	6.86 (5.6)	47.7	4.97 (3.8)	47.8	7.17 (5.9)
2000-2001	47.3	6.9 (5.3)	41.3	4.0 (3.2)	48.0	7.4 (5.7)
2006	44.8	6.7	41.0	4.4	45.3	7.1
2011	42.1	6.2 (5.1)	40.3	3.8 (3.6)	42.4	6.8 (5.5)
2014 census[8]		5.8
2016	38.7	5.4 (4.3)	37.0	4.0 (3.4)	39.3	5.9 (4.6)
2018-19		5.0

Fertility data as of 2011 and 2016 (DHS Program):[9]

Region	Total fertility rate (Wanted fertility rate) 2011	Percentage of women age 15-49 currently pregnant 2011	Mean number of children ever born to women age 40-49 2011
Kampala	3.3 (2.9)	8.3	5.0
Central 1	5.6 (4.2)	9.9	7.2
Central 2	6.3 (4.6)	9.6	7.1
East Central	6.9 (4.4)	13.7	7.9
Eastern	7.5 (5.3)	12.5	7.5
Karamoja	6.4 (5.8)	18.7	7.5
North	6.3 (4.3)	12.4	7.3
West Nile	6.8 (5.1)	10.4	7.4
Western	6.4 (4.7)	13.2	7.4
Southwest	6.2 (4.4)	11.3	7.2

Region	Total fertility rate (Wanted fertility rate) 2016	Percentage of women age 15-49 currently pregnant 2016	Mean number of children ever born to women age 40-49 2016
Kampala	3.5 (3.1)	6.6	4.7
Karamoja	7.9 (7.4)	15.1	7.8
West Nile	6.0 (5.0)	8.9	6.7
South Central	4.7 (3.9)	8.5	6.4
North Central	5.4 (4.3)	10.3	6.9
Busoga	6.1 (4.5)	12.4	7.5
Bukedi	6.1 (4.3)	13.7	7.4
Bugisu	5.6 (4.3)	9.3	6.8
Teso	6.0 (4.8)	10.4	7.8
Lango	5.1 (3.9)	10.4	7.1
Acholi	5.5 (3.8)	9.6	7.1
Bunyoro	6.0 (4.4)	8.5	6.8
Tooro	5.4 (4.4)	10.6	7.0
Kigezi	4.6 (3.8)	9.7	6.1
Ankole	4.9 (4.2)	8.8	6.4

An ethnolinguistic map of Uganda.

Life expectancy at birth

Period	Life expectancy in Years[10]
1950–1955	40.00
1955–1960	42.60
1960–1965	45.39
1965–1970	48.12
1970–1975	49.14
1975–1980	49.33
1980–1985	49.05
1985–1990	46.86
1990–1995	44.57
1995–2000	44.98
2000–2005	49.92
2005–2010	55.15
2010–2015	58.61

South Asians, Europeans and Arabs

During the Uganda Protectorate period, the British colonialists used South Asian immigrants as intermediaries. Following independence they constituted the largest non-indigenous ethnic group in Uganda, at around 80,000 people, and they dominated trade, industry, and the professions. This caused resentment among the native African majority, which was exploited by post-Independence leaders.

After Idi Amin came to power in 1971, he declared "economic war" on the Indians, culminating in the Expulsion of Asians in Uganda in 1972. Since Amin's overthrow in 1979 some Asians have returned. There are between 15,000 and 25,000 in Uganda today, nearly all in the capital Kampala.

There are also about 10,000 Europeans, mostly of native English origin, and 3,000 Arabs of various national origins in Uganda.

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.[11]

The population of Uganda (2005 FAO data; number of inhabitants in millions)

Population pyramid 2017

Population

44,279,563 (June 2018 estimate)

Population growth rate

3.2% (2017 est.)

Birth rate

42.9 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)

Death rate

10.2 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)

Net migration rate

-0.7 migrants/1,000 population (2017 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 23.8% of total population (2018)

rate of urbanization: 5.7% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.7 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2009 estimate)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 63.3 years
male: 62.2 years
female: 64.2 years (2014 population census Ubos)

Nationality

noun: Ugandan
adjective: Ugandan

Ethnic groups

• Baganda 16.5%
• Banyankole 9.8%
• Basoga 8.8%
• Bakiga 7.1%
• Iteso 7%
• Langi 6.3%
• Bagisu 4.9%
• Acholi 4.4%
• Lugbara 3.3%
• Other 32.1% [12]
• Multi-racial (unknown percentage, recognized in 2016 in Uganda as a multi-racial ethnic group) [13]

Religions

Main article: Religion in Uganda

Uganda is a religiously diverse nation with Christianity being the most widely professed religion. According to the 2014 census, over 84 percent of the population was Christian while about 14 percent of the population adhered to Islam, making it the largest minority religion.[14] In 2009, the northern and west Nile regions were dominated by Roman Catholics, and Iganga District in the east of Uganda had the highest percentage of Muslims.[15][12]

• Roman Catholic 39.3%,
• Protestant 45.1%
  • Anglican 32%
  • Pentecostal 11.1%
  • Seventh-Day Adventist 1.7%
  • Baptist 0.3%
• Islam 13.7%
• Other 1.6%
• None 0.2%

Languages

Main article: Languages of Uganda

English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Swahili (recently made second official language, important regionally but spoken by very few people in Uganda), Luganda (most widely used of the Niger–Congo languages, preferred for native language publications in the capital and may be taught in school), other Bantu languages, Nilo-Saharan languages and Arabic.

See also

• Youth in Uganda

References

1. ""World Population prospects – Population division"". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
2. ""Overall total population" – World Population Prospects: The 2019 Revision" (xslx). population.un.org (custom data acquired via website). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
3. Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision Archived May 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
4. "Uganda Comprehensive Refugee Response Portal". Operational Data Portal. UNHCR. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
5. "MEASURE DHS: Demographic and Health Surveys". microdata.worldbank.org. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
6. "The DHS Program - Uganda: Standard DHS, 2011". Dhsprogram.com. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
7. "The DHS Program - Uganda: Standard DHS, 2016". Dhsprogram.com. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
8. "National Population and Housing Census 2014" (PDF). Ubos.org. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
9. "Uganda : Demographic and Health Survey 2011" (PDF). Dhsprogram.com. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
10. "World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". esa.un.org. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
11. "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency". Cia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
12. "Africa :: UGANDA". CIA The World Factbook.
13. "Uganda: Multi-Racial Tribe To Get Citizenship, President Assures". The African Exponent. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
14. Census 2014 Final Results
15. United States Department of State (2009-10-26). "Uganda". International Religious Freedom Report 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-11-30. Retrieved 2010-06-05.