Uganda’s population now stands at 37 million
The numbers. Worshippers attend prayers at Uganda Martyrs Catholic shrine in Namugongo this year. PHOTO BY ERIC DOMINIC BUKENYA
What you need to know:
- Vulnerable population. Uganda had about 1.5 million orphans in 2014, making 8 per cent of the total population. Persons with disabilities constituted about 3.9 million (12 per cent) of the entire population. Older persons (60 years and above) accounted for about 4 per cent of the total population. Children (10-17) headed 0.5 per cent of the households in Uganda.
- Mortality. Infant mortality rate was 50 per 1,000 live births. The overall life expectancy at birth was 63.7 years. Maternal mortality rate was 380 per 100,000 live births.
- Child marriages. Six per cent of children aged between 12 and 17 years had ever married while 9 per cent of girls aged between 12 and 17 years had ever given birth.
KAMPALA. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) has revealed that Uganda’s total population size has increased to 37.7 million, up from 36.4 million in 2014.
Ms Helen Namirembe Nviri, the UBOS director of population and social statistics, explained that they reached at the new figure after further data analysis of the National Population and Housing Census of 2014, which was released in April last year.
Ms Mirembe also said Uganda’s current population growth rate per year is 3.03 per cent.
“Total Population was 36.4 million in 2014, an increase of 10.4 million since 2002,” Ms Namirembe said while presenting the analytical 2014 Census report in Kampala yesterday.
Ms Namirembe said the youth (18-30 years) constituted 23 per cent of the total population in 2014, while 8 per cent of them had never attended school. Another 75 per cent had left school and only 8 per cent had attained tertiary education.
High youth numbers
“Literacy rate was 81 per cent for the youth. About two thirds (61 per cent) of the youth were subsistence agricultural workers,” she said.
Ms Namirembe urged government to gear its programmes towards reducing population growth and fertility levels.
“Intensification of family planning and reproductive health programmes is necessary to achieve good health indicators as well as the demographic dividend,” she said.
The UBOS official also urged government to prioritise birth registration and death certification as a way of informing national growth indicator surveys.
“The infant mortality rate was still high, so proactive measures should be put in place to reduce these figures,” Ms Namirembe said.
The national representative for the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, Mr Alain Sibenaler, said Uganda’s population is projected to reach 68.2 million in 2040, a year by which Uganda aspires to have achieved middle income status.
