To emerge into a strong middle-income economy in coming decades, available evidence suggests that Uganda will have to take into account population factors as part of the development equation. Uganda's population is its biggest and one of the most important resources which must be harnessed to facilitate faster socio-economic transformation.

Currently estimated at about 32 million with slightly more females than males, the population is growing at an annual rate of about 3.27 per cent, the third highest in the World. At this growth rate, the population is projected to reach 93.4 million in the next 30 years. The high growth rate has been attributed to the high fertility rate of about 6.7 children per Ugandan woman.

Uganda specific Population changes

Year	Population (millions)	Position (most populated)
1950	5.52	63
1970	9.74	53
1990	17.46	47
2010	33.40	37
2030	67.29	22
2050	128.01	14

Source: http://www.census.org

 

Fig. 1 : Uganda population growth

 Uganda population size by itself is not the problem but rather the quality of the population which is dominated by unproductive age groups. In the next 30 years therefore, it is estimated that with the gradual decline in the growth rate from 3.2 per cent up to 2.4 per cent in the next 30 years, the projected population will be lowered to 61 million by 2040. In the declining fertility projection, there will be complete transition from high fertility (6.7 children per woman) to low fertility (4 children per woman) over the 30-year projection period.

 

 As a result of this high fertility rate, Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world with nearly half of them aged below 15 years. This young population presents an opportunity that the country can capitalize on to increase its competitiveness.

To improve the quality of the population over the Vision period, Uganda will focus on creating a more sustainable age structure by reducing the high fertility rate through increased access to quality reproductive health services, keeping all children of school going age in school with more emphasis on the girl child. In addition, government will focus on building an efficient health delivery system. These strategies will be supplemented with incentive oriented population control policies as has been the case in the developed economies.

 

Uganda has an annual population growth rate of 3.27% (World Bank, est.  2008), the third highest in the world after Yemen and Niger respectively. The World average is 1.2%. This high population growth rate is putting a great burden on Uganda school infrastructure. The big number of students in the classes is yet to increase and the jobs will became more competitive. 

Age distribution comprises the young between 0 years and, the middle aged; 19-64 years and the old above 65 years.

Some areas of Uganda are densely populated e.g Kigezi as compared to Karamoja.

Sex composition. Uganda has more women than men in her population.

Occupational distribution. Most people in Uganda are engaged in primary production e.g farming, fishing, lumbering, etc, with the civil service employing less than 15% of the total population.

Low levels of literacy about (40%) still prevails.