Demographics of Uganda

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Ethnolinguistic map of Uganda.
Ethnolinguistic map of Uganda.

Africans of three main ethnic groups – Bantu, Nilotic, and Central-Sudanic (traditionally called Nilo-Hamitic) – constitute most of the population.

The Bantu are the most numerous and include the Baganda in the central area (17%), Basoga in the south-eastern area (8%), Banyankole in the south-western area (8%), Bakiga in the most south-western area (8%), Banyoro in the mid-western area (3%), Batoro/Batooro in the mid-western area (3%), Bagisu int the eastern area, Bahima in the south-western area (2%), Bafumbira in the south-western area (6%), and other much smaller ethnic groups.

Residents of the north, largely Nilotic, are the next largest group, including the Langi, 6%, and the Acholi, 4%. In the northwest are the Lugbara, 4%. The Karamojong, 2%, occupy the considerably drier, largely pastoral territory in the northeast. Europeans, Asians, and Arabs make up about 1% of the population with other groups accounting for the remainder.

More than half of the population is under the age of 15 – more than any other country in the world.

Uganda's population is predominantly rural, and its density population highest in the southern regions. Until 1972, Asians constituted the largest nonindigenous ethnic group in Uganda. In that year, the Idi Amin regime expelled 50,000 Asians, who had been engaged in trade, industry, and various professions. In the years since Amin's overthrow in 1979, Asians have slowly returned. About 3,000 Arabs of various national origins and small numbers of Asians live in Uganda. Other nonindigenous people in Uganda include several hundred Western missionaries and a few diplomats and businesspeople.

[edit] Statistics

Demographics of Uganda (2005 FAO data; number of inhabitants in thousands)
Demographics of Uganda (2005 FAO data; number of inhabitants in thousands)

Population: 28,195,754
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 estimate)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 50% (male 7,091,763; female 6,996,385)
15-64 years: 47.8% (male 6,672,071; female 6,727,230)
65 years and over: 2.2% (male 266,931; female 351,374) (2006 estimate)

Population growth rate: 3.37% (2006 est.)

Birth rate: 47.35 births/1,000 population (2006 estimate)

Death rate: 12.24 deaths/1,000 population (2006 estimate)

Net migration rate: -1.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population

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: 0.76 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2006 estimate)

Infant mortality rate: 66.15 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 estimate)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 52.67 years
male: 51.68 years
female: 53.69 years (2006 estimate)

Total fertility rate: 6.71 children born/woman (2006 estimate)

HIV/AIDS:
adult prevalence rate: 4.1% (2003 estimate)
people living with HIV/AIDS: 530,000 (2003 estimate)
deaths: 78,000 (2003 estimate)

Nationality:
noun: Ugandan(s)
adjective: Ugandan

Ethnic groups: Baganda 17%, Basoga 8%, Ankole 8%, Iteso 8%, Bakiga 7%, Langi 6%, Banyarwanda 6%, Bagisu 5%, Acholi 4%, Lugbara 4%, Batoro 3%, Bunyoro 3%, Alur 2%, Bagwere 2%, Bakonjo 2%, Jopadhola 2%, Karamojong 2%, Barundi 2% Non-African (European, Asian, Arab) 1%, Other 8%

Religions: (from 2002 census) Christianity 85.1% (Roman Catholic 41.9%, Anglican Church of Uganda 31.9%, other Protestant 10.3%, other Christian 1%), Islam 12.1%, indigenous beliefs 1%, other 0.7%

Languages: English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or 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, Swahili, Arabic

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 69.9%
male: 79.5%
female: 60.4% (2003 estimate)

[edit] References

  • Information from the CIA World Factbook 2006.