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Uganda - Country Information

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Background: The colonial boundaries created by Britain to delimit Uganda grouped together a wide range of ethnic groups with different political systems and cultures. These differences prevented the establishment of a working political community after independence was achieved in 1962. The dictatorial regime of Idi AMIN (1971-79) was responsible for the deaths of some 300,000 opponents; guerrilla war and human rights abuses under Milton OBOTE (1980-85) claimed at least another 100,000 lives. The rule of Yoweri MUSEVENI since 1986 has brought relative stability and economic growth to Uganda. During the 1990s, the government promulgated non-party presidential and legislative elections.

Geography

Location: Eastern Africa, west of Kenya

Area: total: 236,040 sq km, water: 36,330 sq km, land: 199,710 sq km

Land boundaries: total: 2,698 km border countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo 765 km, Kenya 933 km, Rwanda 169 km, Sudan 435 km, Tanzania 396 km

Climate: tropical; generally rainy with two dry seasons (December to February, June to August); semiarid in northeast

Terrain: mostly plateau with rim of mountains

Natural resources: copper, cobalt, hydropower, limestone, salt, arable land

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People

Population: 30,262,610
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 2007 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 50.2% (male 7,646,619/female 7,538,137) , 15-64 years: 47.6% (male 7,231,196/female 7,185,058), 65 years and over: 2.2% (male 281,317/female 380,283) (2007 est.)

Median age: total: 14.9 years, female: 14.8 years, male: 15 years (2007 est. )

Population Growth Rate: 3.572% (2007 est.)

Birth rate: 48.12 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

Death rate: 12.64 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 67.22 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 51.75 years, male: 50.78 years, female: 52.73 years (2007 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 4.1% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 530,000 (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 78,000 (2003 est.)

Ethnic groups: Baganda 16.9%, Banyakole 9.5%, Basoga 8.4%, Bakiga 6.9%, Iteso 6.4%, Langi 6.1%, Acholi 4.7%, Bagisu 4.6%, Lugbara 4.2%, Bunyoro 2.7%, other 29.6% (2002 census)

Religions: Roman Catholic 41.9%, Protestant 42% (Anglican 35.9%, Pentecostal 4.6%, Seventh Day Adventist 1.5%), Muslim 12.1%, other 3.1%, none 0.9% (2002 census)

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 Niger-Congo 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 est.)

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Government

Official Name: Republic of Uganda

Government type: Republic

Capital: Kampala

Independence (from UK): October 9, 1962

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Economy

Overview: Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable mineral deposits of copper and cobalt. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force. Coffee accounts for the bulk of export revenues. Since 1986, the government - with the support of foreign countries and international agencies - has acted to rehabilitate and stabilize the economy by undertaking currency reform, raising producer prices on export crops, increasing prices of petroleum products, and improving civil service wages. The policy changes are especially aimed at dampening inflation and boosting production and export earnings. During 1990-2001, the economy turned in a solid performance based on continued investment in the rehabilitation of infrastructure, improved incentives for production and exports, reduced inflation, gradually improved domestic security, and the return of exiled Indian-Ugandan entrepreneurs. In 2000, Uganda qualified for enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief worth $1.3 billion and Paris Club debt relief worth $145 million. These amounts combined with the original HIPC debt relief added up to about $2 billion. Growth for 2001-02 was solid, despite continued decline in the price of coffee, Uganda's principal export. Growth in 2003-06 reflected an upturn in Uganda's export markets.

Annual GDP: $52.93 billion (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita: $1,900 (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 29.4%, industry: 22.1%, services: 48.5% (2006 est.)

Labor force: 13.76 million (2006 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 82%, industry 5%, services 13% (1999 est.)

Industries: sugar, brewing, tobacco, cotton textiles; cement, steel production

Agriculture - products: coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, cassava (tapioca), potatoes, corn, millet, pulses, cut flowers; beef, goat meat, milk, poultry

Exports - commodities: coffee, fish and fish products, tea, cotton, flowers, horticultural products; gold

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Communications

Telephone Lines in use: 108,100 (2006)

Cellular Phones: 2.009 million (2006)

Television Broadcast Stations: 8 (plus 1 repeater) (2001)

Internet Users: 750,000 (2006)

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Transportation

Railways: total: 1,244 km (2006)

Highways: total: 70,746 km, paved: 16,272 km, unpaved: 54,474 km (2003)

Airports - with paved runways: 5 (2006)

Airports - with unpaved runways: 26 (2006)

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Transnational Issues

Disputes - International: Uganda is subject to armed fighting among hostile ethnic groups, rebels, armed gangs, militias, and various government forces that extend across its borders; Uganda hosts 209,860 Sudanese, 27,560 Congolese, and 19,710 Rwandan refugees, while Ugandan refugees as well as members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) seek shelter in southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Garamba National Park; LRA forces have also attacked Kenyan villages across the border.

Refugees & Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs): refugees (country of origin): 212,857 (Sudan), 20,564 (Democratic Republic of Congo), 20,213 (Rwanda)
IDPs: 1.2-1.7 million (350,000 IDPs returned in 2006 following ongoing peace talks between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda) (2006)

Information from the CIA World Factbook 2007
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ug.html

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