An ancient crossroads for various migrations, Uganda has as many as 65 ethnic groups that speak languages from three of Africa’s four major linguistic families. As early as 1200, fertile soils and regular rainfall in the south fostered the formation of several large centralized kingdoms, including Buganda, from which the country derives its name. Muslim traders from Egypt reached northern Uganda in the 1820s, and Swahili merchants from the Indian Ocean coast arrived in the south by the 1840s. The area attracted the attention of British explorers seeking the source of the Nile River in the 1860s, and this influence expanded in subsequent decades with the arrival of Christian missionaries and trade agreements; Uganda was declared a British protectorate in 1894. Buganda and other southern kingdoms negotiated agreements with Britain to secure privileges and a level of autonomy that were rare during the colonial period in Africa. The colonial boundaries demarcating Uganda grouped together a wide range of ethnic groups with different political systems and cultures, and the disparities between how Britain governed southern and northern areas compounded these differences, complicating efforts to establish a cohesive independent country.
Uganda gained independence in 1962 with one of the more developed economies and one of the strongest education systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, but it descended within a few years into political turmoil and internal conflict that lasted more than two decades. In 1966, Prime Minister Milton OBOTE suspended the constitution and violently deposed President Edward MUTESA, who was also the king of Buganda. Idi AMIN seized power in 1971 through a military coup and led the country into economic ruin and rampant mass atrocities that killed as many as 500,000 civilians. AMIN’s annexation of Tanzanian territory in 1979 provoked Tanzania to invade Uganda, depose AMIN, and install a coalition government. In the aftermath, Uganda continued to experience atrocities, looting, and political instability and had four different heads of state between 1979 and 1980. OBOTE regained the presidency in 1980 through a controversial election that sparked renewed guerrilla warfare, killing as an estimated 300,000 civilians. Gen. Tito OKELLO seized power in a coup in 1985, but his rule was short-lived, with Yoweri MUSEVENI becoming president in 1986 after his insurgency captured the capital. MUSEVENI is widely credited with restoring relative stability and economic growth to Uganda but has resisted calls to leave office. In 2017, parliament approved the removal of presidential age limits, making it possible for MUSEVENI to remain in office for life. Uganda faces numerous challenges that could affect future stability, including explosive population growth, power and infrastructure constraints, corruption, underdeveloped democratic institutions, and human rights deficits.
Nile (shared with Rwanda [s], Tanzania, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt [m]) - 6,650 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth
Uganda has one of the youngest and most rapidly growing populations in the world; its total fertility rate is among the world’s highest at close to 5.5 children per woman in 2022. Except in urban areas, actual fertility exceeds women’s desired fertility by one or two children, which is indicative of the widespread unmet need for contraception, lack of government support for family planning, and a cultural preference for large families. High numbers of births, short birth intervals, and the early age of childbearing contribute to Uganda’s high maternal mortality rate. Gender inequities also make fertility reduction difficult; women on average are less-educated, participate less in paid employment, and often have little say in decisions over childbearing and their own reproductive health. However, even if the birth rate were significantly reduced, Uganda’s large pool of women entering reproductive age ensures rapid population growth for decades to come.
Unchecked, population increase will further strain the availability of arable land and natural resources and overwhelm the country’s limited means for providing food, employment, education, health care, housing, and basic services. The country’s north and northeast lag even further behind developmentally than the rest of the country as a result of long-term conflict (the Ugandan Bush War 1981-1986 and more than 20 years of fighting between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Ugandan Government forces), ongoing inter-communal violence, and periodic natural disasters.
Uganda has been both a source of refugees and migrants and a host country for refugees. In 1972, then President Idi AMIN, in his drive to return Uganda to Ugandans, expelled the South Asian population that composed a large share of the country’s business people and bankers. Since the 1970s, thousands of Ugandans have emigrated, mainly to southern Africa or the West, for security reasons, to escape poverty, to search for jobs, and for access to natural resources. The emigration of Ugandan doctors and nurses due to low wages is a particular concern given the country’s shortage of skilled health care workers. Africans escaping conflicts in neighboring states have found refuge in Uganda since the 1950s; the country currently struggles to host tens of thousands from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and other nearby countries.
" }, "Age structure": { "0-14 years": { "text": "47.3% (male 11,439,303/female 11,136,111)" }, "15-64 years": { "text": "50.31% (male 11,335,543/female 12,679,044)" }, "65 years and over": { "text": "2.39% (2023 est.) (male 484,782/female 655,169)" } }, "Dependency ratios": { "total dependency ratio": { "text": "88.2" }, "youth dependency ratio": { "text": "85.1" }, "elderly dependency ratio": { "text": "3.2" }, "potential support ratio": { "text": "31.7 (2021 est.)" } }, "Median age": { "total": { "text": "15.7 years" }, "male": { "text": "14.9 years" }, "female": { "text": "16.5 years (2020 est.)" } }, "Population growth rate": { "text": "3.22% (2023 est.)" }, "Birth rate": { "text": "40.27 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)" }, "Death rate": { "text": "4.87 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)" }, "Net migration rate": { "text": "-3.16 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)" }, "Population distribution": { "text": "population density is relatively high in comparison to other African nations; most of the population is concentrated in the central and southern parts of the country, particularly along the shores of Lake Victoria and Lake Albert; the northeast is least populated as shown in this population distribution map" }, "Urbanization": { "urban population": { "text": "26.8% of total population (2023)" }, "rate of urbanization": { "text": "5.41% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)" } }, "Major urban areas - population": { "text": "3.846 million KAMPALA (capital) (2023)" }, "Sex ratio": { "at birth": { "text": "1.03 male(s)/female" }, "0-14 years": { "text": "1.03 male(s)/female" }, "15-64 years": { "text": "0.89 male(s)/female" }, "65 years and over": { "text": "0.74 male(s)/female" }, "total population": { "text": "0.95 male(s)/female (2023 est.)" } }, "Mother's mean age at first birth": { "text": "19.4 years (2016 est.)", "note": "note: data represents median age at first birth among women 20-49" }, "Maternal mortality ratio": { "text": "375 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)" }, "Infant mortality rate": { "total": { "text": "29.44 deaths/1,000 live births" }, "male": { "text": "32.82 deaths/1,000 live births" }, "female": { "text": "25.96 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)" } }, "Life expectancy at birth": { "total population": { "text": "69.32 years" }, "male": { "text": "67.08 years" }, "female": { "text": "71.62 years (2023 est.)" } }, "Total fertility rate": { "text": "5.26 children born/woman (2023 est.)" }, "Gross reproduction rate": { "text": "2.59 (2023 est.)" }, "Contraceptive prevalence rate": { "text": "50.2% (2021)" }, "Drinking water source": { "improved: urban": { "text": "urban: 92.5% of population" }, "improved: rural": { "text": "rural: 80% of population" }, "improved: total": { "text": "total: 83.1% of population" }, "unimproved: urban": { "text": "urban: 7.5% of population" }, "unimproved: rural": { "text": "rural: 20% of population" }, "unimproved: total": { "text": "total: 16.9% of population (2020 est.)" } }, "Current health expenditure": { "text": "4% of GDP (2020)" }, "Physicians density": { "text": "0.15 physicians/1,000 population (2020)" }, "Hospital bed density": { "text": "0.5 beds/1,000 population" }, "Sanitation facility access": { "improved: urban": { "text": "urban: 67.3% of population" }, "improved: rural": { "text": "rural: 27.5% of population" }, "improved: total": { "text": "total: 37.4% of population" }, "unimproved: urban": { "text": "urban: 32.7% of population" }, "unimproved: rural": { "text": "rural: 72.5% of population" }, "unimproved: total": { "text": "total: 62.6% of population (2020 est.)" } }, "HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate": { "text": "5.4% (2020 est.)" }, "Major infectious diseases": { "degree of risk": { "text": "very high (2020)" }, "food or waterborne diseases": { "text": "bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever" }, "vectorborne diseases": { "text": "malaria, dengue fever, and Trypanosomiasis-Gambiense (African sleeping sickness)" }, "water contact diseases": { "text": "schistosomiasis" }, "animal contact diseases": { "text": "rabies" }, "note": "note 1: on 18 November 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an updated Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Uganda is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccineNile (shared with Rwanda [s], Tanzania, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt [m]) - 6,650 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth
Uganda is subject to armed fighting among hostile ethnic groups, rebels, armed gangs, militias, and various government forces that extend across its borders
Uganda-Kenya: Kenya and Uganda began a joint demarcation of the boundary in 2021; Uganda and Kenya both claim Migingo Island, a tiny island in the middle of Lake Victoria, which offers good fishing
Uganda-Rwanda: a joint technical committee established in 2007 to demarcate sections of the border
Uganda-Democratic Republic of Congo(DROC): Uganda rejects the DROC claim to Margherita Peak in the Rwenzori mountains and considers it a boundary divide; there is tension and violence on Lake Albert over prospective oil reserves at the mouth of the Semliki River; Rukwanzi Island in Lake Albert is claimed by both countries
Uganda-South Sudan: Government of South Sudan protests Lord's Resistance Army operations in western Equatorial State, displacing and driving out local populations and stealing grain stores
Uganda-Sudan: none identified