Uganda is a very “young” country: a full 46 percent of the population are children under the age of 14!
The average age of Uganda’s entire population (47.3 people as of 2022) is 15.7 years — thanks to 21 million children. Of these, 2 million, or almost 10 percent, no longer have parents. Like the majority of the children of HOREMI … In the capital Kampala alone, 15,000 orphans are reportedly struggling as street children. They often become victims of child trafficking, sexual exploitation, drug traffickers or dangerous child labor in gold mines. AIDS is also a major problem: Currently, nearly 100,000 children under the age of 14 alone are said to be infected with HIV.
Despite some improvements in recent decades, Uganda remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Education still is an unaffordable commodity for many families. The situation is particularly precarious in rural areas, where almost 80 percent of the people live, especially in northern Uganda. Here, parents are often forced to send their children to work instead of school, or to marry off girls far too young so that the entire family can make ends meet. In the days of Corona, when Uganda set the world record with complete school closures lasting almost two years, this trend was further fueled — with fatal consequences for the future of the children and the country. After all, education is the most important way out of poverty.
Life expectancy and causes of death
The health care system in Uganda has developed, but there are still only a maximum of 9 physicians per 100,000 inhabitants — depending on the region, significantly fewer.
Life expectancy is currently around 63.7 years, and infant mortality has declined but is still close to 6 percent. A woman has an average of 4.7 children during her lifetime, and 0.43 percent of mothers die during childbirth or as a result of it. To stay healthy, access to clean water is elementary — but only 56 percent are granted it. Accordingly, diarrheal diseases are the fifth leading cause of death (5.8%), especially among children. However, AIDS (HIV) ranks first among the causes of death with over 10 percent, followed by influenza/pneumonia (9 %) and malaria (6.5 %). Road traffic deaths have increased enormously, now occupying 4th place with almost 6.3%.
Economy
With a gross national product of less than $1,000 per capita per year, Uganda is a very poor country. As recently as 2003, 82 % of the working population earned less than one dollar a day. The main exports are coffee and bananas, but tea, fish, tobacco and cocoa also play a role. In 2022, large gold deposits were discovered and oil is also increasingly being extracted — at the expense of the environment and even inside protected national parks, which play a major role in tourism. If any of the revenue from the gold and oil boom will actually reach the people also remains to be seen.
Education
School education in Uganda lasts 16 years, including 3 years of nursery. Since 1997, attendance at elementary school (7 years) and now secondary school (4 years middle, 2 years high school) in state schools has officially been free of charge. The average length of school attendance increased from 2.8 years in 1990 to 6.2 years in 2015. But to maximize literacy rates (76.5% in 2018), for-profit, fee-based private schools were also allowed. Today, 27 percent of elementary schools and 66 percent of secondary schools are private. Overcrowded classrooms with 60 to 80 students and a lack of equipment do not make it easy for children to learn. Effective independent quality control, especially of private schools, is lacking.
Private schools charge an average of $130 per child per year, and fees increase with grade level; school supplies, uniforms and exams usually cost extra. For low-income families, this is an insurmountable hurdle. And so far, only 15 percent of students attend secondary school; the average length of school attendance in 2015 was around 6.3 years. Two-thirds of children leave school prematurely without graduating. So there is still a long way to go before the declared goal of 11.4 years of average school attendance is achieved.
Geography
At 241,550 km², landlocked Uganda covers an area equivalent to about 68 percent of that of Germany. About 36,000 km², or 15 percent, of it is taken up by rivers and lakes, the largest being Lake Victoria. Uganda is surrounded by its neighbors South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and the DR Congo. The capital is Kampala, which is home to nearly 5 million people and about 10 percent of the population (47.3 million).
Peoples and religions
47.3 million people were living in Uganda at the end of 2022. If the current population growth of 2.9% continues, the number would almost double by 2060 …
Uganda unites around 60 ethnic groups, some with their own languages, cultures and religions. The largest groups are Bantu (60 %), Nilotes and Hamitonilotes (together 24 %). Most believers are Christians (85 %), followed by Sunni Muslims (13.7 %) and the Pentecostal movement (11.1 %). Recently, moreover, the influence of the Evangelical Church from the United States has been increasing.
History and government
Since the 15th century Uganda was a kingdom, from 1894 it was a British protectorate and since October 1962 the country has been independent. The first president was King Mutesa, and the first prime minister was Milton Obote, who deposed the king in 1966. After a military coup in 1971, Idi Amin began his reign of violence, and Obote took over again from 1980 to 1986. In terms of human rights violations through terror, torture and murder of opposition members the two dictators were in no way inferior. In 1986 Museveni took over the presidency after a guerrilla war, and the first elections followed in 1989. Today Uganda is a presidential republic with a one-party system that uses both autocratic and democratic elements. The president is still President Museveni, who has been in office for 37 years and was last confirmed in 2021. The official languages are English and Swahili.
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