About Uganda
Uganda (/juːˈɡændə/ yew-gan-də or /juːˈɡɑːndə/ yew-gahn-də),officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania, situating the country in the African Great Lakes region. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally equatorial climate.
Population and growth
The country’s current population is 34.1 million people. They fall into four ethnic groups: Bantu, Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic and Sudanic races.
Annual population growth rate is 3.4% and it is projected that, by 2020, Uganda’s population will be urbanizing at a high rate about 5.6% annually and will have increased to 42 million.
Geography
The country has an area of 241,550 km2, of which 17.3% is covered by water and swamps.
Language and education
There are 37 languages spoken as mother tongues, although the official language is English. The use of Swahili, which is a regional language, is encouraged. The country’s literacy rate among citizens aged 10 years and above stands at 73% and universities have increased from only one – MakerereUniversity in the 1980s – to nearly 30 universities to date and the number of males, who dominated the majority of graduates at 73% in 1996, has fallen to 51%. Therefore, the gender gap is narrowing.
Economic summary
GDP/PPP (2011 est.): $47.78 billion; per capita $1,400. Real growth rate: 5.1%. Inflation: 18.7%. Unemployment: n.a.
Arable land: 21.57% (2005).
Agriculture: coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, cassava (tapioca), potatoes, corn, millet, pulses, cut flowers; beef, goat meat, milk, poultry.
Labor force: 16.02 million (2011 est.); agriculture 24.4%, industry 26.8%, services 48.8% (2011 est.).
Industries: sugar, brewing, tobacco, cotton textiles; cement, steel production.
Natural resources: copper, cobalt, hydropower, limestone, salt, arable land.
Exports: $2.519 billion (2011 est.): coffee, fish and fish products, tea, cotton, flowers, horticultural products; gold.
Imports: $5.002 billion (2011 est.): capital equipment, vehicles, petroleum, medical supplies; cereals.
Major trading partners: Kenya, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, UAE, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, China, India, South Africa, Japan, Italy (2011).
Communications
The country’s national road network stretches 20,000 km, of which more than 16% is paved and covers the country in a uniform manner. The road transport accounts for about 97% of the freight cargo in the country and is also essential in transporting fuel, foodstuffs and general freight to the countries of Rwanda, parts of Burundi, southern Sudan and the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo.
Commercial airlines provide scheduled international and domestic flights for both passenger and cargo service to Uganda’s principal EntebbeInternationalAirport.
Accommodation and telecoms
Hotels offering services at international standards are available throughout the country and most of them have overseas telephone connections for voice, fax and internet messages.
The country has one of the fastest – growing telecommunications sectors on the continent. The postal system works well and several companies offer courier services.
Power
The predominant sources of electricity in the country are thermal and hydro, and total electric power into the national grid increased by 5.6% from 539MW in 2010 to 569MW in 2011.
The nation has started on the extensive rural electrification programme and plans of starting construction of 600MW hydropower dam at KarumaFalls, which will become the biggest dam in East Africa, have begun. The country currently exports and imports power to and from neighboring countries.
President: Yoweri Museveni (1986)
Monetary unit: Ugandan new shilling
