The Uganda Bureau of Statistics-UBOS yesterday released Uganda’s total population a head of the national elections in 2021.
UBOS has indicated that for mid-2020 the country’s population is standing at 41.6 million people with females constituting majority of the population standing at 51 per cent compared to males at 49 per cent.
“The projected female population for mid-2020 is 41.1 million, Wakiso District remains the most populated Higher Local Government (HLG), with a projected population of 2,915,200 people followed by Kampala with 1,680,600 people and Kalangala District has the least population projected at 67,200 persons,” UBOS indicate.
In terms of households, UBOS said Uganda has a total of 7.3 million households, 75 per cent of which are in rural areas. Uganda remains one of the few countries in Africa with the fastest population growth leading to high dependence ratio, which in a way is contributing to an increase in poverty levels and unemployment.
“The proportion of persons aged 10 years and above, able to read and write intelligibility in any language (literacy rate) is 74 per cent according to Uganda national household survey 2016/17,” said UBOS.
Quoting the Labour Market Transition of Young People in Uganda: School to Work Transition Report 2015, UBOS said the youth in Uganda constitutes 19.4 per cent (approximately 6.7 million) of the total population. 71 per cent of the youth live in rural areas while 29 per cent live in urban areas, 23 per cent of the households are headed by youths.
The youth employment to population ratio stands at 74 per cent in other words about seven out of every 10 youths are employed, 743 per cent of the employed youth are in rural areas.
Almost 55 per cent of the young people are employed in the agriculture sector with the females accounting for 60 per cent compared to males at 40 per cent; 15 per cent of the young people are employed in the trade sector that includes wholesale trade, retail trade or sales and repair.
A youth may be defined in several contexts. United Nations says youth is a person aged between 15 and 35 years, while in Uganda a youth is a person aged 18 to 30 year.
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