The population of Uganda grew by 3.03 percent annually in the past 12 years, according to the provisional census results released by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics.
It is that rate of growth that has enabled Uganda’s population to increase from 24 million in 2002 to 34.9 million people this year.
The results, according to UBoS, translate into an annual growth rate of 3.03 per cent, which if maintained would mean the country’s population would be 35 million next year and could hit 47 million by 2025.
“The census revealed a total population of 34.9 million, an increase of 10.7 million from the 24.2 million given by the 2002 census,” reads the report on provisional census results released in Kampala at a function officiated by the Prime Minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda.
According to the report, a total of 7.3 million households were visited during the census period, translating into a household size of 4.7 people.
The results show there are more females (17.9 million) compared to 16.9 million males. In terms of regions, central (9.6 million) has more people compared to eastern (9.1 million), west (8.1 million) while north has the least number (7.2 million).
According to the report, urbanisation is also on the rise.
“In 2014, Uganda had 202 urban centres (one city, 22 municipalities and 174 town councils) with a total urban population of six million persons. The size of the urban centres varied widely, from Kampala City with 1.5 million persons to small town councils with less than 5,000 persons,” reads the report in part.
“The distribution of the population by district is not even. Whereas Wakiso District has a population of over two million, accounting for about 6 per cent of the total population, some districts are less populous, with Kalangala having the smallest population of 53,406 persons,” the report adds in part.
Mr Fred Muhumuza, an economic, population and development analyst, said this could eventually settle the long-standing debate regarding Uganda’s population figures.
“Those who were estimating the population at 37 or 40 million now have their answers,” he said.
However, Mr Muhumuza said it was bad news for the country because figures show that majority of the population is young and unemployed, which translates into high dependency levels.
Dr Rugunda said the census results would help government plan and implement its programmes and other vital interventions.
“My office is in charge of monitoring and evaluation of all government programmes and therefore census data will be a great resource for us. The census data will help us evaluate the impact of all government programmes and other interventions in the fight against poverty and improvement of service delivery,” he said.