Country Facts - Uganda

The People

Ethnic Composition

Baganda	17%
Karamojong	12%
Basogo	8%
Iteso	8%
Langi	6%
Rwandan	6%
Bagisu	5%
Acholi	4%
Lugbara	4%
Bunyoro	3%
Batobo	3%
European, Asian, Arab	1%
Other	23%

Nationality

Ugandan(s)

Religious Composition

Roman Catholic	33%
Protestant	33%
Muslim	16%
Indigenous beliefs	18%

Languages Spoken

English is the official national language. It is taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts. Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages) is preferred for native language publications and may be taught in schools. Other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, and Arabic are used throughout the country.

Education and Literacy

Uganda's overall adult literacy is 62.7 percent. Among males it is 74 percent and females 54 percent.

Labor Force

Total: 12 million (2001)
By occupation:

Agriculture	82%
Industry	5%
Services	13%

Geography

Land Mass Total

91,135 sq mi (236,040 sq km)

Land

77,108 sq mi (199,710 sq km)

Water

14,027 sq mi (36,330 sq km0

Land Boundaries

Total: 1,676 mi (2,698 km)

Border countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo 475 mi (765 km), Kenya 579 mi (933 km), Rwanda 105 mi (169 km), Sudan 270 mi (435 km), Tanzania 246 mi (396 km)

Coastline

0 ft (0 km), landlocked

Maritime claim

None

Climate/Weather

Tropical; generally rainy with two dry seasons (December to February, June to August); semiarid in northeast.

Terrain

Mostly plateau with rim of mountains.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Lake Albert 2,037 ft (621 m)
Highest: Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley 16,765 ft (5,110 m)

Natural Resources

Copper, cobalt, hydropower, limestone, salt, arable land

Land use

Arable land	25%
Permanent crops	9%
Other	66%

(1998)

Natural hazards

N/A

Environment - current issues

Draining of wetlands for agricultural use; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; poaching is widespread.

Geography Note

Landlocked; fertile, well-watered country with many lakes and rivers.

Demographics

Population

24,699,073 (July 2002)
Note: Estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2002).

Age structure

0-14 years:	50.9%	Male: 6,314,371	Female: 6,265,681
15-64 years:	47%	Male: 5,803,430	Female: 5,789,713
65 years and over:	2.1%	Male: 247,798	Female: 278,080

(2002))

Growth Rate

2.94% (2002)

Life Expectancy

43.81 years (2002)
Female: 44.67 years
Male: 42.97 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$1,200 (2001)

Infant Mortality

89.35 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	1 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.89 male(s)/female
Total population:	1 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

-0.28 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)
Note: according to the UNHCR, by the end of 2001, Uganda was host to 178,815 refugees from a number of neighboring countries, including: Sudan 155,996, Rwanda 14,375, and Democratic Republic of the Congo 7,459 (2002)

Economy & Trade

Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable mineral deposits of copper and cobalt. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80 percent of the work force. Coffee is the major export crop and accounts for the bulk of export revenues. Since 1986, the government - with the support of foreign countries and international agencies - has acted to rehabilitate and stabilize the economy by undertaking currency reform, raising producer prices on export crops, increasing prices of petroleum products, and improving civil service wages. The policy changes are especially aimed at dampening inflation and boosting production and export earnings. During 1990-2001, the economy turned in a solid performance based on continued investment in the rehabilitation of infrastructure, improved incentives for production and exports, reduced inflation, gradually improved domestic security, and the return of exiled Indian-Ugandan entrepreneurs.
Ongoing Ugandan involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, corruption within the government, and slippage in the government's determination to press reforms raise doubts about the continuation of strong growth. In 2000, Uganda qualified for enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief worth $1.3 billion and Paris Club debt relief worth $145 million. These amounts combined with the original HIPC debt relief added up to about $2 billion. Growth for 2001 was held back because of a continued decline in the price of coffee, Uganda's principal export. It still produced an enviable 5.5-percent economic expansion in 2001 followed by 6.6-percent growth in 2002.

Unemployment

N/A

Inflation Rate

3.5% (2001)

Industries

Sugar, brewing, tobacco, cotton textiles, cement

Exports

US$367 million (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports

US$1.26 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$29 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

Germany 12.0%, Netherlands 10.2%, US 8.7%, Spain 8.0%, Belgium 7.1% (2000)

Top Import Partners

Kenya 43.1%, US 7.0%, India 6.8%, South Africa 6.1%, Japan 3.4% (2000)

Top Exports

Coffee, fish and fish products, tea; gold, cotton, flowers, horticultural products

Top Imports

Capital equipment, vehicles, petroleum, medical supplies; cereals

Debt - external

US$3.4 billion (2001)

Economic aid

Recipient: US$1.4 billion (2000)

Fiscal Year:

July 1 to June 30

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8a.m. to 1p.m., 2:30p.m. to 5p.m.	Closed
Retail	8a.m. to 5p.m.	Saturday 8a.m. to 2p.m.
Banks	9a.m. to 3p.m.	Some banks open on Saturdays.
Government	8a.m. to 1p.m. and again from 2:30p.m. to 4:30p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
NRM Anniversary Day	January 26	January 26	January 26
Festival of Sacrifice (Eid Al Adha)¹	February 12	February 2	January 21
Women's Day	March 8	March 8	March 8
Good Friday	April 18	April 9	March 25
Easter²	April 20	April 11	March 27
Easter Monday	April 21	April 12	March 28
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Martyr's Day	June 3	June 3	June 3
National Heroes' Day	June 9	June 9	June 9
Independence Day	October 9	October 9	October 9
Start of Ramadan³	October 27	October 15	October 4
End of Ramadan (Eid Al Fitr)*¹	November 26	November 14	November 3
Christmas Day*²	December 25	December 25	December 25
Boxing Day	December	December	December

¹	Culmination of the Hajj or Holy Pilgrimage.
²	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
³	Ramadan (the month of fasting) begins with the first appearance of the new moon in the ninth month of the lunar Islamic Hijra calendar, and lasts 30 days. Dates for the start of Ramadan will vary from country to country, depending on the first appearance of the moon.
*¹	Feasting that officially marks the end of Ramadan, and commonly lasts for three days.
*²	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press