Kampala, Uganda | By Michael Wandati | Uganda’s population has reached 45 million, according to an announcement by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS).
During the release of the preliminary results of the 2024 census, Dr. Chris Mukiza, the census commissioner, noted that UBOS surveyed 11 million households this year, up from 7.2 million households in 2014.
“Uganda’s population is now 45.9 million up from 34.6 million in 2014 . This means there is an increase by 11.3 million in the last 10 years. That number has refugees to a tune of 780061 while the average household size is 4.4 from 4.7 in 2014,” Dr. Mukiza said.
“We have 51% females in our population which means males are fewer,” he added.
The preliminary results indicate that youths now make up 22.7% of Uganda’s population, while the elderly represent 5%.
The government designated May 9, 2024, as the census night, with all questions referenced accordingly by UBOS.
This census was Uganda’s first digital enumeration, with enumerators utilizing tablets to collect data. It also marks the 11th census conducted in Uganda since the first in 1911, and the sixth since independence.
The census included five different sets of questionnaires for households, institutions, accommodation facilities such as hotels, transient populations, and community data.
Challenges
Dr. Mukiza highlighted several difficulties encountered during the census, particularly in hard-to-reach areas such as islands and mountainous regions, which posed significant challenges for enumerators.
“There was failure to access some households in gated communities, unavailability of respondents, especially single person households, refusals to be counted by some religious cults especially in Busoga region and the geography of some areas which was not updated on the system,” Dr. Mukiza said.
He mentioned that internal border conflicts, such as the Apaa land dispute between Amuru and Adjumani, and the Palaro conflict between Gulu local government and Amuru, particularly in Northern Uganda, also presented challenges.
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“We had failed to penetrate Apaa until we got some lady, Winnie Ochaya who volunteered to be a coordinator. We tried to send UPDF to protect but failed until this lady came and counted 100%,” he said.
The census commissioner commended the UPDF, Police, Uganda Prisons, Internal Security Organisation (ISO), and the Electoral Commission (EC) for their active participation, which included providing enumerators and vehicles for transporting materials.
He mentioned that UBOS will now conduct a post-enumeration survey to assess the quality of the census data and perform further data analysis, with the final census results expected to be published in September.
