Inside Ubos’ 2024 census results as Uganda’s population clocks 46 million people

Kampala, (UG):- The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) on Thursday released the preliminary results of the 2024 national population and housing census putting Uganda’s current population at 45.9 million people.

UBOS Executive Director and Census Commissioner, Dr Chris Mukiza while disseminating results at Serena Hotel in Kampala said the population has grown by 11.3m from 34.6 million to the current figures released a month after the census was conducted countrywide.

“We now have a population of 45,935,046 people up from 34.6 million counted in 2014,” said Dr Mukiza, adding that of these, 22 million people are males while 23 million are females.

The counting of people in the country started on May 10 and ended on May 26. The provisional census results are to be released on September 24, with the final report planned for December 24.

According to Dr Mukiza, Uganda is a young country with; 50.5% being children (0-17 years), 22.7% Youth (18-30 years), 5.0% Older persons (60+) and 55.6% Working Age Population (14-64 years).

This was the 11th census in Uganda, the sixth post-independence census and the first digital census that happened from 10th May – 26th May 2024.

“We had 135,230 field workers, 14,669 enumeration supervisors and 4715 sub-county/ division supervisors with 5 sets of questionnaires,” noted Dr Mukiza.

He cited some challenges including hard-to-reach areas, failure to access some households, refusals by some religious cults and deliberate refusals of households in gates, and internal border conflicts like in Apaa, Ombechi, and Nyamisingiri, among others.

“There were unavailable respondents i.e. single-person households that leave early and come back late. Also, the geography of some areas was not updated on the system.”

“What we promise as UBOS we deliver. The Census cost per capita was $1.9 compared to $2 in Kenya,” stated Dr Mukiza.

While the population has increased, Ubos reported a decrease in the population growth rate from 3.0 percent in 2014 to 2.9 percent in 2024. The current population was derived from 10.8 million households across the country.

“The findings show a consistent growth in both male and female populations from 2.5 million persons in 1911 to 45.9 million persons in 2024. There are varying rates of increase over different census periods,” Dr Mukiza said.

Additionally, the report showed that there are 900,000 more females compared to their male counterparts, with 23.4 million persons registered as female, indicating a 51 per cent increase, compared to 22.5 million counted as males, indicating a 49 per cent increase.

In the 2014 population census 17.5 million were listed as female compared to 17.0 million males.

Dr Mukiza said over the years, some age groups have consistently shown high populations, with the age group between five to nine years topping the categories.

The 2024 preliminary census figures show that Uganda continues to have a young population, with 50.5 percent (23.1 million) of the total population being children between one and 17 years.

Ubos reported there are more males than females in the young age group between one and 14 years. However, in subsequent years, there is a persistent dominance of females in the total population, indicating in the older age categories, males tend to die faster than their female counterparts.

The census data also shows that 22.7 percent (10.4 million) of the population are youth between 18 to 30 years, while 55.6 percent (25.5 million) who fall under the working class are between the 14 and 64 years.

The figures also show that only five percent of the total population are older persons of 60 years and above.

Dr Mukiza indicated that the released data was the first series of the census publication, presenting information on population and households at district and sub-region levels.

Ubos Population Report by Region

Region	2014	2024	increase	% RAISe	Annual growth rate
Karamoja	965,010	1,452,838	487,828	51%	4.2
Westnile	2,660,666	3,899,084	1,238,418	47%	3.9
Buganda	8,022,158	11,113,592	3,091,434	39%	3.4
Bunyoro	2,028,545	2,792,123	763,578	38%	3.3
Acholi	1,500,762	2,047,118	546,356	36%	3.2
Teso	1,819,708	2,462,344	642,636	35%	3.1
Tooro	2,573,910	3,378,840	804,930	31%	2.8
Kigezi	1,376,774	1,779,694	402,920	29%	2.6
Bukedi	1,881,415	2,376,744	495,329	26%	2.4
Elgon	1,758,101	2,216,221	458,120	26%	2.4
Lango	2,061,694	2,567,518	505,824	25%	2.3
Kampala	1,507,080	1,875,834	368,754	24%	2.3
Ankole	2,895,631	3,600,747	705,116	24%	2.2
Busoga	3,583,196	4,372,349	789,153	22%	2.1
Total	34,634,650	45,935,046	1,300,396	33%	2.9

Uganda last conducted the National Population and Housing Census in 2014 with the exercise always recurring after every 10 years. The 2024 exercise was the first to use digital technology to collect and process data. In total, 114,460 enumerators and 18,483 supervisors were planned to conduct this year’s exercise.