HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I Uganda for the very first time has conducted a technologically driven census, popularly known as Digital Census, to the excitement of citizens.This means that the country has joined other African countries in conducting a digital census by using Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) Tablets and a Global Positioning System (GPS) to capture all the relevant information.
Dr. Chris Ndatira Mukiza, the National Census Commissioner, noted that the National Population and Housing Census 2024 will generate baseline information on persons who benefited in different government programs such as Parish Development Model (PDM) funds, Emyooga, persons with disability funds, among others.
“The census for the first time will generate day population in eleven major cities, such as Kampala, Mbarara, Fort Portal, Jinja and Mbale, among others,” he said, adding that the census, which kicked off on May 10 and is due to end on May 19th 2024, aims at generating a total population of Uganda as per census night.
Dr. Vincent Fred Ssenono, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) head of department for Demography and Social Statistics, revealed that the exercise will help in identifying population which is still in the subsistence economy, youth unemployment as well as persons with disabilities by type.
Dr. Ssenono, who oversaw the remuneration of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, at State Lodge, Nakasero, on May 10th, said the process was progressing well without a hitch.
“I was happy with the questions because I could see that they are aiming at getting data that is useful for planning,” he said Museveni, urging all Ugandans to cooperate with the enumeration team for them to be able to capture necessary information for future planning.
“I ask people to cooperate with them. I hear there is a group of people who say they do not want to be enumerated. They should stop that because they interfere with our work. This information is used for planning and to get solutions for your problems,” he pointed out.
According to UBOS, Uganda’s population, as per the 2014 Census, was 34.6 million persons, while the population growth rate, 3.0%, (2014 Census), and the population projection was 45.5 million in 2025.
Worldometer, based on its elaboration of the latest United Nations data, however pointed out that the current population of Uganda is 49,724,765 as of Saturday, May 11, 2024.
It says that Uganda’s population is equivalent to 0.6% of the total world population, and that the country ranks number 30 in the list of countries (and dependencies) by population.
The population density in Uganda is 243 per Km2 (630 people per mi2), while the total land area is 199,810 Km2 (77,147 sq. miles) 28.6 % of the population is urban (13,873,500 people in 2023). The median age in Uganda is 16.3 years.
