Profile of Uganda

Land:

  • 199,710 sq km, slightly smaller than Oregon
  • Tropical; generally rainy with two dry seasons (December to February, June to August); semiarid in northeast
  • Located in eastern Africa, west of Kenya

People:

  • 30,262,610 people
  • 52 years average life expectancy
  • 67 infant deaths per 1000 births

HIV/AIDS:

  • 4.1% adult prevalence (2003 est.)
  • 530,000 people living with HIV/AIDS (2001 est.)
  • 78,000 deaths (2003 est.)

Economy:

  • 5.3% growth in GDP
  • $1,900 per capital GDP
  • 35% live below the poverty line (2001 est.)
  • Exports: coffee, fish and fish products, tea, cotton, flowers, horticultural products; gold

Issues:

  • Refugees (country of origin): 212,857 (Sudan), 20,564 (Democratic Republic of Congo), 20,213 (Rwanda)
  • IDPs: 1.2-1.7 million (350,000 IDPs returned in 2006 following ongoing peace talks between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda)
  • Disputes: Uganda is subject to armed fighting among hostile ethnic groups, rebels, armed gangs, militias, and various government forces that extend across its borders; Uganda hosts 209,860 Sudanese, 27,560 Congolese, and 19,710 Rwandan refugees, while Ugandan refugees as well as members of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) seek shelter in southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Garamba National Park; LRA forces have also attacked Kenyan villages across the border