Uganda

Abstract

Nestled among the Great Lakes of Edward, Albert, Kyoga, and the world's largest freshwater lake, Lake Victoria, and bestriding the equator, on a plateau over 1,000 meters high, traversed by the River Nile, landlocked Uganda is a natural wonder of beauty that truly deserves the label "The Pearl of Africa" that Sir Winston Churchill gave it in 1909. Churchill must have been right because the Lonely Planet characterized Uganda as the number one tourist destination in 2012. Uganda's population data vary depending on which source one consults. Two that concur are Coutrymeters (2015) and the World Population Review (2014). The Coutrymeters' data, which appear to be the most up to date, estimated that the population (as of March 11, 2015) was 40.6 million. This estimate aligns well with that of the World Population Review, which reported a total population for 2014 of 39.2 million. The review also estimated the population to be growing at 3.6 percent per annum, a rate that would likewise give a figure of over 40 million people in 2015. According to the World Population Review (2014), 48 percent of the Ugandan population is below 15 years of age. Coupled with a high fertility rate of 6.9, this means that Uganda has a very young population growing at the fastest rate in East Africa. Thus, more than half of the population falls within the secondary and university education age bracket commonly taken to be between 15 and 24 years of age.