ABOUT UGANDA

Background

The colonial boundaries created by Britain to delimit Uganda grouped together a wide range of ethnic groups with different political systems and cultures. These differences prevented the establishment of a working political community after independence was achieved in 1962. The dictatorial regime of Idi AMIN (1971-79) was responsible for the deaths of some 300,000 opponents; guerrilla war and human rights abuses under Milton OBOTE (1980-85) claimed at least another 100,000 lives. The rule of Yoweri MUSEVENI since 1986 has brought relative stability and economic growth to Uganda. During the 1990s, the government promulgated non-party presidential and legislative elections.

Location;
Eastern Africa, bordered by Kenya in the East, Tanzania in South, Sudan in the North, DR. Congo in the West and Rwanda in South West.

Area:
Total: 236,040 sq km
Land: 199,710 sq km
Water: 36,330 sq km;
Area - comparative:
Slightly smaller than OregonLand boundaries:
Total: 2,698 km
border countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo 765 km, Kenya 933 km, Rwanda 169 km, Sudan 435 km, Tanzania 396 kmClimate:
Tropical; generally rainy with two dry seasons (December to February, and June to August); semiarid in northeast.

Land use:
Arable land: 21.57%
Permanent crops: 8.92%
Other: 69.51% (2005)

Population:
31,367,972
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2008 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 50% (male 7,903,935/female 7,789,792)
15-64 years: 47.8% (male 7,528,073/female 7,469,938)
65 years and over: 2.2% (male 284,122/female 392,112) (2008 est.)

Population growth rate:
3.603% (2008 est.)

Birth rate:
48.15 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate: 12.32 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
Total: 65.99 deaths/1,000 live births
Male: 69.65 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 62.21 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
Total population: 52.34 years
Male: 51.31 years
Female: 53.4 years (2008 est.)

Total fertility rate:
6.81 children born/woman (2008 est.)

Nationality:
Noun: Ugandan(s)
Adjective: Ugandan