Uganda

Airports

total: 31 usable: 23 with permanent-surface runways: 5 with runways over 3,659 m: 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 3 with runways 1,220-2,439 m: 11

Highways

26,200 km total; 1,970 km paved; 5,849 km crushed stone, gravel, and laterite; remainder earth roads and tracks

Inland waterways

Lake Victoria, Lake Albert, Lake Kyoga, Lake George, Lake Edward; Victoria Nile, Albert Nile; principal inland water ports are at Jinja and Port Bell, both on Lake Victoria

Merchant marine

3 roll-on/roll-off (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 15,091 GRT

Railroads

1,300 km, 1.000-meter-gauge single track

Telecommunications

fair system with microwave and radio communications stations; broadcast stations - 10 AM, no FM, 9 TV; satellite communications ground stations - 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT

Branches

Army, Navy, Air Force

Defense expenditures

exchange rate conversion - $NA, 15% of budget (FY89/90)

Manpower availability

males age 15-49 4,137,983; fit for military service 2,250,793 (1993 est.)

Agriculture

mainly subsistence; accounts for 57% of GDP and over 80% of labor force; cash crops - coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco; food crops - cassava, potatoes, corn, millet, pulses; livestock products - beef, goat meat, milk, poultry; self-sufficient in food

Budget

revenues $365 million; expenditures $545 million, including capital expenditures of $165 million (FY89 est.)

Currency

1 Ugandan shilling (USh) = 100 cents

Economic aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (1970-89), $145 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $1.4 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $60 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $169 million

Electricity

200,000 kW capacity; 610 million kWh produced, 30 kWh per capita (1991)

Exchange rates

Ugandan shillings (USh) per US$1 - 1,217.1 (January 1993), 1.133.8 (1992), 734.0 (1991), 428.85 (1990), 223.1 (1989), 106.1 (1988)

Exports

$170 million (f.o.b., 1991 est.) commodities: coffee 97%, cotton, tea partners: US 25%, UK 18%, France 11%, Spain 10%

External debt

$1.9 billion (1991 est.)

Fiscal year

1 July - 30 June

Imports

$610 million (c.i.f., 1991 est.) commodities: petroleum products, machinery, cotton piece goods, metals, transportation equipment, food partners: Kenya 25%, UK 14%, Italy 13%

Industrial production

growth rate 7.0% (1990); accounts for 5% of GDP

Industries

sugar, brewing, tobacco, cotton textiles, cement

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

41.5% (1992 est.)

National product

GDP - exchange rate conversion - $6 billion (1992 est.)

National product per capita

$300 (1992 est.)

National product real growth rate

4% (1992 est.)

Overview

Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable mineral deposits of copper and cobalt. The economy has been devastated by widespread political instability, mismanagement, and civil war since independence in 1962, keeping Uganda poor with a per capita income of about $300. (GDP remains below the levels of the early 1970s, as does industrial production.) Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force. Coffee is the major export crop and accounts for the bulk of export revenues. Since 1986 the government has acted to rehabilitate and stabilize the economy by undertaking currency reform, raising producer prices on export crops, increasing prices of petroleum products, and improving civil service wages. The policy changes are especially aimed at dampening inflation, which was running at over 300% in 1987, and boosting production and export earnings. In 1990-92, the economy has turned in a solid performance based on continued investment in the rehabilitation of infrastructure, improved incentives for production and exports, and gradually improving domestic security.

Unemployment rate

NA%

Area

total area: 236,040 km2 land area: 199,710 km2 comparative area: slightly smaller than Oregon

Climate

tropical; generally rainy with two dry seasons (December to February, June to August); semiarid in northeast

Coastline

0 km (landlocked)

Environment

straddles Equator; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion

International disputes

none

Irrigated land

90 km2 (1989 est.)

Land boundaries

total 2,698 km, Kenya 933 km, Rwanda 169 km, Sudan 435 km, Tanzania 396 km, Zaire 765 km

Land use

arable land: 23% permanent crops: 9% meadows and pastures: 25% forest and woodland: 30% other: 13%

Location

Eastern Africa, between Kenya and Zaire

Map references

Africa, Standard Time Zones of the World

Maritime claims

none; landlocked

Natural resources

copper, cobalt, limestone, salt

Note

landlocked

Terrain

mostly plateau with rim of mountains

Administrative divisions

10 provinces; Busoga, Central, Eastern, Karamoja, Nile, North Buganda, Northern, South Buganda, Southern, Western

Capital

Kampala

Constitution

8 September 1967, in process of constitutional revision

Digraph

UG

Diplomatic representation in US

chief of mission: Ambassador Stephen Kapimpina KATENTA-APULI chancery: 5909 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20011 telephone: (202) 726-7100 through 7102

Elections

National Resistance Council: last held 11-28 February 1989 (next to be held by January 1995); results - NRM was the only party; seats - (278 total, 210 indirectly elected) 210 members elected without party affiliation

Executive branch

president, vice president, prime minister, three deputy prime ministers, Cabinet

Flag

six equal horizontal bands of black (top), yellow, red, black, yellow, and red; a white disk is superimposed at the center and depicts a red-crested crane (the national symbol) facing the staff side

Independence

9 October 1962 (from UK)

Judicial branch

Court of Appeal, High Court

Leaders

Chief of State: President Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta MUSEVENI (since 29 January 1986); Vice President Samson Babi Mululu KISEKKA (since NA January 1991) Head of Government: Prime Minister George Cosmas ADYEBO (since NA January 1991)

Legal system

government plans to restore system based on English common law and customary law and reinstitute a normal judicial system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Legislative branch

unicameral National Resistance Council

Member of

ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, EADB, ECA, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IGADD, ILO, IMF, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ITU, LORCS, NAM, OAU, OIC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Names

conventional long form: Republic of Uganda conventional short form: Uganda

National holiday

Independence Day, 9 October (1962)

Other political or pressure groups

Uganda People's Front (UPF); Uganda People's Christian Democratic Army (UPCDA); Ruwenzori Movement

Political parties and leaders

only party - National Resistance Movement (NRM), Yoweri MUSEVENI note: the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM); Ugandan People's Congress (UPC), Milton OBOTE; Democratic Party (DP), Paul SSEMOGEERE; and Conservative Party (CP), Jeshua NIKHGI continue to exist but are all proscribed from conducting public political activities

Suffrage

18 years of age; universal

Type

republic

US diplomatic representation

chief of mission: Ambassador Johnnie CARSON embassy: Parliament Avenue, Kampala mailing address: P. O. Box 7007, Kampala telephone: [256] (41) 259792, 259793, 259795

Birth rate

49.86 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate

22.98 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Ethnic divisions

African 99%, European, Asian, Arab 1%

Infant mortality rate

112.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)

Labor force

4.5 million (est.) by occupation: agriculture over 80% note: 50% of population of working age (1983)

Languages

English (official), Luganda, Swahili, Bantu languages, Nilotic languages

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 38.4 years male: 38.09 years female: 38.71 years (1993 est.)

Literacy

age 15 and over can read and write (1990) total population: 48% male: 62% female: 35%

Nationality

noun: Ugandan(s) adjective: Ugandan

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Population

19,344,181 (July 1993 est.)

Population growth rate

2.69% (1993 est.)

Religions

Roman Catholic 33%, Protestant 33%, Muslim 16%, indigenous beliefs 18%

Total fertility rate

7.15 children born/woman (1993 est.)