an addition of two million children every year and with a fertility rate of about seven children per woman in rural areas
The country’s population is expected to hit 105 million by 2050, a report shows.
The increase in population, currently 34.6 million, is attributed to a high fertility rate.
According to the State of Uganda Population Report 2016, a Ugandan woman gives birth to an average of seven children, a number higher than the global average of 2.5.
While releasing the report on Thursday, State Minister for Finance in Charge of Planning Mr David Bahati said according to the report, Uganda will have surpassed Tanzania’s 99.8 million and Kenya’s 95.5 million by 2050. Currently, Tanzania has 53.7 million people while Kenya’s population stands at 44.5 million people.
However, the fertility rate of Ugandan women in urban areas has reduced from seven to now 5.8 children per woman since 2014 is still above the sub-Saharan average of 4.8 children per woman.
The government is worried the latest State of the World Population Report 2016 paints a distressing picture of a country whose rapidly rising population could have “negative impacts” for its per capita economic growth.
“There are still inadequacies that exist within the health infrastructure and medical supplies; these are attributed to increased demand to available resources; increases population and changing disease burden,” reads the report in part.
“The problem with a fast-growing population is not the growth itself, but “rapid, unplanned growth,” the report also reveals.
