About Uganda

Country Profile

Uganda is a Sub-Saharan African country with one of the highest rates of poverty reduction. Uganda remains among the poorest in the world.  Uganda lacks important non-monetary resources such as sufficient sanitation, access to electricity, health and well-being, education, and nutrition. Families in Uganda are often large, lacking often finances and resources, larger families are highly likely to fall below the poverty line. Poor health also reduces a family’s work productivity, causing poverty to be passed down through generations. This culture creates a “live for today” mentality that is very difficult to overcome.

Uganda has one of the youngest and most rapidly growing populations in the world, with 48% of the population under the age of 15. The country receives influxes of refugees fleeing socio-political and military conflicts in its bordering neighbors of Congo and South Sudan. The country’s north and northeast regions lag developmentally behind the rest of the country as a result of the long-term conflict of more than 20 years of fighting between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Ugandan government forces. This ongoing inter-communal violence, combined with periodic natural disasters and unregulated environmental hazards contributes to further poverty and susceptibility to conflict, disease, and decreased agricultural outputs.

The poverty headcount ratio is $5.50 per day, this is the average daily salary per family.

Uganda’s poverty rate for 2016 was 87.60%, a 0.6% increase from 2012.
Uganda’s poverty rate for 2012 was 87.00%, a 2.3% decline from 2009.
Uganda’s poverty rate for 2009 was 89.30%, a 3.3% decline from 2005.
Uganda’s poverty rate for 2005 was 92.60%, a 1.8% decline from 2002.

Map of Uganda
(JFM Serves mostly in the area of Uganda’s largest city, Kampala)