Uganda’s high population growth rate worries planners

By Godfrey Olukya 27-9-2012

The high population growth rate in Uganda has made government planners worried over how the large numbers of people will be catered for in the near future.

‘The population increase rate is appalling.’ said government statistician, Abel Otto.’People are producing many children without
planning for them which has led to more poverty.’ he added.

Uganda’s population has continued to grow rapidly over time. It increased from 9.5 millions in 1969 to 24.2 million in 2002. Between
1991 and 2002, the population growth rate was 3.2 percent. The population increased to 32.9 million by mid 2011. Currently, the
population is growing at 3.4 per cent and is projected to be at 34 million.

The country’s population secretariat has called upon Ugandans to have small and manageable families..

According to the Population Secretariat officials the high poverty levels among Ugandans are due to loss of production time and the
numerous expenses on managing the large families across the country.

The secretariat,s national Programs Officer Isaiah Mbuga said,’It istime people started planning for their future well. There is no way
Ugandans can escape from poverty unless they embrace family planning methods.’

According to the recent national poverty report , 31% of Ugandans especially from the rural areas are still living below the poverty
line. They reportedly live below 2 US dollars per day.

Some local leaders have been accused of encouraging people to produce many children. A teacher, Aron Mika said,’ There are some leaders who tell people to produce as many children as they can because government provides free education. In some parts of the country you find that out of every 10 women at least 5 are pregnant.’

Early this week while addressing journalists, President Museveni advised Ugandans to avoid living lavish lives and extra marital-sex
and instead start investing so that they live better lives in future.

END