The Uganda Bureau of Statistics has retracted its recently published 2024 census report after discovering errors in the population figures for the four ethnic groups of Bakiga, the Bagisu, the Acholi, and the Langi.
According to UBOS, the 2024 figures for the four tribes were mistakenly interchanged, leading to inaccurate representations of population changes.
In a broader lens, 2014 figures on Bakiga (1470554) were for Acholi, Langi (1646904) were for Bagisu, Bagisu (2390446) were for Bakiga, and 2014 figures on Acholi (2131495) were for Langi, while the 2024 figures stand to be true.
According to the results, the population of Baganda increased from 5,555,319 in 2014 to 7,037,404 in 2024; Banyankore from 3,216,332 to 4,200,782; Basoga from 2,960,890 to 3,703,535; Iteso from 2,364,569 to 3,146,079; Bakiga from 2,390,446 to 2,947,837; Langi from 2,131,495 to 2,703,277; Bagisu from 1,646,904 to 2,096,149.
Others: Acholi from 1,470,554 to 1,941,913, Lugbara from 1,099,733 to 1,230,384, Banyoro from 966,976 to 1,218,121, Alur from 878,453 to 1,152,858, Bakonzo from 850,646 to 1,104,462, Batoro from 810,708 to 1,005,433, Bafumbira from 713,231 to 949,860, and Other Tribes from 7,383,093 to 8,934,046.
Released last, the results indicate that the total population for Uganda as of May 2024 based on the National Population and Housing Census 2024 stands at 45,905,417 persons from 10,698,913 households. The male population is recorded at 21,566,736 while the female population is 24,338,681 persons.
The National Population and Housing Census was last conducted in 2014. At that time, Uganda had a population of 34.6 million people. The census is carried out every 10 years, and this year’s exercise was expected to take place on August 24 and 25, but it was postponed due to the delayed procurement of tablets.
It further shows that children comprise 50% of the total population in Uganda. Youth (18-30 years) are 23.5%, and older persons (above 60 years) are 5%. Those aged 31-59 years are 21.5%.
Kampala toped all the regions with 11.1 million people, followed by Busoga with 4.4 million, West Nile with 3.9 million, Ankole with 3.6 million, Toro with 3.4 million, Bunyoro with 2.8 million, Lango with 2.6 million, Teso with 2.5 million, Bukedi with 2.4 million, Elgon with 2.2 million people, and others.
The report says that the Buganda region has the highest number of literates, with 85.5%, followed by Ankole with 78.9%, and Karamoja with the least number of literates, 25.4%.
“74.2% of the children in Karamoja aged 6–12 years, 32.2% in West Nile, and 27.9% in Acholi are out of school,” the report highlighted. Buganda, however, had the least number of children who are out of school, with 18.4%.
The report highlighted that in the line of religious affiliation, Christians form the biggest portion of the population. Eight out of 10 Ugandans are Christians. Catholics form the largest percentage at 37.4%, followed by Anglicans at 30.0%. Pentecostals have increased to 14.7% from 11.1%, while Muslims decreased from 13.7% to 13.6%.
It also showed that more than 13 million people migrated in the last five years. Of those, 7.6 million were female, while 5.8 million were male.
