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Polity
Published: 09 Nov 2009
Uganda
The Republic of Uganda gained independence from Britain in October 1962. In the 1970s and 1980s, under the rule of Idi Amin and Milton Obote, the country experienced extreme instability, but has since become relatively stable and prosperous, under the leadership of Yoweri Museveni, and mult-party politics was restored to the country in 2005. Uganda is widely recognised for its successes in tackling HIV/Aids and has taken a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2009/2020 term. The country's official languages are English, and Swahili, with Luganda, and various Bantu languages being widely spoken.

Leader: President Yoweri Museveni
Capital city: Kampala

Economic profile

Monetary unit: Ugandan shilling
GDP per capita: $312,04 (2009) (NationMaster)
GDP composition by sector:
Agriculture: 29% (2008) (World Bank)
Industry: 24,8% (2008) (World Bank)
Services: 46,2% (2008) (World Bank)
GDP growth rate: 6,5% (2007) (IMF)
Budget:
Government revenue, excluding grants: 13,4% of GDP (2007) (IMF)
Government expenditure: 21,9% of GDP (2007) (IMF)
Consumer price inflation: 10,5% (2008) (IMF)
Industries: Sugar, brewing, tobacco, cotton textiles; cement, and steel production
Exports of goods and services: 15,7% of GDP (2007) (IMF)
Imports of goods and services: 32,0% of GDP (2007) (IMF)
Export commodities: Coffee, fish and fish products, tea, cotton, flowers, horticultural products; and gold
Import commodities: Not stated
Trade balance: -11,3% of GDP (2007) (IMF)
Reserves: 8,3 months of imports (2007) (IMF)
Total investment: 2,5% of GDP (2008) (IMF)
Market capitalisation of listed companies: 1,2% (2005) (World Bank)

Social profile

Population: 32,36-million (2009) (World Bank)
Population growth: 2,7% (2009) (CIA)
Life expectancy at birth: 53 years (2009) (CIA)
Adult literacy: 66,8% (2002) (UNStats)
School enrolment primary: 118,7% (2005) (World Bank)
School enrolment secondary: 18,7% (2005) (World Bank)
School enrolment tertiary: 2,5% (2000) (World Bank)
Unemployment: 3,2% (2003) (UNStats)
Number of people living with HIV/Aids: 940 000 (2007) (UNAids estimate)