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Just under 50% of the population is aged 14yrs or younger and life expectancy is now 63 years having grown from just 45.9 in 1990. Uganda continues to be one of the poorest countries in the world (achieving position 166 on the Human Development Index, 2021) with sub standard health care, high rates of malnutrition and diseases such as malaria rampant, assisted by less than half of those living in Uganda having access to safe drinking water; 21.9 million people don't have clean water and 8 in every 10 people don't have a decent toilet.
There are an estimated 1.2 million children orphaned through AIDS/HIV, that's nearly one in fourteen of the country's child population. Literacy rates are relatively high for males at 77% however this falls to just 63.9% for females although that rises significantly for young people (87%), most of whom now have some form of early education.
80% of people in Uganda are engaged in agriculture where coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco and beef are the main products with coffee being the country's main export. Its other main exports are fish, tea, gold and cotton. Recent oil discoveries are likely to boost the economy further however Uganda borders on the newly established Republic of South Sudan and the potential for instability there particularly if north Sudan switches off South Sudan's oil pipelines that run through its territory make cause an influx of refugees in a country that that already provides shelter for 1,400,000 refugees mainly coming from neighboring countries, especially South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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