The growing number of children in Uganda is worrying.
According to the statistical abstract of the 2014 population census 56 % of the Uganda’s population are children below the age of 18.
Speaking to journalists on the state of the Ugandan child in Kampala, the deputy mission director of the US Agency for International Development, Mark Meassick attributed the trend to a high fertility rate which according to the 2011 Uganda demographic health survey stands at about seven children per woman.
He added that for a country to move from lower income to middle income status, the number of children has to reduce to at least three or less per family.
Figures from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics show that the population of children below 18 years increased from 51 per cent in 1969 to 56 per cent in 2002.
While according to the 2012 UN population projections, Uganda’s general population will increase to 76 million by 2040 and 121 million by 2070 from the current 34 million.
Story By Benjamin Jumbe
