BY TOM BRIAN ANGURINI
A new report has revealed that Uganda’s population is rapidly growing and would hit a whopping 103 million by 2050.
Dubbed, National Population Policy 2020, the report pegs the fast-growing population on high fertility rate among women and girls below the age of 30 years.
According to the director-general of the National Population Council Jotham Musinguzi, the country’s total fertility rate hovered around 7 children per woman for more than 30 years and only declined slightly to 6.7 children per woman in 2006 and 6.2 children per woman in 2011 and 5.4 children per woman by 2016.
Musinguzi adds that the high fertility levels have led to a large population reservoir, generating a population momentum that will ensure that even if fertility were to drastically drop, the population would continue to grow for a foreseeable future.
He meanwhile says at current the annual population growth rate of 3 percent is projected to reach 71.4 million by 2040 and 103 million by 2050.
Speaking at the same event, The Netherlands Ambassador to Uganda Dr Karin Boven attributed the fast-growing population to unmet needs for family planning among women and girls of reproductive age.
