The population is 41.49 million (2016). With 77% of its population under 30 years old, & only 2.5% 65 years or older, Uganda likely has the youngest population in the world!

The education system provides 7 years of primary education, followed by 6 years of secondary and, for some fortunate students 3 to 5 years of post-secondary education. In 1996 the President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, announced that four school-age children per family could benefit from free primary education, in a programme known as Universal Primary Education (UPE). Literacy in Uganda approached 75% in 2015.

Some children attend boarding school and some go to day classes. The children at boarding school get up around 5:00 for morning preps and cleaning of their dormitories followed by their classes. Day school classes begin at 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning and may continue until 5:00 in the late afternoon with only snack and lunch breaks. The students play many of the same games and sports we play here in Canada – football, soccer, netball and in some well-established schools volleyball, rugby, basketball and baseball. Of course, the accompanying rules and chatter is all in the local language.

There are many tribes and therefore many different cultural traditions throughout Uganda. In the Baganda culture, for example, as a sign of respect, women and girls would kneel down in front of their elders. This tradition is now mainly reserved for traditional ceremonies.

Many Ugandans live in thatched huts with mud and wattle walls, but styles of building vary. Corrugated iron is used extensively as a roofing material. Although a recently released housing survey by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics suggests an improvement in housing opportunity, there is still a huge problem with a housing deficit of 550,000 units.

In Uganda, men wear the kanzu (photo at right).

Women from central and eastern Uganda wear a dress with a sash tied around the waist and large exaggerated shoulders called a gomesi. (photo at right). Women from the west and north-west drape a long cloth around their waists and shoulders called suuka and women from the south-west prefer a long baggy skirt and tie a short matching cloth across their shoulders. Women also wear a floor-length dress called a busuti, introduced to them by 19th century missionaries.