The latest National Household Survey carried out by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics has indicated that seven million Ugandans are living below the poverty line.
The poverty line for Uganda is $1(shs3600) meaning that a person who is not able to earn or spend this amount a day is below the poverty line.
The figures for the survey by UBOS in 2023/24 indicate that the seven million below the poverty line represent 16.1% of Ugandans with the population in rural areas taking a lion’s share.
The report shows that 19.4% of Ugandans in rural areas are below the poverty line, while only 10.3% of those living in urban areas live below the poverty line.
However, the 16.1% is a reduction from the 20.3% in 2019/20.
On the other side, the 19.4% of population living below the poverty line in rural areas is a reduction from the 23.4% in 2019/20 and the 10.3% in urban areas is a reduction from 11.7% in 2019/20.
Regions
The survey indicates that Karamoja leads in terms of population living below the poverty line, with 937,500 of the population , representing 74.2% of all the poor people in the country.
The report also shows that Busoga follows with 840,700 people living below the poverty line.
Buganda with 767,9000, West Nile, 730,000, Bukedi at 718,400, Teso at 709, 100 and Lango among others follow respectively.
The report also shows that Kigezi with 166,300, Ankole with 106,800 and Kampala at 19,200 are the regions with the least number of population below the poverty line.