Remarks at the Dissemination of the Preliminary Results of the National Population and Housing Census 2024

Salutations:

Your Excellency, the President of the Republic of Uganda,

The Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, 

All Ministers and Senior Government officials present, 

Members of Parliament, 

Heads of Diplomatic Missions 

Executive Director Uganda Bureau of Statistics,

Representatives of the District Local Governments, 

Colleagues from the UN System

Ladies and Gentlemen,

All protocols observed. 

I am honoured to stand before you today on the occasion of the launch of the preliminary findings of the 11th Uganda Population and Housing Census. I congratulate the Government of Uganda and the leadership of the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, for the successful implementation of the first-ever digital census to be undertaken by the country. 

This census marks a significant milestone and a testament to the Government of Uganda’s dedication and commitment to the use of advanced and more efficient technology to improve service delivery and achieve the Uganda Vision 2040. The timely release of these preliminary results is also in line with Government’s promise to avail timely data to inform the implementation of the national commitments for acceleration of the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. 

Your Excellency, 

The United Nations Secretary-General recently called for a “data revolution”, urging  governments to establish systems and build partnerships with non-state actors to be able to track progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other regional and global commitments. We applaud the Government of Uganda for embracing  this call and leveraging  the power of inclusive data to ensure a resilient and equitable future for all. The United Nations system is incredibly proud to have supported the Government and the people of Uganda in this journey through our technical assistance, capacity building and financial support. I commend the technical experts from our resident and non-resident agencies who have tirelessly worked with UBOS to deliver on this critical undertaking, and particularly UNFPA for providing the technical leadership on behalf of the UN system. The principles of ‘Leave No One Behind’ and ‘Reach the Furthest Behind’ are central to the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Census preliminary results to be released today represent a significant step towards achieving the development goals. 

Your Excellency, 

As we know, a Census is not just about counting people, but also about investing in people. These preliminary results, therefore, provide evidence that will guide investments that will guarantee the needs of Uganda’s dynamic and diverse population including women, children, refugees and asylum seekers, people living with disabilities and other marginalized groups. Evidence-based and informed policy-making will undoubtedly ensure that Uganda stays the course on realizing a demographic dividend and achieving its ambitious development goals. With this information, we believe that there will be accelerated interventions to address challenges such as inequality, poverty, hunger, inadequate health and education service delivery, food insecurity and mitigate the effects of climate change through tailored solutions that reach and respond to the needs of those who are at the risk of being left behind. 

Your Excellency, 

We recognize the fact that adolescents and young people are the majority of Uganda’s population, presenting a significant demographic dividend for Uganda’s socio-economic progress. I commend you, Your Excellency, for your commitment to creating special programmes that target young people and ensuring that they participate actively in the affairs of national development. We can only achieve more if we invest adequately in their health, education and skills development to prepare them to be healthy and more productively employed in future. This will be possible if we improve the healthcare system and ensure that it offers access to safe reproductive health services, eliminate early pregnancies, prioritize investment in Early Childhood Development (ECD), and create an enabling environment for innovation to leverage the benefits of technology and digitalization. 

Our joint scenario analysis[1] with National Planning Authority (NPA) indicates that if the Fourth National Development Plan (NDPIV) invests more in human capital development along with other economic reforms, coupled with a slight reduction in the population growth to 2.5 percent, we can double national income and achieve the high middle-income target of USD 9,500 per capita by 2040. 

Your Excellency, Esteemed Guests,

All these possibilities are in line with the evidence which suggests that every dollar invested in strengthening data systems generates $32 in economic benefits. To fully realize this potential in our socio-economic transformation journey, we recommend increasing domestic funding for data and statistics by 50 per cent by 2030.

As the United Nations in Uganda, we remain dedicated to supporting the National Statistical System to ensure the generation of high-quality data essential for progress monitoring and informed decision-making for effective and inclusive sustainable development.

Thank you!

[1] https://uganda.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/dd_remodelling_report_book-1_3.pdf