Country · Africa
Uganda
Republic of Uganda
Uganda is a country in Eastern Africa. Its capital city is Kampala. About 42.7 million people live there, in an area of 241 550 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Vanmulondo (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Rod Waddington (CC BY-SA 2.0) · kousek_cz (CC BY 3.0) · Micheal Kaluba (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Uganda?
Uganda lies in Eastern Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 111 km from the equator.
Uganda is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 5 countries: DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Tanzania.
How big is Uganda?
Uganda covers 241 550 square kilometres.
That is about 5.9 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 79th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 176.9 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Uganda?
About 42.7 million people live in Uganda.
That is the 33rd biggest population in the world.
People here speak English and Swahili.
They pay with the Ugandan shilling (Sh).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 43 years.
The land of Uganda
Because it is landlocked, everything that arrives by ship has to cross one of its 5 neighbours first.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Uganda different?
A dish the country is known for: Matoke.
Websites from here often end in .ug.
Uganda and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 6 live in Uganda.
It takes up about 0.18 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa it is the 32nd largest of 54 countries, and the 8th most populated.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Uganda and its neighbours
DR Congo, its largest neighbour, is about 9.7 times bigger.
DR Congo has more people: 84.1 million against 42.7 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 4 live wild in Uganda: Chimpanzee, Hippopotamus, White rhinoceros and African buffalo. The longest river is the Nile, running 6 650 km from source to mouth.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Uganda?
The capital of Uganda is Kampala. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Uganda?
About 42.7 million people live in Uganda, which makes it the 33rd most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Uganda?
Uganda borders DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Tanzania — 5 neighbours in total.
How big is Uganda?
Uganda covers 241 550 square kilometres, making it the 79th largest country in the world. That is about 5.9 times the size of Switzerland.
Which continent is Uganda in?
Uganda is in Africa, in the part called Eastern Africa.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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