- Population:16,700,000 (1991) 24,700,000 (2002)
- Population growth per annum:3.4 %
- Per capita GDP in constant prices (1997=100):Shs. 380 Billion (2003/04)
- Poverty Rate:37.7% (2002/03)
- Poverty Gap:11.3% (2002)
- Gini Coefficient:48% (2001)
Uganda
Uganda is one of the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries that recorded strong economic growth of nearly 7% per year in the 1990s; this helped reduce income poverty by nearly 22 percentage points. In recent years, however, a slowdown in economic growth, high population growth rates, and worsening income inequality have contributed to an increase in the country's poverty rate.
The Government's poverty reduction program has been articulated in the Poverty Eradication Action Program (PEAP). However, since this program is mostly funded by donors, its sustainability is of major concern, especially since the tax reforms that were undertaken in the 1990's have not significantly increased government revenue.
At the same time, there are anecdotal claims that the existing income tax system hurts the poor most and needs to be changed, especially the graduated tax. Other possible options include improving tax administration, and changes to Value Added Tax (VAT) or Excise duties. The UGATAX microsimulation model has been built to enable researchers and policy makers to design counter-factual reforms of income tax, VAT and excise duties and quantitatively assess their budgetary, distributional, and poverty impacts.