Religion in Uganda Index

Data as of December 1990

2003 Report on Religious Liberty in Uganda

Uganda: Christianity Holy Spirit Movement Millenarian Religion Islam Yakan Local Religions Women in Society Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God

Religion Around the World: Main Page

Source: Library of Congress Country Studies

In the late 1980s, Ugandan officials estimated that 66 percent of the population was Christian - almost equally divided among Protestants and Roman Catholics. Approximately 15 percent of Ugandans were Muslims. Roughly 19 percent of the people professed belief in local religions or denied any religious affiliation. The basic tenets of all religions - that a spiritual realm exists and that spiritual and physical beings can influence one another - permeated much of Ugandan society. World religions and local religions had coexisted for more than a century, and many people established a coherent set of beliefs about the nature of the universe by combining elements of the two. Except in a few teachings, world religions were seldom viewed as incompatible with local religions

Throughout Uganda's colonial and postcolonial history, religious identity has had economic and political implications. Church membership has influenced opportunities for education, employment, and social advancement. As a result, the distinction between material and spiritual benefits of religion has not been considered very important, nor have the rewards of religious participation been expected to arrive only in an afterlife

Nationality:
noun: Ugandan(s)
adjective: Ugandan

Ethnic groups: Baganda 17%, Karamojong 12%, Basogo 8%, Iteso 8%, Langi 6%, Rwanda 6%, Bagisu 5%, Acholi 4%, Lugbara 4%, Bunyoro 3%, Batobo 3%, non-African (European, Asian, Arab) 1%, other 23%

Religions:

Roman Catholic 33%,
Protestant 33%,
Muslim 16%,
indigenous beliefs 18%

Languages: English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages, preferred for native language publications and may be taught in school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, Arabic

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Uganda
conventional short form: Uganda

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