Survey ID Number
UGA-UBOS-UNHS-2002-v1.0
Title
Uganda National Household Survey 2002/2003
Abstract
The Uganda National Household Survey 2002/03 was the eighth in a series of household surveys that started in 1988. The UNHS 2002/2003 collected information on the economic characteristics of the population and its activity status at the household level. The main objective of the survey was to collect high quality and timely data on population and socio-economic characteristics of households for monitoring development performance. The UNHS 2002/2003 focused on four modules namely the Socio-economic, Labour force, the Informal Sector, and Community modules. The survey covered 55 districts of Uganda, with some parts of Gulu and Kitgum districts not fully covered due to insecurity. Pader District was not covered at all. Indicators on population characteristics, labourforce participation rates, education, health, household expenditure and poverty among others have been presented at national, regional and rural-urban levels. The UNHS 2002/03 survey findings estimate the population of Uganda at around 25 million. The average household size is estimated at 5 persons per household. Like in the previous surveys, a large proportion of the population is below 15 years of age, with the majority of household members being children of the household head, which trend has been the same over years. The Poverty Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy targets 98 percent primary school enrollment by the year 2003. The results of the survey reveal that in spite of efforts made so far, Net Primary Enrollment for children aged 6-12 is below the target at 86 percent. This is partly caused by the fact that some children enroll late for primary school. The results also show that many children continue to attend primary school after the official age of 12. For example, more than half of all children aged 13-18 years attend primary school. In addition, households report that the monetary costs related to schooling deter participation to a certain extent. The results show that the percentage enrolled increases with increased household wealth. There are consistent differences in educational attainment and in literacy, and these differences are consistent across regions, both by sex and income bracket. The northern region consistently emerges worse-off in almost every education indicator. About twenty eight percent of the country’s population fell sick in the 30 days preceding the survey with malaria/fever reported as the major cause of ill health. Of those who fell sick, many practiced self-treatment while others preferred to go to private clinics. Usage of mosquito nets remains low with only 11 percent of the population using them. Awareness of HIV/AIDS is almost universal. However it is not matched by knowledge of specific ways to avoid HIV/AIDS. The condom however is most mentioned as the specific method one can use to avoid HIV/AIDS. The radio is reported to be the main medium through which people acquire information on HIV/AIDS. Most of the housing and household conditions have improved especially the housing structure i.e. wall, roof and floor. Households are still dependent on “tadoba” for lighting and worse still, the majority of the households depend on wood as fuel for cooking. The 2002/03 survey has shown an increase in Per-household and Per-capita expenditure. Foods, Beverages and Tobacco still dominate the household budget share, despite a drop of 8 percent observed over the same period. However, these changes have not been high enough to over turn the observed increases in poverty levels. The percentage of the population living below the poverty line rose from 34 percent to 38 percent. This rise is statistically significant. The main finding is that, despite some very modest economic growth, poverty increased. This is in contrast to trends in the 1990s, where growth was stronger and appeared to be broadly shared. There has been a general downward trend in the welfare indicators between 1999/00 and 2002/03 periods. Ownership of clothes declined between the 1999/00 and 2002/03 periods while ownership of bicycles and radios has improved over the same period. One in every 5 children aged 0 – 5 years, in the eastern and northern regions does without breakfast. About 36 percent of the households in Uganda own non-crop enterprises. The major enterprises being in the manufacturing and trade and services broad industries. These two categories employ 1.8 million persons while livestock, poultry, bee-keeping, and fishing industry employs another 0.5 million persons. Most household based enterprises are sole proprietorship, and similarly there are mainly started by owners. Nearly 90 percent of the persons aged 10 years and above were usually active during the 12 months prior to the survey. About 60 percent of these were own account workers followed by unpaid family workers (26 percent). The distribution of usually active persons by Industry show that the agricultural sector is still dominant accounting for 68 percent of the employed persons . Considering the last seven days, a higher proportion of persons aged 10 years and above were own account workers (54 percent). The Northern and Eastern Regions recorded the highest proportion of persons employed in agriculture. It is noted that most of the urban dwellers are employed in the sales and service sector. Occupational categories of household members show that 2 in every 3 persons were engaged in agriculture, only 4 percent were involved in Market Oriented Agriculture Production. A higher proportion of women than men was recorded for those who were engaged in domestic duties. Those who did not participate in economic activities during the last 7 days, stated being ill as the dominant reason. Among reasons for not being usually active during the last 12 months, attending school featured as the prominent reason followed by attending to domestic duties. Nearly 25 percent of the employed population were engaged in secondary activities and the service workers were more likely to engage in secondary activities than any other occupational category. The current labourforce participation rate is 67 percent. Participation levels by selected background characteristics show that persons without education had higher participation levels than those with primary education. The findings further show that rural women had higher participation rates than their urban counterparts. Twenty percent of the persons in paid employment earn at most shillings 20,000. Of those persons earning more than shillings 60,000, 63 percent were men while only 37 percent were women. Of the currently economically active persons, 3 percent are unemployed. Youth unemployment (5.3 percent) rate was higher than the national rate (3.2 percent). Central region had unemployment rate higher than other regions. Sixty five percent of the unemployed had attempted to look for work. This was mainly through friends and relatives. Most of the unemployed depended on relatives or spouses for survival with females depending more on spouses. The underemployment rate is highest among youth but steadily declines among those aged 50 years and over. The national underemployment rate stood at 15 percent. The survey results show that the underemployed are mainly in the agricultural sector. The underemployed were willing to do any job to earn more money. Findings show that although one in every five working children is an orphan, three out of every four children were non-orphans. Children whose parent survival status is not known are more likely to work. Children who were not attending school engaged in paid employment than those attending school. Furthermore, those who engaged in paid domestic services were more likely to work for more hours in a day than those engaged in other activities.