Poverty Trends in Uganda

Abstract

Uganda had one of the best poverty reduction performances in the world since 1992, a result of a subtle structural transformation of household livelihood portfolios, rooted in strong growth of private wage and salary employment and non-farm household enterprises, and increased agricultural productivity among agricultural households. But depth and character of growth was not the same across Uganda. This triggered rising inequality throughout the country (within and between rural and urban and all regions) resulted in many households in the North and the East being left behind while the center pulled away. The evolution of spatial inequality is tightly linked to spatial differences in public and private investments, particularly in education - a legacy of inadequate public investments and conflict in the lagging regions. Addressing this inequality in growth is Uganda's shared growth challenge.