Environment · UBOS land cover, weather and water statistics

Where are Uganda’s forests going?

Uganda’s forest and woodland shrank from 37,866 km² in 2000 to 20,255 km² in 2017, a loss of 47%. That is roughly 280 hectares of forest lost every day for 17 years.

Forest & woodland, 2017

of Uganda’s area, down from 16% in 2000

Farmland, 2017

44%

of Uganda’s area

Woodland lost

56%

2000–2017

Built-up land

1,387 km²

up from 263 km² in 2000

Did you know?

Farmland covered 44% of Uganda’s total area in 2017, up from 37% in 2000.

Forests shrink as farms spread

Land cover, square kilometres

Forest & woodland
Farmland
Grassland
Bush land

Month	Forest & woodland	Farmland	Grassland	Bush land
2017	20,255 km²	106,657 km²	51,210 km²	16,644 km²
2015	19,390 km²	105,315 km²	51,038 km²	19,707 km²
2010	21,993 km²	99,071 km²	50,683 km²	23,718 km²
2005	36,042 km²	89,543 km²	40,636 km²	29,687 km²
2000	37,866 km²	90,192 km²	27,940 km²	40,079 km²

What covers Uganda’s land?

Share of total area, including lakes and rivers

Forest & woodland
Bush land
Grassland
Wetland
Farmland
Open water
Built-up & other

	Forest & woodland	Bush land	Grassland	Wetland	Farmland	Open water	Built-up & other
2000	15.7%	16.6%	11.6%	3.5%	37.3%	15.2%	0.1%
2005	14.9%	12.3%	16.8%	3.1%	37.1%	15.3%	0.4%
2010	9.1%	9.8%	21.0%	3.4%	41.0%	15.3%	0.5%
2015	8.0%	8.2%	21.1%	3.0%	43.6%	15.5%	0.6%
2017	8.4%	6.9%	21.2%	3.3%	44.2%	15.5%	0.6%

Forest reserves by region

Hectares of central and local forest reserves, 2015

	Hectares
Western	263,714 ha
Northern	129,234 ha
Central	123,723 ha
Eastern	12,924 ha

How hot does it get?

Long-term average daytime high and night-time low, °C

Daytime high
Night-time low

	Daytime high	Night-time low
Lira	31.2°C	16.1°C
Kasese	31.0°C	16.7°C
Gulu	30.2°C	18.8°C
Masindi	29.5°C	18.5°C
Arua	29.0°C	17.0°C
Soroti	28.9°C	17.9°C
Jinja	28.3°C	15.5°C
Kampala	28.2°C	17.3°C
Entebbe	27.9°C	18.9°C
Mbarara	27.9°C	16.5°C
Kabale	24.7°C	12.4°C

In most towns, February is the hottest month

Average daytime high by month, °C

Lira
Kampala
Kabale

Month	Lira	Kampala	Kabale
Dec	32.3°C	27.7°C	24.5°C
Nov	29.9°C	28.3°C	24.1°C
Oct	30.4°C	28.6°C	24.8°C
Sep	30.1°C	28.3°C	25.4°C
Aug	29.7°C	27.8°C	25.3°C
Jul	29.4°C	26.7°C	24.7°C
Jun	29.6°C	26.6°C	24.3°C
May	30.8°C	28.2°C	23.8°C
Apr	32.4°C	28.1°C	24.2°C
Mar	32.2°C	28.9°C	24.7°C
Feb	34.2°C	29.9°C	25.4°C
Jan	33.6°C	29.3°C	25.0°C

Jan

Dec

Piped water: more every year

National Water and Sewerage Corporation, million cubic metres

Produced
Supplied

Month	Produced	Supplied
2020/21	144.1 million m³	137.2 million m³
2019/20	139.6 million m³	130.3 million m³
2018/19	134.9 million m³	127.4 million m³
2017/18	126.3 million m³	119.9 million m³
2016/17	120.6 million m³	116.6 million m³
2015/16	105.2 million m³	102.2 million m³
2014/15	99.4 million m³	96.2 million m³

2014/15

2020/21

About these numbers

UBOS’s land cover table also has a 2019 column, but it appears to use a different classification (bush land falls by 84% in one step), so the trend shown stops at 2017.
Temperatures are UBOS’s long-term monthly averages for each weather station: typical daytime highs and night-time lows.
Rainfall is not shown: in UBOS’s 2014–2020 rainfall table, Gulu and Arua have identical figures, and the period covered is unclear.
Water figures are for National Water and Sewerage Corporation towns only. Some town-level water tables contain impossible values (more water supplied than produced), so only national totals are used.

About these numbers

Where this comes from