The Uganda Human Capital Development and Growth Review (UHCDGR) adopted a lifecycle approach to analyzing the state of human capital in Uganda and factors affecting progress. The UHCDGR presents a comprehensive analysis of the current state of human capital development in Uganda, including its achievements to date, the challenges that it faces, and the potential that exists for investing in its people. The Report discussed each of the human capital sectors in turn—education, health, water and sanitation, social protection, and jobs—all of which interrelate across the lifecycle. Based on this analysis, the Report recommends four cross-sectoral “game changers” that have the potential to accelerate the pace of human capital development and thus enable Uganda to reap the benefits of its demographic transition and achieve its development goals.

The Human Capital Index (HCI) measures the potential productivity of the next generation, considering factors like health and education. Uganda’s current HCI score is 0.39, meaning that Uganda is currently failing to harness 61 percent of its human capital potential for socio-economic development. Furthermore, human capital is significantly underutilized in the labor market. It is imperative to increase human capital investments and utilization through the five-year National Development Plans (NDPs), which aim to achieve growth aspirations, as it will optimize investments and returns in natural, physical, and other forms of capital.

The UHCDGR 2025 outlined serious gaps especially in education: to meet quality goals by 2040, Uganda will need to increase its education budget by ~440%, recruit ~360,000 new teachers, more than double classrooms, and nearly quadruple textbook provision. Uganda’s population has grown by more than 3 percent annually since 2000. While there is potential for Uganda to realize demographic dividends, more than half of the country’s accumulated human capital is not being utilized in the labor market, with underemployment rates having increased four-fold between 2011 and 2019.

Government has signaled commitment to early childhood development (ECD) as key to human capital, via investment in pre-primary education, healthcare, community hospitals, support for women in informal sector, parenting programmes. This is recognised globally as high return: investment in the first 1,000 days & early years pays off in health, cognition, productivity. Plans for pre-primary education expansion, affordable childcare, healthcare in underserved areas are positive moves.

For more insights, please visit the link below:

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/dd060188-f073-49ad-8f1f-6ce868a3d46a