“Uganda has the fastest growing population in the world, and it shows. There is an impossible, riotous number of little kids everywhere.” 

Francisco Toro, Expatriate

Uganda does have a high fertility rate, which currently, in 2020, according to data published by Macrotrends, is estimated at an average of 4.8 births per woman. The same data shows that since 1989 and for forty years now, Uganda’s fertility rate has annually progressively reduced

Syria has the fastest population growth rate in the world, with a growth rate of nearly 7.4 percent, according to Index Mundi; while Uganda is sixth, with a population growth rate of nearly 3.2 percent.

Similarly, according to the CIA in “The World Fact Book,” their population estimates for 2020 show Syria having the highest population growth rate, at 4.3 percent; while Uganda is sixth with a rate of 3.3 percent.

Data published by Index Mundi, furthermore, shows that four African countries – Angola, Malawi, Burundi and Chad – have faster population growth rates than Uganda.

And, data published by the CIA in “The World Fact Book” similarly shows that three African countries – Niger, Angola and Benin – have faster population growth rates than Uganda.

Uganda, in fact, is also not among the ten most populous countries in the world, this is according to data published by the US Census; which data shows that Nigeria is the only African country among the ten most populous countries in the world.

Rated by population density, according to Statista, none of the African countries is among the top ten countries with the highest population densities.

Toro’s statement, “Uganda has the fastest growing population in the world,” is false.

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WHY THIS FACT CHECK: On 8^th October 2015, Francisco Toro, a Canadian expatriate, posted comments on Uganda on his Facebook wall. This month, October 2020, a Ugandan shared Toro’s post onto their wall, from whence I saw it.

I noticed that statements in Toro’s post were false. I established that of the 80 statements Toro made in that post, 55 of them (nearly 70 percent) were completely false or partially false. I found Toro’s gaze on our Country quite disturbing. I was reminded of a statement that was written about Norway by an English industrialist working in Norway in the 1880s:

“There is no use trying to help these people. These dirty, ignorant people are putting too many children into the world. They won’t work; they have no discipline. They misuse every opportunity they get. Every time they get some money in in their hands it all goes to drinking and senseless waste. All the help we give them is just an incentive to laziness, and another opportunity to produce even more children.”

Source Stan Burkey in Chapter 1, “Understanding Poverty” of his book “People First – A Guide to Self-Reliant, Participatory Rural Development”

I could be wrong, but me thinks Toro’s gaze on Uganda, emanates from the same patronizing and offensive attitude as that of the English Industrialist. This motivated me do a robust fact check of his post, just in case, like me, some think his post fits within fake news and provides a basis for others to propagate more fake news on Uganda.  

This is the first of a series of posts in which I publish my fact check of Toro’s post.