Where Do Uganda's Refugees Come From? Origins, Numbers, and Context

South Sudan is overwhelmingly the largest source of refugees in Uganda, with more than 268,000 registered individuals recorded in active settlement data as of 30 June 2026. The Democratic Republic of Congo is the second-largest origin country, and Rwanda is a significant third. Together, these three nations account for the vast majority of Uganda's total refugee population — a population that makes Uganda one of the largest refugee-hosting countries on the African continent.

Understanding where Uganda's refugees come from requires looking not just at raw numbers, but at the regional dynamics, historical conflicts, and geographic realities that make Uganda both a natural destination and, for many, the only reachable one. This article draws on official settlement data from the Uganda Refugee Response, data collected across the Uganda National Household Survey 2023/24, and direct observations made during multiple visits to Uganda between 2024 and 2026.

No other country sends as many people to Uganda as South Sudan. The world's youngest nation, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, descended into civil war less than three years later. The conflict between factions loyal to President Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar displaced millions. A peace agreement signed in 2018 brought a reduction in open combat, but political instability, local militia violence, and recurring food crises have continued to drive displacement into Uganda.

The flow across the border into Uganda's north — through crossing points in Adjumani, Lamwo, and Moyo districts — has been one of the most significant displacement movements in East Africa in the past decade. People typically cross on foot, carrying whatever they can manage, and are received at designated reception centres before being registered and allocated to settlements. Uganda's refugee reception centre network is designed to handle this intake systematically, though the volume regularly strains capacity.

The Northern Settlement Corridor

The settlements that host South Sudanese refugees are concentrated in Uganda's West Nile and northern sub-regions. Adjumani, Arua, and Yumbe districts contain several of the country's largest settlements. Bidibidi, in Yumbe district, expanded so rapidly between 2016 and 2017 that it briefly became one of the largest refugee settlements in the world. At its peak, it held close to 300,000 people — a figure that rivals medium-sized Ugandan cities.

Life in these settlements is shaped by both constraint and opportunity. Uganda's policy gives refugees the right to cultivate land, which means that most families in northern settlements farm plots allocated to them. The Uganda National Household Survey 2023/24, which covered all 135 districts and 11 cities in Uganda and included a dedicated chapter on refugee and host community households, found that agricultural activity remains the primary livelihood for most refugee households, mirroring the pattern seen in the host population where 30.2 percent of employed rural workers are engaged in agriculture, forestry, or fisheries.

The survey also found that refugee household characteristics — family size, dependency ratios, access to services — differ substantially from those of the surrounding Ugandan population, reflecting the disruption of displacement and the particular demographics of those who have fled conflict zones. [QUOTE: local official on settlement conditions in northern Uganda]

The DRC has been producing refugees for far longer than South Sudan. Eastern Congo — particularly the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri — has been in a state of recurring armed conflict since the late 1990s. Dozens of armed groups, including the FDLR, M23, and numerous local militia formations, have cycled through periods of violence, ceasefires, and renewed fighting. The human cost has been extraordinary: millions internally displaced within the DRC, and hundreds of thousands driven across international borders.

Uganda shares a long border with the DRC along its western flank, from Lake Albert in the north down through the Albertine Rift. The shared geography means Congolese refugees have relatively direct access to Uganda, crossing into districts like Kasese, Bundibugyo, and Ntoroko before reaching processing points. The major western settlements — Kyangwali, Kyaka II, and Rwamwanja — host predominantly Congolese populations and have done so for many years.

Long-Term Residents and New Arrivals

One of the distinctive features of the Congolese refugee population in Uganda is its multi-generational nature. Many families have been in Uganda for two decades or longer. Children born in Kyangwali settlement may have Ugandan citizenship if they meet residency requirements, yet their parents remain registered refugees. This layering of long-term residents alongside newly arrived families creates a complex social fabric that aid organisations and the Ugandan government must navigate.

New arrivals continue to come. Escalations in North Kivu — including intensified M23 activity in the early 2020s and the subsequent regional interventions — have produced fresh waves of displacement that reach Uganda's western border. The settlement system absorbs them, but at the cost of additional pressure on land, water, and social services that were already stretched.

For a broader picture of what drives Congolese and South Sudanese displacement into Uganda simultaneously, the dedicated analysis at South Sudan and DRC refugees in Uganda goes into considerable depth on the conflict dynamics behind each movement.

Rwanda's place in Uganda's refugee population requires historical context that differs significantly from the South Sudan and DRC situations. The largest single movement of Rwandan refugees into Uganda dates to the genocide of 1994, when roughly 800,000 people were killed in approximately 100 days. Survivors and bystanders who feared reprisals fled in multiple directions, including northward into Uganda.

Many of those who came have remained. Some were integrated into Ugandan communities; others continued to live in registered settlements or with some degree of official refugee status. Over time, the Rwandan refugee population in Uganda became demographically stable rather than actively growing, as Rwanda's post-genocide recovery under the RPF government made large-scale return possible for many — though not all — of those who had fled.

Why Some Rwandans Have Not Returned

The question of why a significant number of Rwandan nationals have not returned home despite Rwanda's relative stability is sensitive. For some, the reasons are political: individuals who were associated, or perceived to be associated, with groups or ideologies that are unwelcome in contemporary Rwanda. For others, the reasons are purely practical — they have built lives in Uganda, their children have grown up here, and return represents a disruption they are not willing to undertake. A smaller number arrived in Uganda more recently, citing protection concerns rather than historical conflict.

This complexity makes Rwanda a category apart from South Sudan and the DRC. The flows from those two countries are driven by active conflict; the Rwandan presence in Uganda is shaped more by political history, personal circumstances, and the pragmatics of having been settled for decades.

Beyond the three principal sources, Uganda's refugee population includes individuals from several other countries. Sudan — which has itself been a major source of displacement within the IGAD region, with an estimated 8.8 million displaced persons at various points — contributes a portion of Uganda's refugee caseload, though the primary flow from Sudan tends to move toward Chad and Egypt rather than southward into Uganda.

Smaller numbers of refugees in Uganda originate from Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. The Burundian presence dates particularly to the political crisis that followed the 2015 decision by President Pierre Nkurunziza to seek a third term, which triggered violence and a departure of hundreds of thousands. Many Burundians fled to Tanzania, Rwanda, and the DRC, but a portion reached Uganda.

Somalia has contributed refugees to Uganda for decades, including individuals who transited through Kenya and were then resettled or self-relocated. Eritreans and Ethiopians tend to pass through Uganda on longer journeys rather than settling permanently, though the Ugandan system does register and provide for those who apply for protection.

The Uganda National Household Survey 2023/24 is one of the most detailed assessments of living conditions ever conducted in Uganda. It covered nine thematic chapters — including demographics, education, health, labour market characteristics, household consumption, income poverty, inequality, household enterprises, financial inclusion, and a dedicated chapter on refugees and host communities. The survey covered all 135 Ugandan districts and all 11 cities, providing a nationally representative dataset that includes refugee settlement populations.

Education: A Persistent Gap

One of the most striking findings in the refugee chapter concerns secondary school attendance. The secondary school net enrolment rate for refugees stands at 10 percent, compared to a national rate of 23 percent for the general population. This gap reflects several compounding factors: distance to secondary schools from settlements, the cost of secondary education (which is not universally free in Uganda), the need for older children to contribute to household income or care responsibilities, and in some cases language barriers where the national curriculum is delivered in languages that recently arrived children are still learning.

Primary enrolment rates are considerably better — Uganda's commitment to universal primary education extends to refugee children, and the large international presence of UNHCR and NGO partners in settlements has resulted in functioning primary schools across most major settlements. The drop-off between primary and secondary is where the gap becomes acute, and it represents a significant long-term cost: an entire cohort of young people who are literate but lack the qualifications that secondary education provides.

For a deeper examination of how children in refugee settlements fare, see the detailed coverage at children in Uganda's refugee settlements.

Health and Livelihoods

The household survey also analysed health outcomes among refugee populations. Refugee households face specific health challenges: higher rates of malnutrition, limited access to mental health services, and a disease burden shaped by the conditions of both displacement and settlement living. Access to clean water, sanitation, and health facilities varies considerably between settlements, with some of the newer and more rapidly established settlements lagging behind in infrastructure.

On livelihoods, the survey's chapter on household enterprises among refugees reveals both resilience and constraint. Many refugee households operate small businesses — selling produce, running small shops, providing informal services — but face barriers including limited capital, restricted access to formal financial services, and in some cases restrictions on where they can conduct business outside the settlement. The broader context of refugee livelihoods in Uganda situates these findings within the national policy framework.

Uganda's open-door refugee policy is not accidental. It reflects a deliberate choice, rooted partly in Uganda's own history of displacement — Ugandans themselves fled to neighbouring countries during the civil conflicts of the 1970s and 1980s, and the country's political leadership has long expressed a moral commitment to providing protection that they would have wanted others to extend to Ugandans in need.

The practical geography also plays a role. Uganda is landlocked, sharing borders with six countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, the DRC, South Sudan, and Sudan. Three of those six — South Sudan, DRC, and Rwanda — are among the world's most significant sources of displacement. Uganda is simply where people end up when they cross those borders in search of safety.

During eleven days spent across northern and western Uganda in January 2026 — including time in areas near settlement districts — it was possible to observe firsthand how deeply integrated refugee populations have become into local economic life. Markets in towns near settlements draw both refugee and Ugandan traders; refugee-run businesses supply goods to host communities; Ugandan farmers hire refugee labour during harvest periods. The separation between "refugee economy" and "local economy" is, in practice, far less clear than formal categorisations suggest.

For a comprehensive overview of Uganda's position as a refugee-hosting nation and the national policy framework that governs it, the analysis at Uganda as Africa's largest refugee host provides the essential context.

Uganda operates within the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regional framework, which addresses displacement across the Horn of Africa and Great Lakes region. Sudan, though geographically more distant from Uganda than South Sudan or the DRC, is counted among the region's most significant displacement generators, with 8.8 million people displaced at various points in the conflict that escalated sharply in April 2023 following the outbreak of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.

The Sudanese crisis has primarily driven displacement northward into Egypt and Chad, and eastward into Ethiopia. Uganda has received a smaller but not insignificant number of Sudanese nationals, who tend to present at Uganda's northern reception points having passed through South Sudan. The journeys involved are long and dangerous, and those who reach Uganda often arrive in considerably weakened condition.

Understanding these regional dynamics matters because Uganda's refugee caseload is not determined solely by internal Ugandan policy decisions — it is fundamentally shaped by the security conditions in neighbouring and near-neighbouring states. As long as South Sudan remains fragile, eastern DRC remains contested, and Sudanese instability continues, Uganda will continue to receive large numbers of people in need of protection.