Grapevine

Kampala to be among Africa’s top 20 most urbanised cities

Kampala is projected to be among the top 20 most urbanised cities in Africa by 2035, according to the Economist Intelligence (EIU) report.

The report, authored by EIU, the research and analysis division of The Economist Group under the African Cities 2035 Rapid Urbanisation and Economic Expansion title, indicates that Kampala, as a middleweight city that will grow at a faster pace, supported by infrastructure development and urbanisation, among others.

The report reviews 100 African cities clustered under established urban heavyweights and megacities, which include Cairo, Lagos, and Johannesburg, among others - projected to be at the head of the Africa100 city economies by 2035 - and middleweight cities such as Kampala, Kinshasa, Dar es Salaam, Addis Ababa, Abidjan, Dakar, and Kumasi - that will experience faster growth in the 11 years to 2035.

Kampala, which as of 2023 was at position 27th, is expected to leapfrog eight cities, including Kano (Nigeria), Algiers (Algeria), Dakar Region (Senegal), Ibadan (Nigeria), Rabat (Morocco), Yaoundé (Cameroon) and Port Harcourt (Nigeria), to 18th position.

The report also projects that Kampala’s gross domestic product will expand to at least $50b at a compound growth rate of above 9.6 percent by 2035, but will be lower than Dar es Salaam’s $80b (compound growth rate of 9 percent) and Nairobi’s $70b (compound growth rate of 5.6 percent).