During the recently held 13th Annual Members Meeting, the Managing Director of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Mr Patrick Ayota, revealed a startling statistic: ‘The Fund currently has 3.4 million members, of whom 2.6 million have account balances and 850,000 are active members’.
Those numbers genuinely worried me. For context, Uganda has about 46 million people, with an estimated 25 million in the working-age bracket, representing 57.4 percent of the total population. This means that only 3 percent of Uganda’s working-age population is actively saving with the NSSF. From an economic standpoint, this raises important questions about the structure of our labour market and the overall state of social protection in Uganda. While several factors may explain the low figure, two issues stand out:
Unemployment (or under-employment) and non-compliant employers. Unemployment seems like the most obvious explanation. People without jobs simply cannot make Social Security contributions. Unfortunately, Uganda’s labour market remains deeply distorted-the demand for formal employment far exceeds supply, leaving millions of qualified young people idle or under-employed.
The 2024 National Census reported an unemployment rate of 12.3 percent among the working-age population, which translates to roughly 3 million Ugandans without jobs. That leaves about 22 million others who are presumably employed-but where are they, and why are only 850,000 actively contributing to the NSSF? The reality is that a large share of Uganda’s working-age population is engaged in informal economic activities-from boda boda riding, vending, and small-scale farming to the growing world of digital content creation.
While these ventures provide some income, they are often unstable, unregulated, and unsustainable. A single illness, accident, or market shock can wipe out livelihoods overnight, leaving families vulnerable and excluded from formal social protection.
Equally troubling is the issue of non-compliant employers. The NSSF currently has 113,200 registered employers (but only 33,200 are active). In contrast, data from the Uganda Registration Services Bureau shows that as of February 2025, there were more than 850,000 registered entities in the country.
This is not merely a compliance gap-it is a legal violation. Section 7(2) of the NSSF Act, 2022 (as amended) states that: ‘Every employer, irrespective of the number of employees, shall register with the Fund as a contributing employer and shall make regular contributions for his or her employees in accordance with this Act’.In other words, every employer, whether large or small, is obligated by law to register and contribute to the Fund.
Failure to do so is both illegal and unfair, denying workers their right to social protection and retirement security. The NSSF must strengthen its enforcement mechanisms to ensure full compliance with the law. However, it should also exercise lenience and consider granting amnesty on penalties and interest on a case-by-case basis, especially for employers willing to regularise their compliance.
At the same time, the Fund should expand voluntary membership, currently standing at just 44,300 savers. A nationwide campaign targeting informal sector workers-emphasising the benefits of long-term saving, guaranteed returns, and financial security-could significantly broaden the base.
Ultimately, social security should not remain a privilege for the few formally employed Ugandans. It should be a national safety net accessible to all who work and earn.
The low level of active participation in NSSF is not merely a fund management issue; it is a reflection of deeper economic realities -informality, underemployment, and weak enforcement-that must be addressed if Uganda is to secure the financial future of its people.