[5] Most come from neighbouring countries in the African Great Lakes region, particularly South Sudan (68.0%) and Democratic Republic of the Congo (24.6%).

The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs prepared the following estimates.

Following independence they constituted the largest non-indigenous ethnic group in Uganda, at around 80,000 people, and they dominated trade, industry, and the professions.

After Idi Amin came to power in 1971, he declared "economic war" on the Indians, culminating in the Expulsion of Asians in Uganda in 1972.

[15] In 2009, the northern and west Nile regions were dominated by Roman Catholics, and Iganga District in the east of Uganda had the highest percentage of Muslims.