Determinants of household savings in Western Uganda

Abstract

This study aimed at assessing the determinants of household savings in Western Uganda. The study was comprised of 742 households from Western Uganda. The data was analyzed at univariate, bivariate and multivariate levels of analysis and presented using tables and frequencies. Findings from the study revealed that majority of the households (77%) were rural based and were mostly headed by males (51.3%). The study revealed that education level of the household head and main source of income of the household head were associated with household saving while gender of the household head, place of residence, marital status and household size were not associated with household saving in Western Uganda. Following the findings, the study recommended the following, there’s need to extend quality education services to the people as this would have a positive impact on saving and thus would result to increased household savings. There’s need by the government to provide bursaries and more scholarships to children from household with low income as this would increase the household savings in the long ran. There’s also need by the government to establish more income generating activities at household level as this would increase on the household savings. Regular monitoring and follow ups in line with education services should be conducted by the concerned government body. The monitoring and follow-ups will help to look for the challenges and other issues to be addressed on time. Different concerned stakeholders in Western Uganda including government, non-governmental organizations, microfinance institutions and others need to work in coordinated manner to solve the recurrent challenges of household savings, village saving and loan association participants. Government and/or nongovernmental organizations need to take best practices and lessons from existing household saving methods and expand the initiative to address more impoverished households in Western Uganda.