Profile

Land area: 752 614 km²

Languages: English (official language of government and business), Nyanja, Bemba, Tonga, Lozi and other local

Population:

-number: 8.21 million (mid-1991 estimate)
-spread: 50% urban, 50% rural (1990) - density: 114 per 1000 ha
- growth rate: 3.63% per annum

Main towns (1990 census): Lusaka (the capital, 982 362); Kitwe (439 201); Ndola (376 311); Chingola (186 769); Mufulira (175 025); Kabwe (166 619); Luanshya (147 747); Livingstone (84 116)

Infant mortality: 76/1000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 54.4 years

Doctors per inhabitant: 1 /7150 (1984)

Access to safe water: 76% of urban, 43% of rural population

Adult literacy: total 73% - men 81 %, women 65% (1990)

School enrolment rate: primary 80%, secondary 20%, higher 2% (1989)

GNP per capita: US $420 per annum (1990)

Real GDP per capita: US $767 per annum (1989)

Official development assistance per inhabitant: US $54 per annum (1990)

Main exports: Copper (85% of total exports in 1991), zinc, lead, cobalt, tobacco

Main imports: Machinery and transport, fuels, lubricants, energy, manufactured goods, chemicals, food

Main trading partners (estimates, 1990):

Exports to: Japan, France, Italy, India

Imports from: UK, Japan, West Germany, USA, Saudi Arabia, South Africa

External debt: US $7 billion ( in mid-1991 external debt was twice GNP)

Debt service ratio: 13.5% of exports of goods and services (1991)

Currency: Kwacha (378 kwacha = US $1 in February 1993, with inflation estimated at approx. 200% per annum)

Sources: World Bank, UNDP.

Map (Zambia)