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The Republic of Zambia, with its
population of 18.38 million (2020) of which roughly 50 per cent are under the age of 14, is situated in southern Africa
bordered by the Democratic Republic of Congo to its north, Tanzania to its
north-east, Malawi to its east, and Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia
to its south with Angola
to its west. The Zambia (named after the
Zambezi river that flows through the country) was one of Africa's richest
countries up until its independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 not least
because of its rich copper mining and export heritage. However following
independence from the United Kingdom in 1964, Zambia followed the route of so many emerging African nations
with one party installing itself in power and opposition parties suppressed. Zambia's first president, Kenneth
David Kaunda, pursued this route and his socialist policies severely damaged the
country',;s economy and infrastructure which was already under resourced at the
time of independence. By 1991 civil unrest forced multi party elections with
Frederick Chiluba becoming president. Today Zambia is a relatively stable
multi-party democracy having experienced a number of successful and peaceful transitions of power although serious challenges face the
country.
Such challenges include widespread poverty, a low (though increasing) life expectancy of 63.51 years (2018) not
least because of the high prevalence of AIDS and the high numbers of orphans in
the country ~ 30% of all children in Zambia under the age of 15 are orphans. Many of them head towards urban areas simply to survive by begging, forced
labour and/or sexual exploitation. One fifteen year old boy described the
lifestyle: "I have lived like this since 2001 when my parents died. I sleep in
ditches. If I see people carrying plastic bags, I ask to help. They give
anything, maybe 1,000 kwacha [UK 18p], maybe more." There is so much work needed to
be undertaken with children in Zambia to get them off the streets into safe
environments, into school so that they can get an education and to develop a
better awareness of HIV/AIDS. For more information about Zambia check our
profile pages below.
Zambia is in
146th place out of 189 countries and territories in 2019 when
ranked in terms of life expectancy, literacy, access to
knowledge and the living standards of a country. That is above neighbouring Zimbabwe in 150th place, Angola in 148th place and well above its other neighbours Malawi 174th and Mozambique in 181th out of 189th but, although in a better position than in many other sub-Saharan countries, Zambia experiences food shortages on a regular basis and the urban/rural poverty gap has been growing even further over recent years. Find out more about Zambia in a series of articles and videos below together with news about Zambia.
Zambia Profile: Volunteer in Zambia
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Zambia Profile: Zambia History
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Zambia Profile: Life in Zambia
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Zambia Profile: Children in Zambia
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Zambia Profile: Street Children
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Zambia Profile: Zambia Poverty
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Zambia Profile: Zambia Images
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Zambia Profile: Lake Tanganyika
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Zambia Profile: Lusaka Profile
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Zambia Profile: Lusaka Airport
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Zambia Profile: Zambia Quiz
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Zambia Profile: Sponsor a Child in Zambia
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Zambia Profile: Zambia Map
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Zambia Profile: Zambia News
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