Traditionally, being a land locked country, Zimbabwe had a strong agricultural sector, however, Mugabe's damaging land reform program, where land was seized from white farmers and given to black farmers who did not have the skills to farm their new lands, together with a multi million dollar foray into the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, shattered the economy, with Zimbabwe going broke with a reliance on food imports; food it could not afford to import given the economic collapse and spirally hyper-inflation.

In November 2017, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa became president following a military coup that saw Mugabe forced from office. Mnangagwa promised a presidential election in 2018 that he won, abeit after a close contest with Movement for Democratic Change Alliance candidate Nelson Chamisa. Mnangagwa soon consolidated his power and turned the clock back to the Mugabe days of using violence at protests and shutting down opposition.

Today Zimbabwe in 159th place out of 191 countries and territories in 2021 when ranked in terms of life expectancy, literacy, access to knowledge and the living standards of a country with a life expectancy of 59.25 years (2021). The country has the highest proportion of AIDS orphans than any other country on the planet (overall one in five children in Zimbabwe is an orphan) together with the highest child mortality rate, unemployment is around 80% and 75% of the population live in extreme poverty with many not eating from day to day. Much of this poverty is in the south-eastern provinces of Manicaland and Masvingo, which are among the driest and least productive areas in the country. On this page you can explore facts and information about Zimbabwe in a series of articles and videos together with news about Zimbabwe.