The territory of Northern Rhodesia was administered by the [British] South Africa Company from 1891 until it was taken over by the UK in 1923. During the 1920s and 1930s, advances in mining spurred development and immigration. The name was changed to Zambia upon independence in 1964. In the 1980s and 1990s, declining copper prices and a prolonged drought hurt the economy. Elections in 1991 brought an end to one-party rule, but the subsequent vote in 1996 saw blatant harassment of opposition parties. The election in 2001 was marked by administrative problems with three parties filing a legal petition challenging the election of ruling party candidate Levy MWANAWASA. The new president launched an anticorruption task force in 2002, but the government has yet to make a prosecution. The Zambian leader was reelected in 2006 in an election that was deemed free and fair.

Southern Africa, east of Angola
15 00 S, 30 00 E
Africa
total: 752,614 sq km ; land: 740,724 sq km ; water: 11,890 sq km
slightly larger than Texas
total: 5,664 km ; border countries: Angola 1,110 km, Democratic Republic of the Congo 1,930 km, Malawi 837 km, Mozambique 419 km, Namibia 233 km, Tanzania 338 km, Zimbabwe 797 km
0 km (landlocked)
none (landlocked)
tropical; modified by altitude; rainy season (October to April)
mostly high plateau with some hills and mountains
lowest point: Zambezi river 329 m ; highest point: unnamed location in Mafinga Hills 2,301 m
copper, cobalt, zinc, lead, coal, emeralds, gold, silver, uranium, hydropower
arable land: 6.99% ; permanent crops: 0.04% ; other: 92.97% (2005)
1,560 sq km (2003)
105.2 cu km (2001)
Total: 1.74 cu km/yr (17%/7%/76%) ; Per capita: 149 cu m/yr (2000)
periodic drought, tropical storms (November to April)
air pollution and resulting acid rain in the mineral extraction and refining region; chemical runoff into watersheds; poaching seriously threatens rhinoceros, elephant, antelope, and large cat populations; deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; lack of adequate water treatment presents human health risks
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands ; signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
landlocked; the Zambezi forms a natural riverine boundary with Zimbabwe
11,477,447 ; note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2007 est.)
0-14 years: 45.7% (male 2,633,578/female 2,608,714) ; 15-64 years: 51.9% (male 2,969,913/female 2,990,923) ; 65 years and over: 2.4% (male 116,818/female 157,501) (2007 est.)
total: 16.8 years ; male: 16.6 years ; female: 16.9 years (2007 est.)
1.664% (2007 est.)
40.78 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
21.46 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
-2.68 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female ; under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female ; 15-64 years: 0.993 male(s)/female ; 65 years and over: 0.742 male(s)/female ; total population: 0.994 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
total: 100.71 deaths/1,000 live births ; male: 105.48 deaths/1,000 live births ; female: 95.8 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
total population: 38.44 years ; male: 38.34 years ; female: 38.54 years (2007 est.)
5.31 children born/woman (2007 est.)
16.5% (2003 est.)
920,000 (2003 est.)
89,000 (2003 est.)
noun: Zambian(s) ; adjective: Zambian
African 98.7%, European 1.1%, other 0.2%
Christian 50%-75%, Muslim and Hindu 24%-49%, indigenous beliefs 1%
English (official), major vernaculars - Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languages
definition: age 15 and over can read and write English ; total population: 80.6% ; male: 86.8% ; female: 74.8% (2003 est.)
degree of risk: very high ; food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever ; vectorborne diseases: malaria and plague are high risks in some locations ; water contact disease: schistosomiasis (2007)

conventional long form: Republic of Zambia ; conventional short form: Zambia ; former: Northern Rhodesia
republic
name: Lusaka ; geographic coordinates: 15 25 S, 28 17 E ; time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
9 provinces; Central, Copperbelt, Eastern, Luapula, Lusaka, Northern, North-Western, Southern, Western

24 October 1964 (from UK)
Independence Day, 24 October (1964)
24 August 1991; amended in 1996 to establish presidential term limits
based on English common law and customary law; judicial review of legislative acts in an ad hoc constitutional council; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
18 years of age; universal
chief of state: President Levy MWANAWASA (since 2 January 2002); Vice President Rupiah BANDA (since 9 October 2006); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government ; head of government: President Levy MWANAWASA (since 2 January 2002); Vice President Rupiah BANDA (since 9 October 2006) ; cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president from among the members of the National Assembly ; elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 28 September 2006 (next to be held in 2011); vice president appointed by the president ; election results: Levy MWANAWASA reelected president; percent of vote - Levy MWANAWASA 43.0%, Michael SATA 29.4%, Hakainde HICHILEMA 25.3%, Godfrey MIYANDA 1.6%, Winright NGONDO 0.8%
unicameral National Assembly (158 seats; 150 members are elected by popular vote, 8 members are appointed by the president, to serve five-year terms) ; elections: last held 28 September 2006 (next to be held in 2011) ; election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - MMD 72, PF 44, UDA 27, ULP 2, NDF 1, independents 2; seats not determined 2
Supreme Court (the final court of appeal; justices are appointed by the president); High Court (has unlimited jurisdiction to hear civil and criminal cases)
All Peoples Congress Party [Winright NGONDO]; Forum for Democracy and Development or FDD [Edith NAWAKWI]; Heritage Party or HP [Godfrey MIYANDA]; Liberal Progressive Front or LPF [Roger CHONGWE]; Movement for Multiparty Democracy or MMD [Levy MWANAWASA]; National Democratic Focus or NDF; Patriotic Front or PF [Michael SATA]; Party of Unity for Democracy and Development or PUDD [Dan PULE]; Reform Party [Nevers MUMBA]; United Democratic Alliance or UDA; United Liberal Party or ULP [Sakwiba SIKOTA]; United National Independence Party or UNIP [Tilyenji KAUNDA]; United Party for National Development or UPND [Hakainde HICHILEMA]; Zambia Democratic Congress or ZADECO [Langton SICHONE]; Zambian Republican Party or ZRP [Benjamin MWILA]
NA
ACP, AfDB, AU, C, COMESA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OPCW, PCA, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
green with a panel of three vertical bands of red (hoist side), black, and orange below a soaring orange eagle, on the outer edge of the flag
chief of mission: Ambassador Inonge MBIKUSITA-LEWANIKA ; chancery: 2419 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 ; telephone: [1] (202) 265-9717 through 9719 ; FAX: [1] (202) 332-0826
chief of mission: Ambassador Carmen M. MARTINEZ ; embassy: corner of Independence and United Nations Avenues, Lusaka ; mailing address: P. O. Box 31617, Lusaka ; telephone: [260] (1) 250-955 ; FAX: [260] (1) 252-225





Despite progress in privatization and budgetary reform, Zambia's economic growth in 2005-07 remained somewhat below the 6-7% per year needed to reduce poverty significantly. Privatization of government-owned copper mines relieved the government from covering mammoth losses generated by the industry and greatly improved the chances for copper mining to return to profitability and spur economic growth. Copper output has increased steadily since 2004, due to higher copper prices and the opening of new mines. The maize harvest was good again in 2005, helping to boost GDP and agricultural exports. Cooperation continues with international bodies on programs to reduce poverty, including a new lending arrangement with the IMF in the second quarter of 2004. A tighter monetary policy will help cut inflation, but Zambia still has a serious problem with high public debt.
$15.93 billion (2007 est.)
$6.247 billion (2007 est.)
5.3% (2007 est.)
$1,400 (2007 est.)
agriculture: 17.6% ; industry: 26% ; services: 56.5% (2007 est.)
4.989 million (2007 est.)
agriculture: 85% ; industry: 6% ; services: 9% (2004)
50% (2000 est.)
86% (1993)
lowest 10%: 1.2% ; highest 10%: 38.8% (2004)
50.8 (2004)
10.5% (2007 est.)
25.1% of GDP (2007 est.)
revenues: $2.508 billion ; expenditures: $2.838 billion (2007 est.)
31.9% of GDP (2007 est.)
corn, sorghum, rice, peanuts, sunflower seed, vegetables, flowers, tobacco, cotton, sugarcane, cassava (tapioca), coffee; cattle, goats, pigs, poultry, milk, eggs, hides
copper mining and processing, construction, foodstuffs, beverages, chemicals, textiles, fertilizer, horticulture
6.2% (2007 est.)
8.85 billion kWh (2005)
fossil fuel: 0.5% ; hydro: 99.5% ; nuclear: 0% ; other: 0% (2001)
8.655 billion kWh (2005)
243 million kWh (2005)
465 million kWh (2005)
150 bbl/day (2005 est.)
14,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
169 bbl/day (2004)
13,370 bbl/day (2004)
0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)
0 cu m (2005 est.)
0 cu m (2005 est.)
0 cu m (2005 est.)
0 cu m (2005)
0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
$150 million (2007 est.)
$4.017 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
copper/cobalt 64%, cobalt, electricity; tobacco, flowers, cotton
Switzerland 38.4%, South Africa 21.6%, China 10.3%, UK 7.6%, Tanzania 6.4% (2006)
$2.993 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
South Africa 47.3%, UAE 10.4%, Zimbabwe 5.7%, Norway 4% (2006)

$1.1 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
$2.798 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
$NA
$NA
$988.9 million (2005)
Zambian kwacha (ZMK)
ZMK
Zambian kwacha per US dollar - 3,990.2 (2007), 3,601.5 (2006), 4,463.5 (2005), 4,778.9 (2004), 4,733.3 (2003)
calendar year
$945 million (2005)
93,400 (2006)
1,663,300 (2006)
general assessment: facilities are aging but still among the best in Sub-Saharan Africa ; domestic: high-capacity microwave radio relay connects most larger towns and cities; several cellular telephone services in operation; Internet service is widely available; very small aperture terminal (VSAT) networks are operated by private firms ; international: country code - 260; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean and 1 Atlantic Ocean)
AM 19, FM 5, shortwave 4 (2001)
1.2 million (2001)
9 (2001)
277,000 (1997)
.zm
7,423 (2007)
5 (2001)
334,800 (2005)

107 (2007)
total: 9 ; over 3,047 m: 1 ; 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 ; 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 ; 914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2007)
total: 98 ; 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 ; 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 ; 914 to 1,523 m: 64 ; under 914 m: 29 (2007)

oil 771 km (2006)
total: 2,157 km ; narrow gauge: 2,157 km 1.067-m gauge ; note: includes 891 km of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) (2006)
total: 91,440 km ; paved: 20,117 km ; unpaved: 71,323 km (2001)
2,250 km (includes Lake Tanganyika and the Zambezi and Luapula rivers) (2005)

Mpulungu

Zambian National Defense Force (ZNDF): Army, Air Force, Police, National Service
18 years of age (est.) (2004)
males age 18-49: 2,219,739 ; females age 18-49: 2,159,688 (2005 est.)
males age 18-49: 1,043,702 ; females age 18-49: 953,328 (2005 est.)

1.8% (2005 est.)

in 2004, Zimbabwe dropped objections to plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the Zambezi River, thereby de facto recognizing a short, but not clearly delimited, Botswana-Zambia boundary in the river; 42,250 Congolese refugees in Zambia are offered voluntary repatriation in November 2006, most of whom are expected to return in the next two years; Angolan refugees too have been repatriating but 26,450 still remain with 90,000 others from other neighboring states in 2006
refugees (country of origin): 75,468 (Angola), 61,243 (Democratic Republic of the Congo), 5,669 (Rwanda) (2006)
transshipment point for moderate amounts of methaqualone, small amounts of heroin, and cocaine bound for southern Africa and possibly Europe; a poorly developed financial infrastructure coupled with a government commitment to combating money laundering make it an unattractive venue for money launderers; major consumer of cannabis

