| Zimbabwe |
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| Background: The UK annexed Southern Rhodesia from the [British] South Africa Company in 1923. A 1961 constitution was formulated that favored whites in power. In 1965 the government unilaterally declared its independence, but the UK did not recognize the act and demanded more complete voting rights for the black African majority in the country (then called Rhodesia). UN sanctions and a guerrilla uprising finally led to free elections in 1979 and independence (as Zimbabwe) in 1980. Robert MUGABE, the nation's first prime minister, has been the country's only ruler (as president since 1987) and has dominated the country's political system since independence. His chaotic land redistribution campaign, which began in 2000, caused an exodus of white farmers, crippled the economy, and ushered in widespread shortages of basic commodities. Ignoring international condemnation, MUGABE rigged the 2002 presidential election to ensure his reelection. Opposition and labor strikes in 2003 were unsuccessful in pressuring MUGABE to retire early; security forces continued their brutal repression of regime opponents. The ruling ZANU-PF party used fraud and intimidation to win a two-thirds majority in the March 2005 parliamentary election, allowing it to amend the constitution at will and recreate the Senate, which had been abolished in the late 1980s. In April 2005, Harare embarked on Operation Restore Order, ostensibly an urban rationalization program, which resulted in the destruction of the homes or businesses of 700,000 mostly poor supporters of the opposition, according to UN estimates. ZANU-PF announced in December 2006 that they would seek to extend MUGABE's term in office until 2010 when presidential and parliamentary elections would be "harmonized." |
| Geography and Environmental |
Capital: name: Harare
geographic coordinates: 17 50 S, 31 03 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
| Area Total: 390,580 sq km |
| Area Land: 386,670 sq km |
| Area Water: 3,910 sq km |
| Area Comparative: slightly larger than Montana |
| Coastline: 0 km (landlocked) |
| Climate: tropical; moderated by altitude; rainy season (November to March) |
| Terrain: mostly high plateau with higher central plateau (high veld); mountains in east |
| Elevation Extremes Lowest Point: junction of the Runde and Save rivers 162 m |
| Elevation Extremes Highest Point: Inyangani 2,592 m |
| Natural Resources: coal, chromium ore, asbestos, gold, nickel, copper, iron ore, vanadium, lithium, tin, platinum group metals |
| Land Use Arable Land: 8.24% |
| Land Use Permanent Crops: 0.33% |
| Land Use Other: 91.43% (2005) |
| Irrigated Land: 1,740 sq km (2003) |
| Natural Hazards: recurring droughts; floods and severe storms are rare |
| Environment Current Issues: deforestation; soil erosion; land degradation; air and water pollution; the black rhinoceros herd - once the largest concentration of the species in the world - has been significantly reduced by poaching; poor mining practices have led to toxic waste and heavy metal pollution |
| Geography Note: landlocked; the Zambezi forms a natural riverine boundary with Zambia; in full flood (February-April) the massive Victoria Falls on the river forms the world's largest curtain of falling water |
| Population |
Population: 12,311,143
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.) |
| Age Structure 0 to 14 Years: 37.2% (male 2,308,731/female 2,266,027) |
| Age Structure 15 to 64 Years: 59.3% (male 3,663,108/female 3,641,519) |
| Age Structure 65 Years And Over: 3.5% (male 198,867/female 232,891) (2007 est.) |
| Median Age Total: 20.1 years |
| Median Age Male: 19.9 years |
| Median Age Female: 20.2 years (2007 est.) |
| Population Growth Rate: 0.595% (2007 est.) |
| Birth Rate: 27.72 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Death Rate: 21.76 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Sex Ratio At Birth: 1.03 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Under 15 Years: 1.019 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 15 to 64 Years: 1.006 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 65 Years And Over: 0.854 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Total Population: 1.005 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
| Infant Mortality Rate Total: 51.12 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Male: 53.87 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Female: 48.29 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
| Life Expectancy At BirthTotalPopulation: 39.5 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Male: 40.62 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Female: 38.35 years (2007 est.) |
| Total Fertility Rate: 3.08 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate: 24.6% (2001 est.) |
| HIV AIDS People Living With HIV AIDS: 1.8 million (2001 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Deaths: 170,000 (2003 est.) |
| Religions: syncretic (part Christian, part indigenous beliefs) 50%, Christian 25%, indigenous beliefs 24%, Muslim and other 1% |
| Languages: English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele, sometimes called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects |
| Literacy Definition: age 15 and over can read and write English |
| Literacy Total Population: 90.7% |
| Literacy Male: 94.2% |
| Literacy Female: 87.2% (2003 est.) |
| Administrative Divisions: 8 provinces and 2 cities* with provincial status; Bulawayo*, Harare*, Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Masvingo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Midlands |
| Legal System: mixture of Roman-Dutch and English common law |
| Economy |
| Overview: The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide variety of difficult economic problems as it struggles with an unsustainable fiscal deficit, an overvalued exchange rate, soaring inflation, and bare shelves. Its 1998-2002 involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy. The government's land reform program, characterized by chaos and violence, has badly damaged the commercial farming sector, the traditional source of exports and foreign exchange and the provider of 400,000 jobs, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products. Badly needed support from the IMF has been suspended because of the government's arrears on past loans, which it began repaying in 2005. The official annual inflation rate rose from 32% in 1998, to 133% in 2004, 585% in 2005, and approached 1000% in 2006, although private sector estimates put the figure much higher. Meanwhile, the official exchange rate fell from approximately 1 (revalued) Zimbabwean dollar per US dollar in 2003 to 160 per US dollar in 2006. |
| GDP Purchasing Power Parity: $25.05 billion (2006 est.) |
| GDP Real Growth Rate: -4.4% (2006 est.) |
| GDP Composition By Sector Agriculture: 17.7% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Industry: 22.9% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Services: 59.4% (2006 est.) |
| Labor Force: 3.958 million (2006 est.) |
Labor Force By Occupation: agriculture: 66%
industry: 10%
services: 24% (1996) |
| Unemployment Rate: 80% (2005 est.) |
Household Income Or Consumption By Percentage Share: lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 40.4% (1995) |
| Inflation Rate Consumer Prices: 976.4% official data; private sector estimates are much higher (2006 est.) |
| Industries: mining (coal, gold, platinum, copper, nickel, tin, clay, numerous metallic and nonmetallic ores), steel; wood products, cement, chemicals, fertilizer, clothing and footwear, foodstuffs, beverages |
| Industrial Production Growth Rate: -1.8% (2006 est.) |
| Energy |
| Electricity Production: 9.412 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Production By Source Fossil Fuel: 47% |
| Electricity Production By Source Hydro: 53% |
| Electricity Production By Source Nuclear: 0% |
| Electricity Production By Source Other: 0% (2001) |
| Electricity Consumption: 11 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Exports: 0 kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Imports: 2.25 billion kWh (2004) |
| Oil Production: 0 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Oil Consumption: 22,500 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Production: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Consumption: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Exports: $1.766 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Exports Commodities: cotton, tobacco, gold, ferroalloys, textiles/clothing |
| Exports Partners: South Africa 26.9%, China 7.9%, Japan 6.7%, Zambia 5.5%, Netherlands 5.4%, US 4.9%, Italy 4.5%, Germany 4.4% (2005) |
| Imports: $2.055 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Imports Commodities: machinery and transport equipment, other manufactures, chemicals, fuels |
| Imports Partners: South Africa 52.5%, China 5.7%, Botswana 4.1% (2005) |
| Debt External: $5.26 billion (2006 est.) |
| Economic Aid Recipient: $178 million; note - the EU and the US provide food aid on humanitarian grounds (2000 est.) |
| Communications |
| Telephones Main Lines In Use: 328,000 (2005) |
| TelephonesMobileCellular: 699,000 (2005) |
| Telephone System General Assessment: system was once one of the best in Africa, but now suffers from poor maintenance; more than 100,000 outstanding requests for connection despite an equally large number of installed but unused main lines |
| Telephone System Domestic: consists of microwave radio relay links, open-wire lines, radiotelephone communication stations, fixed wireless local loop installations, and a substantial mobile cellular network; Internet connection is available in Harare and planned for all major towns and for some of the smaller ones |
| Telephone System International: country code - 263; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat; 2 international digital gateway exchanges (in Harare and Gweru) |
| Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 7, FM 20 (plus 17 repeater stations), shortwave 1 (1998) |
| Radios: 1.14 million (1997) |
| Television Broadcast Stations: 16 (1997) |
| Televisions: 370,000 (1997) |
| Internet Service Providers-ISPs: 6 (2000) |
| Internet Users: 1 million (2005) |
| Transportation |
| Railways Total: 3,077 km |
| Railways Narrow Gauge: 3,077 km 1.067-m gauge (313 km electrified) (2005) |
| Waterways: on Lake Kariba (2005) |
| Airports: 403 (2006) |
| Military Expenditures Percent Of GDP: 3.8% (2006) |
| Disputes International: Botswana built electric fences and South Africa has placed military along the border to stem the flow of thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing to find work and escape political persecution; Namibia has supported, and 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 |
Refugees And Internally Displaced Persons: refugees (country of origin): 6,536 (Democratic Republic of Congo)
IDPs: 569,685 (MUGABE-led political violence, human rights violations, land reform, and economic collapse) (2006) |
| IllicitDrugs: transit point for cannabis and South Asian heroin, mandrax, and methamphetamines en route to South Africa |