Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bordered to the north by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the southeast, Zimbabwe and Botswana to the south, Namibia to the southwest, and Angola to the west. The capital city of Zambia is Lusaka, located in the south-central part of Zambia. The population is concentrated mainly around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the north, the core economic hubs of the country.
On 24 October 1964, Zambia became independent of the United Kingdom and prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the inaugural president. Kaunda's socialistUnited National Independence Party (UNIP) maintained power from 1964 until 1991 with him playing a key role in regional diplomacy, cooperating closely with the United States in search of solutions to conflicts in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Angola, and Namibia. From 1972 to 1991, Zambia was a one-party state with UNIP as the sole legal political party under the motto "One Zambia, One Nation" coined by Kaunda. Kaunda was succeeded by Frederick Chiluba of the social-democraticMovement for Multi-Party Democracy in 1991, beginning a period of socio-economic development and government decentralisation. Zambia has since become a multi-party state and has experienced several peaceful transitions of power.
According to the most recent estimates, 75.3% of Zambians were Protestant, 20.2% were other Christians, 0.5% were Muslim, 2.2% followed other religions, and 1.8% had no religion. However, the World Christian Database in 2016 noted that 82.3% of the population were Christian, 10.4% were Animists, 0.5% were Baháʼí, 2.2% were Muslim, 4.6% were agnostic, and all other groups including Hindu were counted as 0.2%, in 2015. (Full article...)
Image 6Enormous Ba-Ila settlement. These communities have been of interest to mathematicians due to their fractal pattern design. (from History of Zambia)
Image 7Batonga fisherwomen in Southern Zambia. Women have played and continue to play pivotal roles in many African societies. (from Zambia)
Image 8Zambia map of Köppen climate classification. (from Zambia)
Image 12An 1864 photograph of the Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone. (from Zambia)
Image 13Three young Ngoni chiefs. The Ngoni made their way into Eastern Zambia from KwaZulu in South Africa. They eventually assimilated into the local ethnic groups. (from Zambia)
Image 15Inside the palace of the Litunga, ruler of the Lozi. Due to the flooding on the Zambezi, the Litunga has two palaces one of which is on higher ground. The movement of Litunga to higher land is celebrated at the Kuomboka Ceremony (from Zambia)
Image 20Seated female Staffs of office (Kibango), were displayed by Luba kings. In Luba society, women's bodies were considered the ultimate vessels of spiritual power. (from History of Zambia)
Image 21Nsima (top right corner) with three types of relish. (from Zambia)
Image 22Inside the palace of the Litunga, ruler of the Lozi. Due to the flooding on the Zambezi, the Litunga has two palaces one of which is on higher ground. The movement of Litunga to higher land is celebrated at the Kuomboka Ceremony (from Zambia)
Image 23Nsima (top right corner) with three types of relish. (from Zambia)
Image 37Batonga fisherwomen in Southern Zambia. Women have and continue to play important roles in many African societies. (from History of Zambia)
Image 38GDP per capita (current), compared to neighbouring countries (world average = 100) (from Zambia)
Image 39Zambia National Assembly building in Lusaka (from Zambia)
Image 40The Kalonga of the Chewa today descends from the Kalonga (rulers) of the Maravi Empire. (from History of Zambia)
Image 41A drawing of Lunda houses by a Portuguese. The size of the doorways relative to the building emphasizes the scale of the buildings. (from History of Zambia)
Image 45Three young Ngoni chiefs. The Ngoni made their way into Eastern Zambia from KwaZulu in South Africa. They eventually assimilated into the local ethnic groups. (from History of Zambia)
Image 46Inside the palace of the Litunga, ruler of the Lozi. Due to the flooding on the Zambezi, the Litunga has two palaces one of which is on higher ground. The movement of Litunga to higher land is celebrated at the Kuomboka Ceremony (from History of Zambia)
Image 47The kalonga (ruler) of the AChewa today descends from the kalonga of the Maravi Empire. (from Zambia)
Image 48Ancient (but graffitied) Rock Art in Nsalu Cave, Kasanka National Park in North-Central Zambia. (from Zambia)
Image 49Zambia map of Köppen climate classification. (from Zambia)
Image 51A drawing of Lunda houses by a Portuguese visitor. The size of the doorways relative to the building emphasizes the scale of the buildings. (from Zambia)
Image 58A drawing of Lunda houses by a Portuguese visitor. The size of the doorways relative to the building emphasizes the scale of the buildings. (from Zambia)
Image 59Drawing of the ruler of Lunda, Mwata Kazembe, receiving Portuguese in the royal courtyard in the 1800s (from History of Zambia)
Image 60The geopolitical situation during the Rhodesian Bush War in 1965 – countries friendly to the nationalists are coloured orange. (from Zambia)
Image 68Three young Ngoni chiefs. The Ngoni made their way into Eastern Zambia from KwaZulu in South Africa. They eventually assimilated into the local ethnic groups. (from Zambia)
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The 2010 Zambian census was conducted in Zambia in 2010 under the approval of the Government of Zambia, which recorded demographic data from 13 million people and 3.2 million households. The 2010 Census of Population and Housing was conducted between 16 October and 15 November 2010, with all parts of the country covered by 30 November 2010. It was the fifth national population census exercise of Zambia since its independence in 1964, with the previous censuses conducted in 1969, 1980, 1990 and 2000. A total of 3.2 million questionnaires were used for data collection and the processing started in April 2011 by the Central Statistical Office. Optical Mark Reading (OMR) and Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) technology were used for data capture. The census was funded by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Kingdom AID (UKAID-formerly DFID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), who contributed close to 60 per cent of the total expenditure and rest contributed by the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Zambia.
As per the census, Zambia had a total population of 13,092,666 including 6,454,647 males (49.2%) and 6,638,019 females (50.8%) with a sex-ratio of 102.84. The total literacy of the population above the age of five stood at 70.2 per cent. Urban population constituted 39.51 per cent and the remaining 61.49 per cent resided in rural areas. The density of population was 17.4 persons per km2 and the decadal growth of population was 2.8 per cent. There were 22 major languages spoken in Zambia of which 33.5 per cent of the population spoke Bemba, making it the largest spoken language. Out of the seven broad ethnic groups, Bemba was the most prevalent tribal group (21.0%), followed by Tonga (13.6%). The national average of active people stood at 55.5 per cent with 50.2 in rural areas and 65.3 per cent in urban areas. Unemployment rate was 13 per cent as of 2010. Agriculture was the major occupation with 66.5 per cent involved in it. The proportion of people living under poverty line was 60.5 per cent, while the extremely poor formed 42.3 per cent of the total population. (Full article...)