ZIMBABWE

Geography

Area 390,759 sq. km. Landlocked state in south-central Africa.

Population

2000       11,669,029

2010       12,863,136 (est)

2025       15,092,435 (est)*

*These UN-projected figures do not allow enough for the death rate due to AIDS. The possible 2025 population may be only around 9 million.

Peoples

Over 42 peoples. Indigenous 90.9%. Non-indigenous 9.1%. Literacy 85%. Official language: English. Trade languages: Shona is widely spoken, Ndebele is spoken in the wester part of the nation.

Economy

Rich in agricultural land and minerals. One of Africa's most successful economies in the 1980s but being dismantled in the 1990s by the corruption and military adventurism of the government and ruling political party. Decline has been accelerated by periodic droughts, the impact of AIDS and the 1999-2000 seizure and plundering of many of the white-owned farms on which the economy and urban population depend. Unemployment has risen above 60%. Public debt> 38% of Gross National Product. Income/person: $720 (2% of USA).

Religion

There is freedom of religion despite post-independence attempts to impose Marxism-Leninism.

Demographic information from "Operation World".