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www.aFRICAoutlookmag.com
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www.theiguides.org
ambia, named after the Zambezi River, is a landlocked Sub-Saharan country of about 12.6 million people. The total land surface area is 752,614 square kilometres and shares borders with the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, the United Republic of Tanzania to the northeast, Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the south-east, and Zimbabwe to the south, Botswana and Namibia to the south-west, Angola to the west. The population is composed of more than 70 Bantu-speaking ethnic groups of which the largest and politically most influential is the Bemba comprising 18 per cent of the population. Other groups include the Tonga, Nyanja, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda and Luvale. English is the official language used for education, commerce, and law. With close to 40 per cent of the population living in a few urban zones where most employment opportunities are found, Zambia is one of the most highly urbanised countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report of 2010, Zambia ranked 150 out of 182 countries with data. Mostly high plateau with some hills and mountains, Zambia has both temperate and subtropical ecosystems with temperatures ranging from 15 to 33 degrees Celsius. The country has abundant natural resources including arable land, water, forest and mineral resources. With 35 per cent of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region’s water resources found in Zambia, there is an enormous potential for increased irrigated agriculture and hydroelectric power production. Natural attractions are in abundance including pristine landscape and diverse wildlife and game reserves with over 3,000 different species in the ecosystem.