Location:

Southern Africa, east of Angola

Area:

total: 752,614 sq km
land: 740,724 sq km
water: 11,890 sq km

Land boundaries:

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

Climate:

tropical; modified by altitude; rainy season (October to April)

Natural resources:

copper, cobalt, zinc, lead, coal, emeralds, gold, silver, uranium, hydropower

Land use:

arable land: 6.99%
permanent crops: 0.04%
other: 92.97% (2005)

Population:

11,502,010
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 2006 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 46.3% (male 2,673,891/female 2,656,268)
15-64 years: 51.3% (male 2,925,910/female 2,969,324)
65 years and over: 2.4% (male 117,877/female 158,740) (2006 est.)

Population growth rate:

2.11% (2006 est.)

Birth rate:

41 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate:

19.93 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.74 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

total: 86.84 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 94.08 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 79.37 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 40.03 years
male: 39.76 years
female: 40.31 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate:

5.39 children born/woman (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:

920,000 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases:

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)

Nationality:

noun: Zambian(s)
adjective: Zambian

Ethnic groups:

African 98.7%, European 1.1%, other 0.2%

Religions:

Christian 50%-75%, Muslim and Hindu 24%-49%, indigenous beliefs 1%

Languages:

English (official), major vernaculars - Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languages

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write English
total population: 80.6%
male: 86.8%
female: 74.8% (2003 est.)