* βeta

Zimbabwe

X

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. 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. President MUGABE in June 2007 instituted price controls on all basic commodities causing panic buying and leaving store shelves empty for months. General elections held in March 2008 contained irregularities but still amounted to a censure of the ZANU-PF-led government with the opposition winning a majority of seats in parliament. MDC opposition leader Morgan TSVANGIRAI won the most votes in the presidential polls, but not enough to win outright. In the lead up to a run-off election in late June 2008, considerable violence enacted against opposition party members led to the withdrawal of TSVANGIRAI from the ballot. Extensive evidence of vote tampering and ballot-box stuffing resulted in international condemnation of the process. Difficult negotiations over a power-sharing government, in which MUGABE remained president and TSVANGIRAI became prime minister, were finally settled in February 2009, although the leaders have yet failed to agree upon many key outstanding governmental issues. 

Location :

Southern Africa, between South Africa and Zambia 

Geographic Coordinates Center :

20 00 S, 30 00 E  (Latitude, Longtitude)

Geographic Coordinates Rectangle :

West 25.24
North -15.61
East 33.06
South -22.42

Area :

total 390 757 square km
land 386 847 square km
water 3 910 square km

Land boundaries :

total 3 066 km
Botswana (bw) 813 km
Mozambique (mz) 1 231 km
South Africa (za) 225 km
Zambia (zm) 797 km

Coastline :

0.00 km

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 162 metres
highest point 2 592 metres

Natural resources :

asbestos chromium ore
coal copper
gold iron ore
lithium nickel
platinum group metals tin
vanadium

Land use :

arable land 8.24 %
permanent crops 0.33 %
other 91.43 %

Irrigated land :

1 740 square km

Natural hazards :

droughts floods
torms

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 

international agreements :

Biodiversity Climate Change
Desertification Endangered Species
Law of the Sea Ozone Layer Protection

Population :

11 392 629 

Indicators :

Growth rate 1.53 %
Birth rate 31.49 births/1,000 population
Total fertility rate 3.69 children born/woman
Death rate 16.19 deaths/1,000 population

Age structure :

0-14 years 43.90 %
15-64 years 52.20 %
65 years and over 3.90 %

Median age :

total 17.60 years
male 16.30 years
female 18.80 years

Sex ratio :

at birth 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years 0.81 male(s)/female
65 years and over 0.78 male(s)/female
total population 0.90 male(s)/female

Health :

Infant mortality rate 32.31 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth - total population 45.77 years
Life expectancy at birth - male 46.36 years
Life expectancy at birth - female 45.16 years
HIV-AIDS adult prevalence rate 15.30 %
HIV-AIDS people living with HIV-AIDS 1 300 000
HIV-AIDS deaths 140 000

Religions :

syncretic 50.00 %
Christian 25.00 %
indigenous beliefs 24.00 %
Muslim and other 1.00 %

Languages :

English  
Shona  
Sindebele  

Literacy :

total population 90.70 %
male 94.20 %
female 87.20 %

Country name :

conventional long form Republic of Zimbabwe
conventional short form Zimbabwe
former Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia

Country Codes :

ISO 3166 ZW
ISO Numeric 716
ISO3 ZWE
FIPS ZI
ccTLD zw
English Zimbabwe

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 

Capital :

name Harare
geographic coordinates 17 50 S, 31 03 E
time difference 2.00

International organization participation :

ACP AU
AfDB COMESA
FAO G-15
G-77 IAEA
IBRD ICAO
ICCt (signatory) ICRM
IDA IFAD
IFC IFRCS
ILO IMF
IMO IOC
IOM IPU
ISO (correspondent) ITSO
ITU ITUC
Interpol MIGA
NAM OPCW
PCA SADC
UN UNCTAD
UNESCO UNIDO
UNMIL UNMIS
UNOCI UNWTO
UPU WCO
WFTU WHO
WIPO WMO
WTO

Independence :

1980-04-18 

National holiday :

Independence Day

1980-04-18

Executive branch :

President Robert Gabriel MUGABE Prime Minister Morgan TSVANGIRAI

Legislative branch :

MDC 51.60 %
ZANU-PF 45.80 %
other 2.60 %
MDC 51.30 %
ZANU-PF 45.80 %
other 2.90 %

GDP - Gross Domestic product :

PPP - Purchasing Power Parity 332 100 000 $
RGR - Real Growth rate 3.70 %
PPP - per capita 200 $

GDP Composition by sector :

agriculture 19.10 %
industry 23.90 %
services 56.90 %

Labor force - by occupation :

agriculture 66.00 %
industry 10.00 %
services 24.00 %

Other Indicators :

Labor force 3 840 000 people
Unemployment rate 95.00 %
Population below poverty line 68.00 %
Distribution of family income - Gini index 50.10
Inflation rate (consumer prices) 5.10 %
Investment (gross fixed) 21.50 % of GDP
Current account balance - 597 400 000 $
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold 111 000 000 $
Debt external 5 821 000 000 $
Market value of publicly traded shares 5 333 000 000 $
Military expenditures 3.80 % of GDP
Public debt 304.30 % of GDP

Household income or consumption by percentage share :

lowest 10% 2.00 %
highest 10% 40.40 %

Budget :

revenues 133 000 000 $
expenditures 258 000 000 $

Agriculture - products :

coffee corn
cotton goats
peanuts pigs
sheep sugarcane
tobacco wheat

Industries :

beverages cement
chemicals clay
clothing copper
fertilizer foodstuffs
footwear gold
metallic and nonmetallic ores mining
nickel platinum
steel tin
wood products

Energy :

Electricity Production 8 890 000 000 kWh
Electricity Consumption 10 890 000 000 kWh
Electricity Exports 32 000 000 kWh
Electricity Imports 2 691 000 000 kWh
Oil Consumption 13 000 bbl/day
Oil Imports 13 830 bbl/day

Value :

1 090 000 000 $

Partners :

South Africa (za) 32.40 %
Democratic Republic of the Congo 9.80 %
Botswana (bw) 8.80 %
China (cn) 5.60 %
Zambia (zm) 4.80 %
Japan (jp) 4.50 %
Italy (it) 4.50 %
United States (us) 4.30 %

Commodities :

clothing cotton
ferroalloys gold
platinum textiles
tobacco

Value :

2 029 999 999 $

Commodities :

chemicals fuels
machinery and transportation equipment other manufactures

Currency-name :

Zimbabwean dollar 

Communications :

Telephons Main lines in use 354 000
Telephons Mobile, Cellular 1 655 000
FM Radio broadcast stations 20
Television broadcast stations 16
Internet Country code (ccTLD) zw
Internet Hosts 29 094
Internet Users 1 421 000

Transportation :

Airports with paved runways 19
Pipelines - refined products 270 km
Roadways - total 97 267 km
Roadways - paved 18 481 km
Roadways - unpaved 78 786 km
Railways 3 077 km

Photos

=  
Powered by Google App Engine  | Photos provided by Panoramio Logo are under the copyright of their owners   | 
♦ geognos.com ©®™2010 ♦ Visualizations by Google Visualization API  | Dynamic maps by Google Maps API v3  | Dynamic translations by Google AJAX Language API