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 Zimbabwe



Geography

Total area: 390,580 km²; land area: 386,670 km²

Comparative area: slightly larger than Montana

Land boundaries: 3,066 km total; Botswana 813 km, Mozambique 1,231 km, South Africa 225 km, Zambia 797 km

Coastline: none—landlocked

Maritime claims: none—landlocked

Disputes: quadripoint with Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia is in disagreement

Climate: tropical; moderated by altitude; rainy season (November to March)

Terrain: mostly high plateau with higher central plateau (high veld); mountains in east

Natural resources: coal, chromium ore, asbestos, gold, nickel, copper, iron ore, vanadium, lithium, tin

Land use: 7% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 12% meadows and pastures; 62% forest and woodland; 19% other; includes NEGL% irrigated

Environment: recurring droughts; floods and severe storms are rare; deforestation; soil erosion; air and water pollution; desertification

Note: landlocked

People

Population: 10,392,161 (July 1990), growth rate 3.3% (1990)

Birth rate: 42 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 65 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 59 years male, 63 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 5.8 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun—Zimbabwean(s); adjective—Zimbabwean Ethnic divisions: 98% African (71% Shona, 16% Ndebele, 11% other); 1% white, 1% mixed and Asian

Religion: 50% syncretic (part Christian, part indigenous beliefs), 25% Christian, 24% indigenous beliefs, a few Muslim

Language: English (official); Shona and Ndebele

Literacy: 74%

Labor force: 3,100,000; 74% agriculture, 16% transport and services, 10% mining, manufacturing, construction (1987)

Organized labor: 17% of wage and salary earners have union membership

Government

Long-form name: Republic of Zimbabwe

Type: parliamentary democracy

Capital: Harare

Administrative divisions: 8 provinces; Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Midlands, Victoria (commonly called Masvingo)

Independence: 18 April 1980 (from UK; formerly Southern Rhodesia)

Constitution: 21 December 1979

Legal system: mixture of Roman-Dutch and English common law

National holiday: Independence Day, 18 April (1980)

Executive branch: president, vice president, Cabinet

Legislative branch: unicameral Parliament

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Leaders: Chief of State and Head of Government—Executive President Robert Gabriel MUGABE (since 31 December 1987); Vice President Simon Vengai MUZENDA (since 31 December 1987)

Political parties and leaders: Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), Robert Mugabe; Zimbabwe African National Union-Sithole (ZANUS), Ndabaningi Sithole; Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM), Edgar Tekere

Suffrage: universal at age 18

Elections: President—last held 28-30 March 1990 (next to be held March 1995); results—President Robert Mugabe 78.3%; Edgar Tekere 21.7%;

Parliament—last held 28-30 March 1990 (next to be held March 1993); results—percent of vote by party NA; seats—(150 total, 120 elected) ZANU 116, ZUM 2, ZANU-S 1, to be determined 1

Communists: no Communist party

Member of: ACP, AfDB, CCC, Commonwealth, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, INTERPOL, NAM, OAU, SADCC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO

Diplomatic representation: Counselor (Political Affairs), Head of Chancery, Ambassador Stanislaus Garikai CHIGWEDERE; Chancery at 2852 McGill Terrace NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 332-7100; US—Ambassador-designate Steven RHODES; Embassy at 172 Rhodes Avenue, Harare (mailing address is P. O. Box 3340, Harare); telephone [263](14) 794-521

Flag: seven equal horizontal bands of green, yellow, red, black, red, yellow, and green with a white equilateral triangle edged in black based on the hoist side; a yellow Zimbabwe bird is superimposed on a red five-pointed star in the center of the triangle

Economy

Overview: Agriculture employs a majority of the labor force and supplies almost 40% of exports. The agro-based manufacturing sector produces a variety of goods and contributes about 25% to GDP. Mining accounts for only 5% of both GDP and employment, but supplies of minerals and metals account for about 40% of exports. Wide year-to-year fluctuations in agricultural production over the past six years resulted in not only an uneven growth rate, but one that did not equal the 3% annual increase in population.

GDP: $4.6 billion, per capita $470; real growth rate 5.3% (1988 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 7.4% (1988)

Unemployment rate: at least 20% (1988 est.)

Budget: revenues $2.4 billion; expenditures $3.0 billion, including capital expenditures of $290 million (FY90)

Exports: $1.6 billion (f.o.b., 1988); commodities—agricultural 34% (tobacco 21%, other 13%), manufactures 19%, gold 11%, ferrochrome 11%, cotton 6%; partners—Europe 55% (EC 41%, Netherlands 6%, other 8%), Africa 22% (South Africa 12%, other 10%), US 6%

Imports: $1.1 billion (c.i.f., 1988); commodities—machinery and transportation equipment 37%, other manufactures 22%, chemicals 16%, fuels 15%; partners—EC 31%, Africa 29% (South Africa 21%, other 8%), US 8%, Japan 4%

External debt: $2.96 billion (December 1989 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 4.7% (1988 est.)

Electricity: 2,036,000 kW capacity; 5,460 million kWh produced, 540 kWh per capita (1989) 349