Today the population of Zimbabwe is estimated to be over 14 million and growing at 0.51 percent per year. The population density is a moderate 29 people per square kilometer, but it is unevenly distributed, with most people in the Highlands.
Most of the population is indigenous African. Asians, Europeans and peoples of mixed descent make up less than two percent of the population.
Primarily of the Bantu group of south and central Africa, the indigenous African population of Zimbabwe is divided into two major language groups, which are subdivided into several ethnic groups. The Mashona (Shona speakers), who constitute about 71 percent of the population, have lived in the area the longest and are the majority language group. The Matabele (Sindebele speakers), representing about 16 percent of the population and centered in the southwest around Bulawayo, arrived in within the last 150 years. An offshoot of the South African Zulu group, they maintained control over the Mashona until the European occupation of Rhodesia in 1890.
More than half of the Europeans, primarily of English origin, arrived in Zimbabwe after World War II. Afrikaners from South Africa and other European minorities, including Portuguese from Mozambique, are also present. Asians, mostly from the Indian sub-continent, are also represented, as well as a small number of people of mixed ethnic ancestry.
English, Shona and Ndebele are official languages, universally taught in schools. There are many local dialects. English, the official language, is spoken by the European population and understood, if not always used, by more than half of the indigenous African population.
Like many other African countries, Zimbabwe boasts a religiously diverse society in which Christianity (Anglican and Roman Catho lic denominations predominating) and indigenous Animist beliefs have the largest followings. Hindu, Muslim and Jewish minorities are very small.
Education
Education in schools in mandatory at the primary level and as such, Zimbabwe's literacy rates are high at over 90 percent. Primary and secondary schools were segregated until 1979 when racial restrictions were removed. Since independence, the educational system had been systematically enlarged by the Zimbabwean Government which is committed to providing free public education to all citizens on an equal basis.
In the late 1970s, some 50 percent of the African children (5-19 years old) were listed officially as attending rural schools. Today, however, most African children attend primary school. Primary through post-secondary enrollment has expanded from 1 million to several million since independence. About 40 percent of the rural primary schools were destroyed du ring the Rhodesian conflict, which delayed improvement of the rural education system. Higher education, offered at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare, the new National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo, the Africa (Methodist) University in Mutare, several teacher-training colleges, and three technical institutes, are being expanded with assistance from several donor countries.
Health and Welfare
In terms of health and welfare, life expectancy is very low, ranging from 38 to 43 years for both men and women. The infant mortality rate is 67.69 deaths per 1,000 births. The HIV/AIDS infection rate is high at 24.6 percent.
Human Development
One notable indicator used to measure a country's quality of life is the Human Development Index (HDI), which is compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main areas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. In a ranking of 169 countries, the HDI places Zimbabwe at the bottom of the low human development category, at 169th place. Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.
Written by Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Editor in Chief at Countrywatch.com; see Bibliography for research sources.