Zimbabwe

Demographics

Zimbabwe has the 27th lowest Human Development Index rating in the world

• Birth rate: 31.62 births/1,000 population (UK: 11 births/1,000)
• Population under 15 years: 44% (UK: 17%)
• HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate: 25% (UK: 0.2%)

Infrastructure

• Area of the country: 150,804 sq miles (UK: 94,525 sq miles)
• 60,546 miles of roads, but only 11,504 miles of paved roads (UK: 241,104 miles – all paved)
• 341 landing strips of which only 19 are paved

Economy
The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide variety of difficult economic problems as it struggles with an unsustainable fiscal deficit, an overvalued official exchange rate, hyperinflation, and bare store shelves. The government's land reform programme, characterised by chaos and violence, has badly damaged the commercial farming sector, the traditional source of exports and foreign exchange and the provider of 400,000 jobs, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products. In 2007, inflation rose by 26,000%.

• 66% of the population employed in agriculture
• Main exports include platinum, cotton, tobacco, gold, ferroalloys, textiles/clothing

Environment
Mostly high plateau with higher central plateau. Mountains in the east.
Current environment issues include:

• Deforestation
• Soil erosion
• Land degradation
• Desertification
• Air and water pollution
• Poaching (in particular the black rhinoceros herd)
• Poor mining practices have led to toxic waste and heavy metal pollution

Climate
A country with a tropical climate; moderated by altitude; rainy season (November to March)

• Recurring droughts
• Floods and severe storms are rare

Religion
There is freedom of religion despite post-independence attempts to impose Marxism – Leninism