Where is Mozambique?
About Mozambique
The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media
Mozambique is a vast country in south east Africa.
Mozambique borders the Indian Ocean.
The land is mostly coastal lowlands, uplands in center, high plateaus in northwest, mountains in west.
The geographical coordinates for the centre of Mozambique, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 18 15S
Longitude - 35 00E
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The Mozambican flag is three equal horizontal stripes of green, at the top, black and yellow with a red isosceles triangle based on the flagpole side. The black band
is edged in white, In the centre of the triangle is a yellow five-pointed star bearing a crossed rifle and a hoe in black superimposed on an open white book. The
green represents the riches of the land, white peace, black the African continent, yellow the country's minerals and red the struggle for independence. The
rifle symbolizes defense and vigilance, the hoe refers to the country's agriculture, the open book stresses the importance of education and the star represents
Marxism and internationalism.
We have already written our own history of England but are asking schools in Mozambique to provide us with a detailed history of
their own country. Check how here.
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The total land area of Mozambique is 786,380 sq kms which is the 16th largest in Africa.
Mozambique has lakes, rivers and canals which total 13,000 sq kms.
Mozambique has boundaries with 6 countries
Mozambique has a coastline of 2,470 kms which is the 4th longest in Africa.
The highest point in Mozambique is Monte Binga at 2,436 metres.
The total population of Mozambique is 27.23 million people, making it the 13th largest country in Africa by population.
Of this number 13.89 million are females and 13.34 million are males.
A person from Mozambique is called a Mozambican.
To be a citizen of Mozambique, one of your parents must be a citizen of Mozambique. It is not sufficient to be born in Mozambique. You have to live in Mozambique for
5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.
The largest five cities in Mozambique, by population are:-
The birth rate in Mozambique is 37.8 births per 1,000 of population
The death rate in Mozambique is 11.4 deaths per 1,000 people.
Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then
the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.
There are 62.0 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 66.0 deaths of boys.
The median age for females is 17.8 and for males is 16.7. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number
of people above the median age as below it.
The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 18.9.
The elderly dependency ratio is 6.1. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).
The potential support ratio is 16.5. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.
Mozambique spends 7.0% of its total income on health care.
There are 0.07 doctors per 1,000 people.
There are 0.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people.
7.2% of the population are estimated as obese.
80.6% of the urban population and 37.0% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or
protected rainwater collection facility.
42.4% of the urban population and 10.1% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a
permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.
Mozambique spends 6.5% of its total income on education.
Children usually start school at age 6 in Mozambique. Primary education is for seven years until age 13 and secondary education can continue till 18.
We are not sure how much of this is coompulsory education. This may be followed
by further education at a university or college.
Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the first week of February and finishes in the middle of November. There is usually a 1week
break at the beginning of May and a 2 week break in the middle of August.
43.1% of femlaes and 70.8% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.
7.4% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 7.1% are unemployed while with males 7.7% can't find work.
The total number of people available for work in Mozambique is 12.90 million.
They work in the following sectors.
There are 21 paved airports in Mozambique, which is the 10th highest number in Africa.
There are 3,116 kilometres of railways in Mozambique, the 7th longest in Africa.
There are 32,059 kilometres of roads in Mozambique, which means Mozambique is in 20th place for the most kilometres of roads in Africa.