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Where is Zimbabwe?
About Zimbabwe
The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

Zimbabwe is a large country in southern Africa.

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country with no coastal borders.

The land is mostly high plateau with mountains in the east.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Zimbabwe, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 20 00S
Longitude - 30 00E

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Check the weather in Harare now.

This is the time in Harare now

The Zimbabwean flag is seven equal horizontal stripes of green, at the top, yellow, red, black, red, yellow and green with a white isosceles triangle edged in black with its base on the flagpole side. A yellow Zimbabwe bird representing the long history of the country is superimposed on a red five-pointed star in the centre of the triangle, which represents peace. Green represents agriculture, yellow mineral wealth, red the blood shed to achieve independence and black stands for the native people.

The capital of Zimbabwe is Harare.

Zimbabwe is a semi-presidential republic with a president as head of state and head of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

Zimbabwe has a multi-currency system.

Shona, Ndebele and English are the official languages.

Hear the National Anthem


These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Zimbabwean National Anthem called Blessed Be The Land of Zimbabwe. It was adopted in 1994. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

O lift high the banner, the flag of Zimbabwe,
The symbol of freedom proclaiming victory;
We praise our heroes’ sacrifice,
And vow to keep our land from foes;
And may the Almighty protect and bless our land.

O lovely Zimbabwe, so wondrously adorned
With mountains, and rivers cascading, flowing free;
May rain abound, and fertile fields;
May we be fed, our labour blessed;
And may the Almighty protect and bless our land.

O God, we beseech Thee to bless our native land;
The land of our fathers bestowed upon us all;
From Zambezi to Limpopo
May leaders be exemplary;
And may the Almighty protect and bless our land.

We have already written our own history of England but are asking schools in Zimbabwe to provide us with a detailed history of their own country. Check how here.


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The total land area of Zimbabwe is 386,847 sq kms which is the 26th largest in Africa.

Zimbabwe has lakes, rivers and canals which total 3,910 sq kms.

Zimbabwe has boundaries with 4 countries

• Mozambique 1,402 kms
• Botswana 834 kms
• Zambia 763 kms
• South Africa 230 kms

Zimbabwe has no coastline.

The highest point in Zimbabwe is Inyangani at 2,592 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Zimbabwe is 14.03 million people, making it the 23rd largest country in Africa by population.

Of this number 7.17 million are females and 6.86 million are males.

A person from Zimbabwe is called a Zimbabwean.

To be a citizen of Zimbabwe, your father must be a citizen of Zimbabwe. If the father is unknown, the mother must be a citizen. It is not sufficient to be born in Zimbabwe. You have to live in Zimbabwe for 5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Zimbabwe, by population are:-

• Harare 1,542,813 people
• Bulawayo 699,385
• Chitungwiza 340,360
• Mutare 184,205
• Gweru 146,073

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



32.2% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Zimbabwe is 43.0 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Zimbabwe is 9.9 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 27.7 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 35.9 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 20.4 and for males is 19.9. 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 20.0.

The elderly dependency ratio is 5.1. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 19.7. 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.

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Zimbabwe spends 6.4% of its total income on health care.

There are 0.08 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 1.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

15.5% of the population are estimated as obese.

97.0% of the urban population and 67.3% 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.

49.3% of the urban population and 30.8% 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.

Zimbabwe releases 11.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 12th highest in Africa.

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Zimbabwe spends 7.5% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 6 in Zimbabwe. Primary education is for seven years until age 13 and secondary education can continue till 19. 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 January and finishes in the first week of December. There is usually a 5 week break at the beginning of April and another at the beginning of August.

84.6% of females and 88.5% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

16.5% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 21.2% are unemployed while with males 11.6% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Zimbabwe is 7.91 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

11.3% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 17 paved airports in Zimbabwe, which is the 13th highest number in Africa.


There are 3,000 kilometres of railways in Zimbabwe, the 8th longest in Africa.


There are 97,418 kilometres of roads in Zimbabwe, which means Zimbabwe is in 10th place for the most kilometres of roads in Africa.

There are 3 major national newspapers in Zimbabwe.

There are 14.09 million mobile phone users.

2% of the people have a fixed landline.



3.36 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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