ZAMBIA (Continued)
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: 2,014 km, all narrow gauge (1.067 m); 13 km double track
Highways: 36,809 km total; 5,565 km paved, 8,374 km crushed stone, gravel, or stabilized soil; 22,870 km improved and unimproved earth
Inland waterways: 2,250 km including Zambezi River, Luapula River, Lake Kariba, Lake Bangweulu, Lake Tanganyika; Mpulungu is small port on Lake Tanganyika
Pipelines: 724 km crude oil
Civil air: 7 major transport aircraft
Airfields: 136 total, 129 usable; 12 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways over 3,659 m, 4 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 20 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: facilities are among the best in Sub-Saharan Africa; high-capacity radio relay connects most larger towns and cities; 60,500 telephones; (1.1 per 100 popl.); 7 AM, 1 FM, and 5 TV stations; 1 Indian Ocean satellite station
DEFENSE FORCES
Military manpower: males 15-49, 1,327,000; 691,000 fit for military service
ZIMBABWE
(See reference map VII) |
LAND
391,090 km2; 40% arable (of which 6% cultivated); 60% available for extensive cattle grazing; 39% owned by Europeans (farmed by modern methods); 48% worked communally by Africans; 7% national land, 6% not alienated
Land boundaries: 3,017 km
PEOPLE
Population: 8,090,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 3.5%
Nationality: noun—Zimbabwean(s); adjective—Zimbabwean
Ethnic divisions: about 97% African (over 70% of which are members of Shona-speaking subtribes, 20 to 25% speak Ndebele); about 3% European, less than 0.5% coloreds (people of mixed heritage) and Asians
Religion: 51% syncretic (part Christian, part animist), 24% Christian, 24% animist, a few Muslim
Language: English official; Shona and Ndebele also widely used
Literacy: 25-30% of blacks; nearly 100% of whites
Labor force: (1981) 1,048,000 total; 35% agriculture, 25% mining, manufacturing, construction, 40% transport and services
Organized labor: about one-third of European wage earners are unionized, but only a small minority of Africans
GOVERNMENT
Official name: Republic of Zimbabwe
Type: independent since 18 April 1980; a British-style parliamentary democracy
Capital: Salisbury
Political subdivisions: eight provinces
Legal system: British common law tradition
Branches: legislative authority resides in a Parliament consisting of a 100-member House of Assembly (with 20 seats reserved for whites) and a 40-member Senate (10
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