Zambia

The World Food Programme estimates that almost 50% of the people in Zambia are unable to meet their daily calorie requirements and, with survival taking precedence over education, some 45% of Zambia's primary school-aged children drop out of school early.

58% of Zambia's population currently live below the poverty line of $1.90 (PPP) a day.  A person working in Zambia typically earns around 6,000 ZMD per month (around 12 GBP).

Life in Zambia

Zambia is a landlocked country in Africa, situated on a plateau in South-central Africa. The country takes its name from the Zambezi River, which arises in Zambia and flows through Angola, Namibia, Botswana, then along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe to Mozambique, before emptying into the Indian Ocean. Zambia is bordered by Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Angola to the west, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique to the south, and Malawi to the east.

Zambia was once a colony of the British Empire, with colonisation beginning in 1888 when the British South Africa Company secured mineral rights in the area. The country would later become a British Protectorate a decade later in 1899 being governed as part of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia. Zambia gained independence on 24 October 1964, within the Commonwealth and prime minister Kenneth Kaunda serving as executive president.

Zambia has a mostly humid, sub-tropical climate with an average rainfall of 34 inches per year (falling mostly in December). It is mostly high, flat terrain with a few hills and mountains. Less than 5% of the land is suitable for farming crops. The country suffers from high rates of malnutrition, poverty and food insecurity, with many children out of school. For those children who are able to attend school, one million go to class hungry.

On its border with Zimbabwe is famed Victoria Falls, the "Smoke that Thunders", or Mosi-oa-Tunya as it is colloquially known. Zambian cuisine is heavily centred around nshima - a food prepared from pounded white maize - part of nearly every Zambian meal. In addition to nshima, Zambian cuisine also includes various types of cooked vegetables, stew and dried fish.