Country Of Origin:
Zambia
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About Zambia
Population / Demographic: As of the 2010 Zambian census, Zambia’s population was 13,092,666. Zambia is ethnically diverse, with 73 distinct tribes. Zambia is one of the most highly urbanised countries in sub-Saharan Africa with 44% of the population concentrated along the major transport corridors, while rural areas are sparsely populated.
Zambia News
Zambians in Diaspora
About Zambia
Why Zambians Relocate to the Diaspora
Emigration from Zambia is mostly driven by the economic motives mentioned above with little role of civil unrest, security concerns, etc., as the country has enjoyed peace and stability since its independence. Fears of mass emigration from Zambia (and continental Africa) to the rich developed countries seem unfounded at least for the present. In fact, African countries show lower levels of labour mobility than others.
Tertiary educated Zambians living abroad equal 10% of all tertiary educated Zambians in the country and abroad. This rate is not too high when compared to other African countries although it is higher than many countries outside the African continent. For comparison, the corresponding rate stood at 6.2% (Northern Africa), 13.3% (Central Africa), 26.7% (Western Africa), 18.4% (Eastern Africa) and 5.3% (Southern Africa). For the South-Central Asia region, it equalled 5.1% and 4.3% for the Eastern Asia region.
It is important to recognize that the main cause of Zambia’s skewed composition is not that too many of the skilled but that too few of the unskilled migrating. Clearly, facilitating the emigration of the unskilled to areas where they have better economic opportunities is desirable.
Guest worker schemes implemented in the past were intended to fill temporary shortages in host country’s labour markets. The attractiveness of these schemes to host countries lay primarily in their temporariness because unlike permanent migration, temporary migration is more flexible, imposes less burden on the pubic exchequer (like schooling for migrants’ children, old-age pension, etc.) and does not threaten the socio-cultural-political structure of the host country
While the Zambian government does not have an ongoing computerized system in place to document the migration trends, several reports have shown an increase in out-migration over the years.
International migration is fuelled by economic and socio-political factors typically classified as push and pull factors.
The push factors include:
- poor socio-economic living conditions,
- unemployment, drops in real income,
- currency devaluation and rising cost of living,
- professional isolation,
- tribal/ethnic discrimination against the qualifications held and competition with expatriates.
The pull factors include:
- higher salaries,
- greater job mobility and professional career;
- fewer bureaucratic controls,
- higher standards of living;
- acquisition of higher skills,
- foreign scholarships and educational support,
- active presence of recruitment agents and network effects.
Body Repatriation for Zambians in the Diaspora
Body Repatriation to Zambia
In Zambia, repatriated bodies are received at the Lusaka International Airport.
Cost of repatriating a dead body to Zambia
The cost of repatriating a dead body from abroad to Zambia varies depending on country where body is repatriated from, funeral director providing the service, mode of transportation and state of the human remains to be transported. For example, it is estimated the cost of flying a dead body from the UK to Zambia is £3500. The cost is much lower when cremated remains are shipped.
Requirements for repatriating a body into Zambia
- A valid post mortem report
- A Death Certificate
- An Embalment and cremation certificate
- Export permit to repatriate the dead body to Zambia
- Infectious / Non-infectious disease certificate. This has to be issued by healthy authorities in the repatriating country.
- Zambian passport or Zambian issued permanent residence document
- Certificate of contents declaring contents of coffin (issued by funeral director)
Other Essentials.
- All the above documents should be with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lusaka Zambia. They are the ones that give the authority to get the body repatriated to Zambia. Prior to actual shipment of the human remains, advance notification of the Health Ministry in Lusaka, Zambia should be given specifying the airline, flight number, date and time of arrival in Lusaka.
Address:
Office of the Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
P.O Box 50069
Lusaka
Zambia
- Funeral directors in the overseas country should make arrangements to receive the body with funeral directors in Zambia.
- Funeral directors in Zambia would require at least one full day to obtain import licence for the repatriated body,
- You need to notify the Zambia Embassy in the repatriating country when passport is missing. In such circumstances, you would be required to produce a Zambian national card and/ or Zambian issued birth certificate.
- An Affidavit signed by the next of kin stating why the passport cannot be produced.
- In the UK , all death of Zambians must be reported to the Zambia High Commission via email info@zambiahc.uk.org
Zambia Diaspora Population
According to Migration Data Portal, there are about +/-250,000 Zambians that are living in the diaspora. They are spread across the following countries:
- Britain/ UK- 90,000
- OCED Countries- 85,400
- South Africa- 5,000
- United States of America- 60,000
- Canada- 9,000
- France- 100
- Switzerland- 200
- Netherlands- 300
OECD is Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
This comprises of 37 members namely: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
According to the World Bank statistics, majority of Zambians are located in the UK (90,000) and OCED Countries (85,400) making it 34% of the population in the diaspora. The rest of the emigrants are scattered in and around Europe.
5.4% of the population in the diaspora lives in the UK and USA.
According to World Bank, the Zambian Population is currently at +/- 17.9 million. As stated above, around 250,000 Zambians are in the diaspora making it 1.4% of the documented population living abroad.
Zambia Diaspora Remittances
According to the World Bank, Zambia received personal remittances worth $98,259,121 in 2019 which was a negative from the $106,965,625 received in 2018.
How Funds Are Remitted to Zambia
Channels used by most Ghanaians to send money back home to friends and relatives:
1. Mukuru.com
2. World Remit
3. MTN Zambia Ecocash
4. XOOM ( A PayPal Service)
5. Monito
6. Send Money 24
7. Money Gram
Reasons for sending remittances to Zambia
While there is no computerized data to quantify the claim, most Zambians abroad said they send money home for the following:
1. Supporting Family back home
2. Developments and support of their businesses running locally
3. Healthcare and taking care of elderly family members
Zambia Connectivity
Most Zambians use internet applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook and E-mails to communicate with their family back home. In most African countries, using data to make a call is much cheaper than it is to use mobile airtime to phone overseas.
Below are the statistics on the internet users in Zambia and how widely spread Zambians are over the internet and on Social Media.
Internet users in Zambia
- There were 5.48 million internet users in Zambia in January 2021.
- The number of internet users in Zambia increased by 1.1 million (+24%) between 2020 and 2021.
- Internet penetration in Zambia stood at 29.4% in January 2021
Social Media Statistics for Zambia
- There were 2.60 million social media users in Zambia in January 2021.
- The number of social media users in Zambia increased by 300 thousand (+13%) between 2020 and 2021.
- The number of social media users in Zambia was equivalent to 13.9% of the total population in January 2021.
Mobile Connections in Zambia
- There were 16.73 million mobile connections in Zambia in January 2021.
- The number of mobile connections in Zambia increased by 667 thousand (+4.2%) between January 2020 and January 2021.
- The number of mobile connections in Zambia in January 2021 was equivalent to 89.7% of the total population.
Note: many people have more than one mobile connection, so figures for mobile connections may exceed 100% of the total population.
Source: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-zambia
ZAMBIA KEY EMBASSY/ CONSULATE DETAILS
The High Commission of the Republic of Zambia In The UK
High Commission of the Republic of Zambia
2 Palace Gate, Kensington,
London, W8 5NG,
United Kingdom
Tel: +44-207-589-6655
E-mail: zhc@btconnect.com
Website URL : http://www.zambiahc.org.uk
Embassy of the Republic of Zambia In the USA
2200 R Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Tel:+1 (202) 234-4009/ +1 (202) 234-4111
Email: info@zambiaembassy.org
Website: https://www.zambiaembassy.org
Zambia High Commission in Canada
High Commission of the Republic of Zambia
130 Albert Street, Suite 900
Ottawa, ON
Canada K1P 5G4
Tel: +1 613-232-4400
Email: zhc.ottawa@bellnet.ca
High Commission of the Republic of Zambia in Australia
10 National Circuit, Barton 2600,
Canberra, Australia
P.O. Box 4574, Kingston 2604,
ACT, Australia
Tel: +61 261-994-900
Email : canberra@grz.gov.zm
Latest information on the status of Zambians living in the diaspora
For consulate and embassy information on Zambia, please contact Ministry of Foreign Affairs
CONTACT DETAILS:
Charter House
Independence Avenue
P.O. Box 50069
Lusaka, Zambia
Tel: +260 - 211 - 252666 / 252668
Email: pro.mfa@grz.gov.zm
Operating Hours: 08:00 hours – 17:00 hours
Monday to Friday except Public Holidays