Country Of Origin:
Zimbabwe
Zimbabweans worldwide the bespoke Diaspora Funeral Cash Plan cover is for YOU!
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Whether you are Zimbabwean by descent, registry, birth, marriage you name it the Diaspora Insurance is for You even if you have naturalised by taking other citizenship.
About Zimbabwe
Demographics / Population: Zimbabwe has a population of roughly 14 million people. The capital and largest city is Harare. The second largest city is Bulawayo. Zimbabwe has 16 official languages,with English, Shona, and Ndebele the most common. According to the United Nations World Health Organization, the life expectancy as of 2012 for men was 56 years and the life expectancy for women was 60 years of age.
- Population: 14.65 million (2019)
- Currency: United States Dollar, Real Time Gross Settlement dollar
- Languages: Shona, English, Ndebele, Xhosa, Chewa, Venda, Southern Sotho, Tswana, Tsonga, Tonga
- Literacy Rate: 88%
Zimbabwe News
Zimbabwe Diasporans
About Zimbabwe
Why Zimbabweans Relocate to the Diaspora
It is estimated that there are millions of residents outside of Zimbabwe's borders who were either born in the country or are descended from immigrants. Permanent emigration is a relatively recent phenomenon having begun in the 1990s but expanded significantly since 2000.
Much of the country's middle class has chosen to emigrate due to poor political and economic conditions at home, especially during the political violence that marred the 2000s, essentially foot voting. Zimbabwe's high literacy and skilled immigrants by African standards, has made them highly attractive, for example in the United Kingdom, where many medical professionals have been recruited directly by the NHS.
Additionally, a steep decline in funding for once-prestigious institutions such as the University of Zimbabwe and the National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe has pushed many students abroad particularly to Australia, Canada and South Africa to complete their university studies.
However, refugees and less skilled migrants tend to reside legally or illegally in nearby South Africa, due to the fall of the standard of living and economic conditions in Zimbabwe.
Below are statistics to show issues of concern to the Zimbabweans living in the diaspora, particularly the UK, South Africa and the rest of the world.
- Political Situation- 80%
- Economic Situation- 80%
- Security Issues- 60%
- Healthcare- 56%
- Employment Opportunities- 50%
The Zimbabwean diaspora has a 95% literacy rate and a highly skilled ault population. The main languages spoken are English, Shona, and Ndebele.
Two-thirds of Zimbabweans say that they would like to return to Zimbabwe and live there in the future once or when issues they raised concerns over have been addressed.
Body Repatriation To Zimbabwe
Requirements for repatriating a body to Zimbabwe
Airports with facilities to receive repatriated bodies as well as custom clearance facilities are Robert Mugabe International Airport. Joshua Nkomo International Airport and Victoria Falls International Airport. UK and South Africa contribute the highest numbers of repatriations into Zimbabwe. This reflects the population distribution worldwide of the Zimbabwe diaspora community with the highest Zimabwe diasporans based in the UK and South Africa. According to the Zimbabwean government, 700 Zimbabweans have died in South Africa from natural causes during the global covid pandemic lockdown alone. (Source The Herald 28 May 2020)
Cost of repatriating a body to Zimbabwe
The cost of repatriating a body from abroad vary as there are a number of factors at play. Distance, weight and funeral directors’ fee structures. UK repatriation to Zimbabwe are estimated at about £3000. Costs are much cheaper for body repatriation from South Africa due to proximity and also due to alternative cheaper road transportation. Foe example, average costs for repatriating from South Africa to Zimbabwe by road is R50000.
Requirements for repatriating a body to Zimbabwe
- A valid post mortem report
- A Death Certificate
- An Embalment and cremation certificate
- Export permit to repatriate the dead body to Zimbabwe
- Infectious / Non-infectious disease certificate. This has to be issued by healthy authorities in the repatriating country.
- Zimbabwe passport or Zimbawe issued permanent residence document
- Certificate of contents declaring contents of coffin (issued by funeral director).
Other Essentials for repatriating a body to Zimbabwe,
- When repatriation is by air flight as opposed to road, you should contact a funeral director based in Zimbabwe for them to arrange an import certificate.
- If the deceased’s passport is unavailable, which tends to be the case with most Zimbabweans in South Africa, then you will need to approach the Zimbabwean consulate or embassy for help. The following will be required at the Embassy:
- A Zimbabwean Identity Card or birth certificate belonging to the deceased or
- An Affidavit mentioning whether or not the deceased had a passport and lost it, or whether he or she never had a passport in the first place. In case you do not know whether or not your relative ever had a passport, this is something that you need to mention in the affidavit.
- When in doubt, contact the Zimbabwean Embassy in the repatriating country.
How long does it take to repatriate a body to Zimbabwe?
- It is difficult to know in advance the timelines for repatriation to Zimbabwe as repatriation can only take place after all documentation are in place. When the authorisation letter is issued, repatriation can take place anytime from 3 days to 20 days depending on the funeral directors’ logistics arrangements, mode of transport or whether passport is missing.
- After all the paperwork has been completed, the documents need to be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs in Harare, Zimbabwe. Only after that can the body be repatriated back to Zimbabwe. Once the papers have been received in Zimbabwe, your undertakers of choice will contact their counterparts in Zimbabwe to help with expediting the process.
Zimbabwe Diaspora Population
According to Wikipedia, there are about 5,301,573 Zimbabweans that are living in the diaspora. They are spread across the following countries:
- South Africa- 4,500,000
- United Kingdom- 600,000
- Australia- 65,000
- United States of America- 50,000
- Botswana- 50,000
- Canada- 31,225
- Ireland- 5,348
Our study focused mainly on Zimbabweans living in South Africa and the United Kingdom and we grouped together other populations as "REST OF THE WORLD".
Most of our research findings were extracted from the IOM reports from 2013, 2005 and 2019 as well as articles from Alice Bloch titled The Development Potential of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora: A Survey of Zimbabweans Living in The Diaspora.
It is estimated that there could be more Zimbabweans around the globe who have not been accounted for. This means that there could be more than 5,3mil Zimbabweans across the globe
According to ZIMSTATS, the Zimbabwean Population is currently at +/- 14.6 million. As stated above, 5,3million Zimbabweans are in the diaspora making it 36% of the documented population living abroad. 84% of the diaspora population lives in South Africa and 14% of the Diaspora population lives in Europe.
Zimbabwe Diaspora Remittances
According to the report from The World Bank, Zimbabwe is 1 of the top 5 beneficiaries of International Remittances in Africa.
A report by the Reserve Bank Governor, John Mangudya, highlighted that remittances shot up by 45% from 2019 to 657.7million in 2020.
The diaspora remittances helped drive up foreign exchange inflows to $4.76bn during the January-September period, up from $4.22bn during the same period last year
While main remittances are in form of cash, a recent development where retailers have opened up online shops to cater for customers who would like to buy goods for their friends and relatives back home in Zimbabwe.
Below are a few Online Shops that accept payments from the diaspora and deliver goods, (groceries, clothes and homeware) to people living in Zimbabwe:
How Funds Are Remitted to Zimbabwe
Channels used by most Zimbabweans to send money back home to friends and relatives:
- World Remit
- Mukuru
- MONEYGRAM
- Senditoo
- Western Union
Reasons for sending remittances to Zimbabwe
Below are some reasons Zimbabweans in the diaspora have sent money home:
- Support Family/ friends
- Build/Buy houses and buying land
- Business investments
- Charity donations
- Supporting political activities
Zimbabwe Connectivity
Thanks to the widespread use of the internet, most Zimbabweans in the diaspora stay in touch with their friends and families via Social Media Platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and most recently Zoom.
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 Ghana and how widely spread Ghanaians are over the internet and on Social Media.
Internet users in Zimbabwe
- There were 5.01 million internet users in Zimbabwe in January 2021
- The number of internet users in Zimbabwe increased by 203,000 (+4.2%) between 2020 and 2021
- Internet penetration in Zimbabwe stood at 33.4% in January 2021
Social Media Statistics for Zimbabwe
- There were 1.30 million social media users in Zimbabwe in January 2021
- The number of social media users in Zimbabwe increased by 320,000 (+33%) between 2020 and 2021.
- The number of social media users in Zimbabwe was equivalent to 8.7% of the total population in January 2021.
Mobile Connections in Zimbabwe
- There were 14.76 million mobile connections in Zimbabwe in January 2021.
- The number of mobile connections in Zimbabwe increased by 1.6 million (+12%) between January 2020 and January 2021.
- The number of mobile connections in Zimbabwe in January 2021 was equivalent to 98.5% 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-zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE KEY EMBASSY/ CONSULATE DETAILS
Zimbabwean Embassy in London
Zimbabwe House
429 Strand Covent Garden
WC2R 0JR
London
United Kingdom
Tel: +44-20-78367755
Zimbabwe Embassy in the United States of America
Zimbabwe Embassy
In District of Columbia
1608 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
20009
Washington
District of Columbia
United States of America
Tel: +1-202-3327100
Email: zimemb@erols.com/ zimembassy@gmail.com
Zimbabwean Embassy in South Africa
Zimbabwe Embassy in Pretoria
Zimbabwe House
798 Merton Street
Arcadia
0083
Pretoria
South Africa
Tel: +27-123-425125/ +27-123-424973
Email: zimpret@lantic.net
Latest information on the status of Zimbabweans living in the diaspora
For more information, queries and questions on Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs, kindly contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Contact Details
For any enquiry, Contact the Director for Legal and Consular:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
P. O. Box 4240 Munhumutapa Building Samora Machel Avenue/ Sam Nujoma Street Harare, Zimbabwe
Telephones: + 263-242-794681-6 + 263-242-793372-5 + 263-242-706114-5 Fax: + 263-242-705161
E mail: mfa@zimfa.gov.zw