Zambia

Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia), a landlocked country in southern Africa, became an independent country in 1964. A worldwide decline in the price of copper, Zambia's chief export, threw the country into poverty in the 1970s, and civil war in surrounding countries also caused an influx of refugees and further strained the national budget. The population in 2009 was estimated at 11.9 million; the median age is 17 years, and 45.1 percent of the country is aged 14 years or younger. The population is 99.5 percent African, with 50–75 percent Christian and the remainder primarily Muslim or Hindu. The population growth rate is 1.6 percent, despite a net migration rate of minus 2.6 per 1,000; the high growth rate is due to a high birth rate ...