Zambia
🇿🇲Republic of Zambia
Zambia defense profile covering the Defence Force, Ministry of Defence, regional borders, peacekeeping, disaster response, and source limits.
| Demographics | |
| Population, Total | 21.31M persons (2024) |
| Population Growth Rate | 2.81% (2024) |
| Urban Population Ratio | 45.47% (2024) |
| Working Age Population | 56.60% (2024) |
| Literacy Rate | 82.04% (2023) |
| Life Expectancy | 66.35 years (2023) |
| Defense | |
| Military Expenditure | 349.67M current US$ (2024) |
| Military Expenditure Ratio | 1.33 % of GDP (2024) |
| Military | |
| Military Branches | Zambia Defense Force (ZDF): Zambia Army, Zambia Air Force, Zambia National Service Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security: Zambia Police (2025) text (2025) |
| Military Service Age | 18 years (2025) |
| Active Military Personnel | approximately 16,000 active Defense Forces (2025) count (2025) |
| Military Equipment Overview | the ZDF's inventory is largely comprised of Chinese, Russian, and Soviet-era weapons and equipment along with smaller quantities of items from other suppliers such as Israel, South Africa, and the US (2025) text (2025) |
| Conscription System | 18 text (2025) |
| Economy | |
| GDP (Nominal) | 25.30B current US$ (2024) |
| GDP (PPP) | 89.84B current international $ (2024) |
| GDP Per Capita | 1,187.11 current US$ (2024) |
| GDP Growth Rate | 3.82% (2024) |
| Inflation Rate | 14.99% (2024) |
| Government Debt Ratio | 71.41 % of GDP (2021) |
| Foreign Reserves | 3.17B current US$ (2023) |
| Trade Balance | 1.88B current US$ (2024) |
| Industry | |
| Manufacturing Value Added | 2.29B current US$ (2024) |
| Industry GDP Ratio | 35.25 % of GDP (2024) |
| Manufacturing GDP Ratio | 9.05 % of GDP (2024) |
| Natural Resources | copper, cobalt, zinc, lead, coal, emeralds, gold, silver, uranium, hydropower text |
| Coal Production | 2.09 metric tons (2023) |
| Technology | |
| Patent Applications | 13 applications (2021) |
| High-Tech Exports | 23.42M current US$ (2024) |
| Internet Penetration | 33.00% (2023) |
| Infrastructure | |
| Air Transport Passengers | 321,738.8 passengers (2023) |
| Electricity Access | 51.10% (2023) |
| Total Area | 752,618 km² |
| Land Area | 743,398 km² |
| Water Area | 9,220 km² |
| Land Boundaries | 6,043.15 km |
| Coastline | 0 km |
| Railway Length | 3,126 km (2014) |
| Irrigated Land | 1,560 km² (2012) |
| Merchant Marine | 2 count (2023) |
| Electricity Capacity | 3.99 kW (2023) |
| Electricity - Fossil Fuel | 11.00% (2023) |
| Electricity - Hydroelectric | 87.90% (2023) |
| Electricity - Solar | 0.80% (2023) |
| Electricity Consumption | 14.4 kWh (2023) |
| Other Statistics | |
| Terrain | mostly high plateau with some hills and mountains text |
| Climate | tropical; modified by altitude; rainy season (October to April) text |
| Natural Hazards | periodic drought; tropical storms (November to April) text |
| Government Type | presidential republic text |
| Capital | Lusaka text |
| Legal System | mixed system of English common law and customary law text |
| Administrative Divisions | 10 text |
| Internet Country Code | .zm text |
Zambia's security environment is shaped by many borders, copper corridors, transport routes, refugees, and regional stability.
Zambia borders eight countries and sits between southern, central, and eastern African security systems. Copper routes, road and rail links, refugees, border communities, and regional crises all influence its defense priorities.
The Ministry of Defence frames its mission around sovereignty, security, defense policy, and coordinated military branches.
Zambia's Ministry of Defence describes its role as safeguarding sovereignty, ensuring peace, and coordinating defense policy and military branches. The defense system includes army, air, and national-service elements described in open sources.
A substantive page should connect institutional responsibilities to national defense and civil support.
Zambia contributes to UN peacekeeping and participates in southern African security cooperation.
Zambia's defense identity includes regional cooperation and participation in international peacekeeping. These activities support military professionalism, diplomacy, and crisis-response experience.
Security conditions affect mining revenue, transport corridors, border trade, disaster response, and public services.
Civilian security in Zambia is tied to copper production, transport corridors, food and fuel movement, flooding or drought response, and the safety of border communities. Defense logistics can affect both crisis response and national resilience.
Zambia's security significance comes from mining corridors, border logistics, and climate stress on national movement.
Zambia is best understood as a logistics and resilience state. Copper routes, border crossings, fuel movement, and flood or drought response all matter because they affect whether the country can keep trade and services functioning.
Connecting minerals, transport, and rural vulnerability provides a more complete understanding of Zambia's security dynamics than treating it as a low-conflict blank spot.
Sources are strong on broad institutions and geography, but readiness, procurement, and deployment detail are less public.
Open sources provide useful evidence on Zambia's geography, ministry role, and peacekeeping participation.
They are thinner on readiness, equipment condition, and current operational deployments.
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