Appendix 3: Balance Sheet of Human Development in Zambia

This document outlines the human development status of Zambia, noting improvements in rural poverty, primary education enrolment, and child mortality between the late 1990s and mid-2000s. However, it highlights significant ongoing challenges, including high overall extreme poverty, declining girls' school attendance ratios, rising maternal mortality, a high number of AIDS orphans, and an inefficient justice system.

• Zambia saw a decline in extreme poverty in rural areas from 71 per cent in 1998 to 53 per cent in 2004, and per capita GDP grew from K234 933 in 1998 to K276 416 in 2004. However, overall extreme poverty remained at 68 per cent, and urban extreme poverty only decreased marginally from 36 per cent in 1998 to 34 per cent in 2004.
• Education indicators showed improvement in primary school enrolment, rising from 66 per cent in 2000 to 78 per cent in 2004, and Grade 7 completion rates increasing from 64 per cent in 1990 to 82 per cent in 2004. Conversely, the ratio of girls to boys in primary school fell from 0.98 in 1990 to 0.9 in 2005, and in secondary school from 0.92 in 1990 to 0.83 in 2005.
• Child mortality rates decreased between 1996 and 2002: the under-five mortality ratio fell from 197 to 168 per 1,000 live births, infant mortality from 109 to 95, and child mortality from 98 to 81. Despite this, the proportion of wasted children rose from 5 per cent in 1998 to 6 per cent in 2002, and measles immunisation rates dropped from 91 per cent in 1998 to 86.2 per cent in 2004.
• Health challenges include a rise in the maternal mortality rate from 649 in 1996 to 729 in 2002 and a decrease in births attended by skilled personnel from 51 per cent in 1992 to 45 per cent in 2002. Regarding infectious diseases, malaria incidence fell from 400 per 1,000 in 2000 to 200 in 2004, but the number of children orphaned by AIDS reached 1,197,867 in 2005.
• Environmental and governance issues persist, with 83.4 per cent of households relying on charcoal and firewood for cooking as of 2004. In governance, while a Task Force on Corruption was created in 2002 and the 2002–2006 Parliament was more balanced, the justice delivery system is described as inefficient and slow.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (2009). Appendix 3: Balance Sheet of Human Development in Zambia. https://issafrica.org/topics/crime-and-criminal-justice/01-apr-2009-monograph-no-159-the-criminal-justice-system-in-zambia.-enhancing-the-delivery-of-security-in-africa-african-human-security-initiative/appendix-3-balance-sheet-of-human-development-in-zambia

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. Appendix 3: Balance Sheet of Human Development in Zambia. 2009. https://issafrica.org/topics/crime-and-criminal-justice/01-apr-2009-monograph-no-159-the-criminal-justice-system-in-zambia.-enhancing-the-delivery-of-security-in-africa-african-human-security-initiative/appendix-3-balance-sheet-of-human-development-in-zambia.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=Appendix 3: Balance Sheet of Human Development in Zambia |date=1 April 2009 |url=https://issafrica.org/topics/crime-and-criminal-justice/01-apr-2009-monograph-no-159-the-criminal-justice-system-in-zambia.-enhancing-the-delivery-of-security-in-africa-african-human-security-initiative/appendix-3-balance-sheet-of-human-development-in-zambia |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudies2009appendix, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{Appendix 3: Balance Sheet of Human Development in Zambia}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2009}, month = apr, url = {https://issafrica.org/topics/crime-and-criminal-justice/01-apr-2009-monograph-no-159-the-criminal-justice-system-in-zambia.-enhancing-the-delivery-of-security-in-africa-african-human-security-initiative/appendix-3-balance-sheet-of-human-development-in-zambia}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }