Zimbabwe s Country Report. Zimbabwe is a LEDC (less economically developed country) located in Southern Africa between South Africa and Zambia.

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1 Jay Sethi December 14, 2010 Social Studies 10 Zimbabwe s Country Report Zimbabwe is a LEDC (less economically developed country) located in Southern Africa between South Africa and Zambia. (Zimbabwe, in Africa) On the Geography: Zimbabwe is landlocked, however within its borders it has one of the greatest waterfalls in the world; the Victoria Falls. As a result of this country being land locked, it needs to get into neighboring countries in order to ship product out of the country. The country does not own any sea ports or sea harbors that could allow ships to transport goods on the sea. Their only port is called Binga, Cariba, which is a lake port. This prevents them from exporting large quantity of goods then if they had many seaports. Background information: Zimbabwe is a command economy, where the country s government is actively involved in the businesses, media, and the citizens lives, thus these Zimbabweans are not given a lot of freedom. Zimbabwe was formally annexed by the United Kingdom. The white minority controlled the country until the guerilla uprising and the UN sanctions led to the independence of Zimbabwe. After gaining independence, the country underwent its first elections and Mr. Robert Mugabe was elected as the nation s first Prime minister. Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since 1987 and still remains in power. Through his time in office, he has made many poor choices regarding the economy, which are said to have led to negative impacts on its

2 citizens. These poor economic policy decisions made by Mugabe is said to be the primary reason for Zimbabwe s current state. In 2000, Mugabe enforced a law on white farmers, where they were required to give 50% of their income to indigenous Zimbabweans. As a result the population of white people in Zimbabwe decreased greatly. This pie chart shows the extremely small population of white people and Asians. Majority of the white population were owners of flourishing companies, but after the law was enacted and many of them fled Zimbabwe, the GDP of the country decreased significantly. In 2002 Mugabe rigged the elections so that he could stay in office. It is evident that the government of Zimbabwe is corrupt and full of government officials who are working for themselves rather then working to make the country a better place for its citizens. Zimbabwe is currently categorized as a LEDC (less economically developed country), because their economy has not grown, its government is considered to be poor, and the poor economic situation and low GDP of the country. Factors making it a LEDC There are many factors that show Zimbabwe is a LEDC, and could not be categorized as a developing country, because the country does not show evidence of development. The first piece of evidence that shows Zimbabwe is a LEDC is its low literacy rate. The literacy rate is a percentage of people who are 15 and above who are able to read. Zimbabwe s literacy rate is 90.7%; compared to other MEDC s this is a significantly low literacy rate. The percentages of males that are able to read is 94.2%, the percentage of males being able to read is significantly higher then the percentage of females that are able to read. The percentage of females literacy rate is 87.2%. In MEDC s the literacy rate is almost always 99.9%, and anything below that is considered to be unacceptable. Other factors that show it is a LEDC are Zimbabwe s unemployment rate, and its population living below the poverty line. Zimbabwe s unemployment rate is 95%; this is ranked 202 nd worst in the world. The employment rate was previously 80% in 2005, however currently Zimbabwe holds GDP and Growth Rates the greatest 5 unemployment rate in the world. This % shows that only 5% 4.6 of the entire 4.4 population is 4.2 actually involved in % - 1.3% a job, and Ethnicity in Population 1% 1% 98% African Asian/Mixed White GDP per- capita

3 employed. This means that in the 11,651,858 people living in Zimbabwe only 582,593 people are actually employed leaving the rest of the population unemployed. In the graph below a great decrease in GDP is visible from 2007 to As a result of the great increase in unemployment rate, it meant that the GDP, which is the countries income decreased as well. If GDP decreases the GDP- per capita will decrease which means there is an even lower standard of living. Zimbabwe also has the greatest national dept compared to the rest of the world. The national dept in Zimbabwe is this was a data from This graph also shows the GDP growth rates, and it shows that the GDP and the growth rates are both only decreasing, and show no sign of a good economy. As a result of this bad economy the population living below the poverty line is 68%. This means that 68% of the population of Zimbabwe lives below 1 US dollar a day. However this was a statistic taken in 2004, and there is nothing more recent. However looking at the other statistics decreasing it is likely that the percentage living below the poverty line has increased. There are also great problems regarding AIDS in Zimbabwe. Recent statistics showed that 15.3% of the population from ages 15~49 are living with AIDS. This is one of the main causes for Zimbabwe s low life expectancy rate. As a result of AIDS the population is thought to have decreased by approximately four million people. AIDS has also caused the infant mortality rate to double since This is why there are many children being born each year. There are many babies being born because with a high mortality rate, it is likely that a few babies are bound to die. As a result the parents produce as many children as they can so the children will support them when they age. The AIDS epidemic has caused a great number of orphans in Zimbabwe. According to the study UNICEF performed 1 in every 4 children in Zimbabwe are orphaned because of their parents dying of AIDS. This shows that Zimbabwe has a very poor health care system. As a result of the poor health care system life expectancy in Zimbabwe is or about 48. There are also other things that cause it to fall in the category of being a LEDC, for example its factors or production. Factors of Production There are four categories under factors of production: human resources, natural resources, capital resources, and entrepreneurships.

4 These population graphs show the population of Zimbabwe in 2000, then again in In the graph representing the population for 2000, you see a triangle shape. This triangle shape can be interpreted as a very low old population and a greater young population. The reason for the large young population is because of the high infant mortality rate in Zimbabwe due to the poor health care, and the AIDS epidemic. The infant mortality of Zimbabwe in 2010 was 31 deaths out of a thousand. This is a great improvement from the previous 67 deaths out of a thousand back in When examining the graphs for 2000, you can see that the population shrinks greatly when it reaches about the 40 s and about 80 years of age it is evident that not many people live to be that old. The second graph shows a decrease in the number of children being born. If you look closely at the values the babies being produced is only about 600 thousand where as it was originally about 0.9 million. The distribution between male and female are also almost completely equal except for 80 years and above. The numbers of females seem to be twice the number of males at 80 years or above. The decrease in population is probably due to the better health care, and there may have been a decrease in infant mortality as a result parents don't have to produce as many children because there is a higher possibility that all the offspring will live longer lives. The labor distribution in Zimbabwe is mostly based around agriculture. The percentage of people working in industries is smaller compared to all the other forms of labor. This is exactly how the distribution for a LEDC is supposed to be. Because a LEDC is less developed compare Labor Distribution in Zimbabwe 24% 10% 66% Agriculture Industry Services

5 to a MEDC, they have a greater labor force working on farmland and agriculture and less working in Industries. Many of those farmers in Zimbabwe produce just enough food for their family and if they are lucky they are able to sell the left over in the market place to make some profit. The pie chart below shows that Zimbabwe is not making good use of their land. The largest labor force in Zimbabwe is Agriculture however only about 8.5% of their land is actually being used for farming. This means that 91.5% is being used for the remaining 34% of the work force. Agriculture only amounts to 19% of the countries GDP. We are able to conclude that each individual 8.24% 91.43% Land Usage 0.33% Arable land perminant crops other either works in their small farms or works for a large farmer, with many families helping out. Another reason for its great poverty could be caused by the fact that the land for labor is not distributed proportionally, to the great number of workers in agriculture. This problem could possibly be resolved if the government implemented easier methods for the farmers to use. This helps show that Zimbabwe is a LEDC, due to its poor distribution of land and great number of people working in agriculture rather then in industry s. The capital resources in Zimbabwe are similar to capital resources in MEDC s. Zimbabwe has resources which developing countries would find useful. The largest capital resource in Zimbabwe is mining. Mining includes coal, gold, platinum, copper, nickel, tin, clay, and numerous metallic and nonmetallic ores. Zimbabwe s main exports are platinum, cotton, tobacco, gold, and textiles/clothing. This is a good sign for Zimbabwe because they are being able to export their main capital goods, to other countries. The exports in Zimbabwe amounted to billion dollars in This is ranked 143 out of the 224 in the world. This is still significantly low, the reason to this may be because Zimbabwe is landlocked and as a result it costs lots of money to ship goods to other countries on boats, due to tariffs they would have to pay. The largest natural resource in Zimbabwe is coal. This is a good sign because many factories are powered by coal, putting Zimbabwe slightly ahead of those other countries without coal. Other natural resource includes chromium ore, asbestos, gold, nickel, copper, iron ore, vanadium, lithium, tin, and platinum group metals. Zimbabwe also has an important percentage of the world s metallurgical grade chromite. Zimbabwe produces 5% of the world chromite. At Zimbabwe s current state it will be a long time until they can make good use of their own natural and capital resources. Until Zimbabwe receives foreign investment in order to develop these mineral deposits it is unlikely they will make their steps towards a MEDC. It is difficult for Zimbabweans and other citizens in most African countries to become entrepreneurs as a result of the authorities in power oppressing these citizens with policies that satisfy these political rulers and do not benefit the citizens. New forms of entrepreneurships will not make Zimbabwe an industrialized country,

6 because of all the other problems this country faces. Evidence of entrepreneurship is hard to find in an economy where 95% of the people are unemployed and over 60% live below the poverty line. A possible form of entrepreneurships could be millions of US dollar invested in education infrastructure to offer business administration training. Other forms of entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe include the import of clothes and cars from Dubai to Harare for consumers. Wikipedia says the definition of an entrepreneur is a widely regarded as an integral player in business culture of American life, and particularly as an engine for job creation and economic growth. This definition means when a country grows many new job opportunities open up for individuals in the country. The definition states it has to create job opportunities for people, Robert Mugabe supplied the country with computers, and new technology however without understanding how to use it, it is of no use to the citizens. Zimbabwe is unable to produce even the most basic of needs such as soap and shoes. This will cause people to question whether the country is providing its people with necessities. Conclusion All these poor factors of production, GDP, national dept, population growth rate help prove that Zimbabwe is not a developing country and is currently just a LEDC. Zimbabwe is not the only African country suffering from a dictatorship; there are many countries in Africa similar to Zimbabwe. These countries will not be fixed until a stable government is put into place. Zimbabwe is currently considered to be one of the worst countries in the world, because its national dept is the greatest in the world, with more then 60% of the population living below the poverty line. It is evident that there is no evidence off sustainable development in Zimbabwe s entrepreneurships. A country cannot become a MEDC with out sustainable development. However as the country slowly develops and its health care system progresses, the AIDS epidemic will slowly by resolved, and it is likely that Zimbabwe can rise up from being a LEDC, and begin developing to become a MEDC sometime in the near future.

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