Zambia in numbers

I was in one library in Lusaka some months ago and I happened to see there Zambia Demographic and Health Survey from 2007. Later, to my great surprise, I found the full book from the internet. I was totally fascinated by all this interesting data of Zambia. In case you don't share my enthusiasm and prefer not to read the 500 pages of statistics, I have copied here some interesting bits.

Population pyramid


Number of usual members in the household

	Urban	Rural	Total
1	6,8	8,2	7,7
2	11,1	9,7	10,2
3	13,6	14	13,9
4	14,9	15,6	15,4
5	15,3	16,2	15,9
6	12	13,7	13,1
7	9,2	9,1	9,1
8	6,4	6	6,2
9+	10,7	7,4	8,5

Total fertility rate

Urban	Rural	Total
4,3	7,5	6,2

Total fertility rate by level of education


Median age for women to give birth for the first time: 19

Married men: Number of wives

	Urban	Rural	Total
1	97,1	89,6	91,9
2+	2,9	10,4	8,1

Electricity

	Urban	Rural	Total
Yes	52,1	3,3	20,7
No	47,9	96,7	79,3

Rooms used for sleeping

	Urban	Rural	Total
One	22,3	45,3	37,1
Two	38,7	37,3	37,8
Three or more	38	16,6	24,2

Place for cooking

	Urban	Rural	Total
In the house	64,4	6,9	27,4
Has separate kitchen	45,4	5,4	19,6
No separate kitchen	17,3	1,4	7
In a separate building	5,7	48	32,9
Outdoors	29,6	44	38,9

Cooking fuel

	Urban	Rural	Total
Electricity	41,2	1,8	15,8
Charcoal	50,7	10	24,5
Wood	7,5	88,1	59,4

Household effects

	Urban	Rural	Total
Radio	75	54,7	61,9
Television	63,9	8,8	28,4
Mobile telephone	67,9	12	31,9
Refrigerator	38,6	1,9	15
Bed	92,3	57,1	69,6
VCR/DVD	34,4	2,1	13,6

Means of transport

	Urban	Rural	Total
Bicycle	31,5	54,1	46
Car/truck	7,9	0,8	3,3
Animal drawn cart	0,8	7	4,8

Ownership of bank/savings account

Urban	Rural	Total
35,6	4,9	15,8

All that data reminds me how privileged I am even with my sort of lower middle-class life here in Lusaka. I have heard some not-very-positive comments on the Central Statistical Office, so maybe all the results are not 100 % reliable, but close enough for simple illustrations like this.

Besides these, the survey includes loads of other interesting data. For instance, 45 % of children are stunted because of malnourishment. Only 11,7 % of adult women had drank milk the previous day, and 5,1% had had cheese or yoghurt. 32,9 % of women and 14,1 % of men find that the husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife when wife burns the food.

The book also describes actions taken to fight malaria. During 2007, 3,5 million insecticide treated nets were distributed. That explains perhaps also why I was expected to be giving away nets, as I mentioned here. (64 % of households have at least one net.)