The UK annexed Southern Rhodesia from the [British] South Africa Company in 1923. A 1961 constitution was formulated that favored whites in power.

In 1965 the government unilaterally declared its independence, but the UK did not recognize the act and demanded more complete voting rights for the black African majority in the country (then called Rhodesia). UN sanctions and a guerrilla uprising finally led to free elections in 1979 and independence (as Zimbabwe) in 1980.

Robert Mugabe, the nation's first prime minister, has been the country's only ruler (as president since 1987) and has dominated the country's political system since independence. His chaotic land redistribution campaign, which began in 2000, caused an exodus of white farmers, crippled the economy, and ushered in widespread shortages of basic commodities. Ignoring international condemnation, Mugabe rigged the 2002 presidential election to ensure his reelection.

Opposition and labor strikes in 2003 were unsuccessful in pressuring Mugabe to retire early; security forces continued their brutal repression of regime opponents. The ruling ZANU-PF party used fraud and intimidation to win a two-thirds majority in the March 2005 parliamentary election, allowing it to amend the constitution at will and recreate the Senate, which had been abolished in the late 1980s.

In April 2005, Harare embarked on Operation Restore Order, ostensibly an urban rationalization program, which resulted in the destruction of the homes or businesses of 700,000 mostly poor supporters of the opposition, according to UN estimates. ZANU-PF announced in December 2006 that they would seek to extend Mugabe's term in office until 2010 when presidential and parliamentary elections would be "harmonized."

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population: 12,311,143 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2007 est.)

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Age structure: 0-14 years: 37.2% (male 2,308,731/female 2,266,027) 15-64 years: 59.3% (male 3,663,108/female 3,641,519) 65 years and over: 3.5% (male 198,867/female 232,891) (2007 est.)

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Median age: total: 20.1 years male: 19.9 years female: 20.2 years (2007 est.)

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Population growth rate: 0.595% (2007 est.)

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Birth rate: 27.72 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Death rate: 21.76 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population note: there is an increasing flow of Zimbabweans into South Africa and Botswana in search of better economic opportunities (2007 est.)

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Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.019 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.006 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.854 male(s)/female total population: 1.005 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

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Infant mortality rate: total: 51.12 deaths/1,000 live births male: 53.87 deaths/1,000 live births female: 48.29 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth: total population: 39.5 years male: 40.62 years female: 38.35 years (2007 est.)

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Total fertility rate: 3.08 children born/woman (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 24.6% (2001 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 1.8 million (2001 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - deaths: 170,000 (2003 est.)

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Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid vectorborne disease: malaria water contact disease: schistosomiasis (2007)

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Nationality: noun: Zimbabwean(s) adjective: Zimbabwean

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Ethnic groups: African 98% (Shona 82%, Ndebele 14%, other 2%), mixed and Asian 1%, white less than 1%

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Religions: syncretic (part Christian, part indigenous beliefs) 50%, Christian 25%, indigenous beliefs 24%, Muslim and other 1%

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Languages: English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele, sometimes called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects

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Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write English total population: 90.7% male: 94.2% female: 87.2% (2003 est.)

The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide variety of difficult economic problems as it struggles with an unsustainable fiscal deficit, an overvalued exchange rate, soaring inflation, and bare shelves. Its 1998-2002 involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy. The government's land reform program, characterized by chaos and violence, has badly damaged the commercial farming sector, the traditional source of exports and foreign exchange and the provider of 400,000 jobs, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products. Badly needed support from the IMF has been suspended because of the government's arrears on past loans, which it began repaying in 2005. The official annual inflation rate rose from 32% in 1998, to 133% in 2004, 585% in 2005, and approached 1000% in 2006, although private sector estimates put the figure much higher. Meanwhile, the official exchange rate fell from approximately 1 (revalued) Zimbabwean dollar per US dollar in 2003 to 160 per US dollar in 2006.

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GDP (purchasing power parity): $25.58 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP (official exchange rate): $3.156 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP - real growth rate: -4.1% (2006 est.)

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GDP - per capita (PPP): $2,100 (2006 est.)

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GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 17.7% industry: 22.9% services: 59.4% (2006 est.)

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Labor force: 3.958 million (2006 est.)

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Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 66% industry: 10% services: 24% (1996)

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Unemployment rate: 80% (2005 est.)

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Population below poverty line: 80% (2004 est.)

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Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2% highest 10%: 40.4% (1995)

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Distribution of family income - Gini index: 56.8 (2003)

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Inflation rate (consumer prices): 976.4% official data; private sector estimates are much higher (2006 est.)

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Investment (gross fixed): 16.1% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Budget: revenues: $1.411 billion expenditures: $1.924 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.)

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Public debt: 108.4% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Agriculture - products: corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, peanuts; sheep, goats, pigs

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Industries: mining (coal, gold, platinum, copper, nickel, tin, clay, numerous metallic and nonmetallic ores), steel; wood products, cement, chemicals, fertilizer, clothing and footwear, foodstuffs, beverages

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Industrial production growth rate: -1.8% (2006 est.)

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Electricity - production: 9.412 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - consumption: 11 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2004)

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Electricity - imports: 2.25 billion kWh (2004)

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Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - consumption: 22,500 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - exports: 0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - imports: 13,370 bbl/day (June 26)

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Oil - proved reserves: 0 bbl

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Natural gas - production: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - consumption: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Current account balance: -$264.6 million (2006 est.)

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Exports: $1.766 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Exports - commodities: cotton, tobacco, gold, ferroalloys, textiles/clothing

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Exports - partners: South Africa 31.5%, Zambia 7.8%, China 6.2%, Japan 5.8%, US 4.8%, Netherlands 4.5%, Italy 4.3% (2006)

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Imports: $2.055 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Imports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment, other manufactures, chemicals, fuels

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Imports - partners: South Africa 46.8%, China 6%, Botswana 4.9% (2006)

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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $140 million (2006 est.)

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Debt - external: $5.26 billion (2006 est.) Economic aid - recipient: $178 million; note - the EU and the US provide food aid on humanitarian grounds (2000 est.)

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Currency (code): Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD)

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Exchange rates: Zimbabwean dollars per US dollar - 162.07 (2006), 77.965 (2005), 5.729 (2004), 0.824 (2003), 0.055 (2002) note: these are official exchange rates; non-official rates vary significantly

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Fiscal year: calendar year