There is anecdotal evidence that shows that a lot of Zimbabweans have left the country for greener pastures in other countries following decades of economic hardships. That evidence also seems to suggest that most Zimbabweans live and work in South Africa. The latest data from ZIMSTAT’s census confirms these suspicions. According to the government statistics agency about 1 million Zimbabweans live in the diaspora and of these 85% are living in South Africa.
Exactly 908 913 people are living in the diaspora according to ZIMSTAT and there are distributed as follows:
| Country of Residence | Male Population | Female Population | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 461 293 | 311 953 | 773 246 |
| Botswana | 28 680 | 19 248 | 47 928 |
| Malawi | 613 | 467 | 1 080 |
| Mozambique | 5 911 | 3 566 | 9 477 |
| Namibia | 3 496 | 2 164 | 5 660 |
| Zambia | 3 266 | 1 810 | 5 076 |
| United Kingdom | 10 573 | 12 593 | 23 166 |
| United States of America | 4 369 | 4 196 | 8 565 |
| Canada | 1 689 | 1 731 | 3 420 |
| China | 1 151 | 916 | 2 067 |
| Australia | 3 225 | 3 248 | 6 473 |
| Other African Countries | 4 239 | 1 968 | 6 207 |
| Other European Countries | 4 146 | 4 608 | 8 754 |
| Other American Countries | 242 | 203 | 445 |
| Asian | 3 857 | 3 108 | 6 965 |
| Other Countries | 16 | 18 | 34 |
| Not Stated | 232 | 118 | 350 |
| Total | 536 998 | 371 915 | 908 913 |
There were other interesting bits from this data too:
- Masvingo and Matabeleland South lead in terms the relative number of people who have left the country for greener pastures. This means that more people in these areas have relatives and family in the diaspora than any other province.
- 84% of the people who left the country and are living in the diaspora did so because they were looking for jobs.
- The next biggest reason for leaving was family (8.5%) probably because those who left for employment asked their families to join them
- About 28% of those who left Zimbabwe are between the ages of 20-24
- There was a sharp increase in the number of people leaving Zimbabwe around the years leading up to 2 000 as professionals like nurses emigrated to other countries on the brink of Zimbabwe’s economic collapse. This number hs steadly increased over the years and in recent times it has approached 100 000 Zimbabweans leaving Zimbabwe for the diaspora.
- Service workers including sales and craft related trades lead the number of people who left the country at 58%
Numbers questioned
Estimating the number of people living in the diaspora has always been a controversial and difficult topic. Some have questioned the statistics provided by ZIMSTAT with others saying the numbers are too high while others are saying the numbers are too low. Someone pointed out that according to the government of Australia there were about 34 787 Zimbabweans living in that country. How do we account for the discrepancy? It could e the methodology used in each case was different. Maybe students were not counted etc.
The way we see it, the data by ZIMSTAT still paints a gloomy picture of the country’s economy. Zimbabweans rely heavily on those in the diaspora to make a living with remittances breaching the US$1 billion mark years ago. We might not know exactly how many people live in the diaspora but we sure owe them a lot of gratitude and respect.
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