Country · Africa
Zimbabwe
Republic of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a country in Eastern Africa. Its capital city is Harare. About 14.4 million people live there, in an area of 390 757 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Ryan Timothy777 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · User:Ulamm (Public domain) · Ralf Ellerich (CC BY-SA 3.0) · damien_farrell (CC BY 2.0) · Rob (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Zimbabwe?
Zimbabwe lies in Eastern Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the southern half of the world, roughly 2 226 km from the equator.
Zimbabwe is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 4 countries: Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.
How big is Zimbabwe?
Zimbabwe covers 390 757 square kilometres.
That is about 9.5 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 60th largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 37 people on every square kilometre.
Who lives in Zimbabwe?
About 14.4 million people live in Zimbabwe.
That is the 73rd biggest population in the world.
People here speak Chibarwe, English, Kalanga, Khoisan, Ndau, Northern Ndebele, Chewa, Shona, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa and Zimbabwean Sign Language.
They pay with the Botswana pula (P).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 38 years.
The land of Zimbabwe
The land in Zimbabwe sits on average 961 metres above sea level.
Because it is landlocked, everything that arrives by ship has to cross one of its 4 neighbours first.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Zimbabwe different?
A dish the country is known for: Sadza.
Websites from here often end in .zw.
Zimbabwe and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 2 live in Zimbabwe.
It takes up about 0.29 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa it is the 26th largest of 54 countries, and the 26th most populated.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Zimbabwe and its neighbours
South Africa, its largest neighbour, is about 3.1 times bigger.
South Africa has more people: 57.8 million against 14.4 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 8 live wild in Zimbabwe: Lion, African elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, Hippopotamus and White rhinoceros and more.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Zimbabwe?
The capital of Zimbabwe is Harare. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Zimbabwe?
About 14.4 million people live in Zimbabwe, which makes it the 73rd most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Zimbabwe?
Zimbabwe borders Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia — 4 neighbours in total.
How big is Zimbabwe?
Zimbabwe covers 390 757 square kilometres, making it the 60th largest country in the world. That is about 9.5 times the size of Switzerland.
Which continent is Zimbabwe in?
Zimbabwe is in Africa, in the part called Eastern Africa.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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