Zambian Provinces
Category	Unitary state
Location	Zambia
Number	10 Provinces
Populations	711,657 (Muchinga) – 2,191,225 (Lusaka)
Areas	8,454 sq mi (21,896 km2) (Lusaka) – 48,798 sq mi (126,386 km2) (Western)
Government	Government
Subdivisions	Districts

Politics of Zambia
Constitution Human rights
Government President Hakainde Hichilema Vice-President Mutale Nalumango Cabinet
Legislature National Assembly Speaker: Nelly Mutti Constituencies
Judiciary Constitutional Court President: Mulela Margaret Munalula Supreme Court Chief Justice: Mumba Malila
Elections General 1964 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 2021 Presidential 2008 2015 Referendums 1969 2016 Political parties By-elections
Administrative divisions Provinces Districts
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Joseph Malanji Diplomatic missions of / in Zambia Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
National symbols Flag Anthem
Zambia portal Other countries

Zambia is divided into 10 provinces for administrative purposes. Each province is headed by a minister appointed by the President and there are ministries of central government for each province. The administrative head of each province is the Permanent Secretary, appointed by the President. There are Deputy Permanent Secretary, heads of government departments and civil servants at the provincial level.^{[citation needed]}

Provinces are further divided into districts and almost all the district headquarters are the same as the district names. Each of the 116 districts in the 10 provinces has a council which is headed by an elected representative, called councilor. Each councilor holds office for five years. Each council is responsible for raising and collecting local taxes and the budgets of the council are audited and submitted every year after the annual budget. Zambia has predominantly rural provinces and hence there are only four municipal councils. The government stipulates 63 different functions for the councils with the majority of them being infrastructure management and local administration.^{[citation needed]}

Western Province is the largest in terms of area, having 126,386 square kilometres (48,798 sq mi), while Lusaka is the smallest with 21,896 square kilometres (8,454 sq mi). In terms of population, Lusaka is the most populated and most densely populated with a population of 2,191,225 and density of 100 persons per square kilometre.

Agriculture is the major profession in most of the provinces in Zambia. Maize, mixed beans, rice, sorghum, soya beans, sunflower, sweet potatoes and wheat are the major crops in the provinces. Among all provinces, Central has the maximum area of 391,593.23 ha (967,647.9 acres) constituting 20.64 per cent of the totals, while Luapula has the smallest area at 3.06 per cent.^{[citation needed]}

List of provinces[edit]

Province[1]	Capital	Area (km2)	Population (2022)	Density (people/km2)	Districts	Map
Central[2]	Kabwe	110,450	2,252,483	23.9	11
Copperbelt[3]	Ndola	31,328	2,757,539	88.0	10
Eastern	Chipata	98,877	2,454,788	35.6	15
Luapula	Mansa	50,567	1,514,011	29.9	12
Lusaka[2]	Lusaka	23,490	3,079,964	140.1	6
Muchinga[4]	Chinsali[5]	70,405	918,296	13.1	8
North-Western	Solwezi	125,826	1,270,028	10.1	11
Northern	Kasama	77,650	1,618,412	20.8	12
Southern	Choma	68,410	2,381,728	27.7	15
Western[3]	Mongu	126,386	1,363,520	10.8	16
Zambia	Lusaka	752,612	19,610,796	17.3	116

Administration[edit]

Provincial government is set up purely for administrative purposes. Each province is headed by a minister appointed by the President and there are ministries of central government for each province. The administrative head of each province is the Permanent Secretary, appointed by the President. There are Deputy Permanent Secretary, heads of government departments and civil servants at the provincial level. Provinces are further divided into districts and almost all the district headquarters are the same as the district names. Each of the 116 districts in the 10 provinces has a council which is headed by an elected representative, called councilor. Each councilor holds office for three years.^[6] The administrative staff of the council is selected based on Local Government Service Commission from within or outside the district. The office of the provincial government is located in each of the district headquarters and has provincial local government officers and auditors. Each council is responsible for raising and collecting local taxes and the budgets of the council are audited and submitted every year after the annual budget. The elected members of the council do not draw salaries, but are paid allowances from the council. Zambia has predominantly rural provinces and hence there are only four city councils (Lusaka; Ndola; Kitwe; Chipata) as of 2017. The government stipulates 63 different functions for the councils with the majority of them being infrastructure management and local administration. Councils are mandated to maintain each of their community centres, zoos, local parks, drainage system, playgrounds, cemeteries, caravan sites, libraries, museums and art galleries. They also work along with specific government departments for helping in agriculture, conservation of natural resources, postal service, establishing and maintaining hospitals, schools and colleges. The councils prepare schemes that encourage community participation.^[7]

Primary data[edit]

Western Province is the largest in terms of area, having 126,386 km², while Lusaka was the smallest with 21,896 km². In terms of population, Lusaka is the most populated and most densely populated with a population of 2,191,225 and densf 100 persons per km². As of 2010, Western Province had the best sex ratio of 108 females for every 100 males, while Copperbelt had the lowest of 101. Northern had the highest number of basic schools, while Copperbelt had the highest number of high schools. The unemployment rate of youth (55%) and general unemployment rate (32%) was the highest in Copperbelt province, while Eastern had the lowest unemployment rate of 6 per cent. AIDS death was maximum in Copperbelt with 26,799 recorded deaths in 2010, while it was lowest in North-Western with 2,859 recorded deaths. Lusaka Province had the most doctors and fewest malaria related incidents, while North-Western has the lowest number of doctors.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]}

Economy[edit]

Agriculture is the major profession in most of the provinces in Zambia. Maize, mixed beans, rice, sorghum, soya beans, sunflower, sweet potatoes and wheat are the major crops in the provinces. Among all provinces, Central had the maximum area, 391,593.23 ha (967,647.9 acres), constituting 20.64 per cent of the total, while Luapula had the smallest area at 3.06 per cent. Maize production was maximum in Eastern (22.5%), mixed beans (51.66%) in Northern, sorghum in Southern (40.62%), sunflower in Eastern (70.2%), soya beans (45.06%), sweet potatoes (28.5%) and wheat (49.51%) in Central Province.^[19]

Human Development[edit]

This is a list of 9 provinces by Human Development Index as of 2017.^[21]

Medium Human Development
Rank	Province	2017 HDI
1	Lusaka	0.672
2	Copperbelt	0.670
3	Southern	0.590
-	Zambia (average)	0.589
4	Central	0.572
5	North-Western	0.564
Low Human Development
6	Northern	0.538
7	Western	0.531
8	Luapula	0.528
9	Eastern	0.507

See also[edit]

• Districts of Zambia
• ISO 3166-2:ZM

References[edit]