Has Zambia really escaped “the poverty trap”?
July 18th, 2011 by HYardley Posted in English, Zambiaby Monica Mutesa
Essential Services Coordinator, Zambia
In development circles there was much debate last week when it was announced that Zambia had moved up the World Bank rankings and become a “middle-income country”.
But the truth is that this “news” remains a mere academic pronouncement – for the majority of Zambians the news that Zambia has now graduated to being a middle-income country will not even register as a blip on their radar.
Almost half of Zambian children suffer from chronic malnutrition and almost one in five are underweight. Photograph: Nicole Johnston
Zambia remains polarised along class lines and inequality is growing: the middle class is dwindling and the ranks of poor people are swelling rapidly.
The facts remain stark:
Despite economic growth, poverty seems to be sustained in Zambia. The country’s growth is largely driven by the copper mining industry, a sector where very few ordinary Zambians are employed – mostly in low paying and unstable jobs. About 85% of Zambians work in the agriculture sector, and 25% of Zambia’s national budget comes from donors. Zambia is one of the most unequal societies in sub-Saharan Africa, with a Gini co-efficient of 0.53.
The saying goes that “there are big lies, there are little lies and then there are statistics”. If the statistics say that each Zambian has a gross national income of $1,241 per person then we need to examine more closely how this “average” amount is distributed, as it is not truly reflective of Zambian reality. It is more likely that a small elite earns many times this amount each year, while the broad majority earns far less.
As a Zambian I am wary of claiming easy victories, or rushing to celebrate my country’s alleged graduation to the status of middle-income country.
I’d agree with analysts who question the wisdom of using the World Bank country classification as a basis for determining how much aid each country should receive.
If aid to Zambia was reduced, it would be the ordinary Zambian citizen who would suffer – the ones who don’t earn $1,241 a year.
2 Responses to “Has Zambia really escaped “the poverty trap”?”
By Merna on Aug 22, 2011
The very root of your writing whilst appearing agreeable at first, did not settle perfectly with me after some time. Someplace throughout the sentences you managed to make me a believer unfortunately only for a very short while. I nevertheless have a problem with your jumps in assumptions and you would do well to help fill in all those breaks. When you can accomplish that, I could undoubtedly be fascinated.