Resource information
Despite robust annual growth of 5.7
percent in the recent past, poverty in Zambia remains
stubbornly high. The poverty headcount rate is 60 percent
(as of 2010), and 39 percent of the population live in
extreme poverty, with insufficient consumption to meet their
daily minimum food requirements. Chronic malnutrition
remains very high, with 47 percent of children under the age
of 5 being stunted in 2010, close to the high levels of the
early 1990s. The report recommends a unified National Safety
Net Program comprising cash transfers and public works to
reach the poorest 20 percent of the population. The
estimated cost is about US$100 million per year. This is
less than 2 percent of public spending and around 15 percent
of the current subsidies programs benefiting the non-poor.
