Geography Quiz Arcade

Zambia 🇿🇲

Zambia is a country in Africa with a population of 20,017,675. Its capital is Lusaka. The official currency is ZMW, and the main languages are English.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Lusaka
  • Continent: Africa
  • Population: 20,017,675
  • Area: 752,612 km²
  • Density: 26.6 people per km²
  • Currency: ZMW
  • Languages: English
  • ISO code: ZM

Where Zambia sits

Zambia 🇿🇲 is one of 54 countries in Africa, with its capital at Lusaka. It covers 752,612 square kilometres — 38th in the world — and is home to about 20,017,675 people, 63rd globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Zambia compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Zambia sits closest to Romania and Malawi. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Chile and Turkey.

At 26.6 people per square kilometre it is about 2.2 times below the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by area than by population, so it is more spacious than its population alone suggests.

English is an official language in 58 countries here, among them Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas and Barbados, and 53 others. The ZMW is used by Zambia and no one else.

To see Zambia next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Zambia

Zambia is named after the Zambezi, the river that tumbles over Victoria Falls on its southern border. Lusaka is near the middle of the country. Its flag puts the stripes in the corner, not across the whole flag.

The flag of Zambia: green, red, black and orange

🇿🇲 The flag is a green flag with an orange eagle in flight in the top-right, above three vertical stripes of red, black and orange in the bottom-right corner. Green stands for the land, red for the struggle for freedom, black for the people, orange for the country's copper, and the eagle for rising above the nation's problems.

Region and neighbours

Zambia is a landlocked country in southern-central Africa, named after the Zambezi River. It shares land borders with 8 countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Angola. Zambia is landlocked, with no coast on the open ocean.

Three facts about Zambia

  1. Victoria Falls, shared with Zimbabwe, is known locally as Mosi-oa-Tunya, 'the smoke that thunders'.
  2. Lake Kariba, shared with Zimbabwe, is one of the largest artificial lakes in the world by volume.
  3. Zambia is one of the world's largest producers of copper.

Sources: Wikipedia: Zambia, Wikipedia: Flag of Zambia, Wikipedia: Victoria Falls, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Zambia

Quizzes that include Zambia

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Zambia those are:

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Zambia

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Zambia flag?

The flag of Zambia is a green flag with an orange eagle in flight in the top-right, above three vertical stripes of red, black and orange in the bottom-right corner. Green stands for the land, red for the struggle for freedom, black for the people, orange for the country's copper, and the eagle for rising above the nation's problems.

Which countries border Zambia?

Zambia shares land borders with Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Angola.

How can I remember the capital of Zambia?

Zambia is named after the Zambezi, the river that tumbles over Victoria Falls on its southern border. Lusaka is near the middle of the country. Its flag puts the stripes in the corner, not across the whole flag.