ATI
COUNTRY PROFILE
Zambia
Zambia is a lower-middle-income economy in Southern Africa. The economy is heavily reliant on mining, leaving growth vulnerable to fluctuations in copper prices. The country is a low economic transformer, with an overall ATI score of 18.4. Zambia faced a decline in its transformation performance between 2000 and 2020, particularly in Diversification and Export competitiveness.
Lusaka
20 million
2.8 %
4.7 %
US $1,488
Zambia’s Performance on the African Transformation Index
The overall African Transformation Index score measures the five dimensions of DEPTH.
Overall score
18.4 /100
Score change
since 2000
At a glance
- Zambia is a low economic transformer with an overall ATI score of 18.4.
- The country scores well below the overall African average of 30.3 and lags in all DEPTH dimensions.
- In general, Zambia has faced a broad decline in its transformation performance since 2000, particularly in Diversification.
| Score /100 |
Change since 2000 | ||
 |
Diversification |
23.7 |
-18.7
|
 |
Export competitiveness |
10.2 |
-1.8
|
 |
Productivity increases |
11.1 |
+0.6
|
 |
Technology upgrading |
28.2 |
-1.6
|
 |
Human well-being |
18.8 |
-1.5
|
Diversification of production and exports measures countries’ capability to produce and export a widening array of goods and services.
Score
23.7 /100
Score change
since 2000
At a glance
- Zambia’s economy was about as diversified as the African average in 2000, but since then, it has become significantly less diversified, falling behind most of its peers.
- Zambia’s mining sector accounts for more than 70 percent of the country’s export earnings but it has limited spillover effects on other sectors of the economy.
- The manufacturing sector’s contribution to total value added has fallen from 10.3 percent in 2000 to 8.2 percent in 2020.
- There has been a shift towards extractive industries, with the share of its five top exports increasing from 74.1 percent to 81.2 percent.
Export competitiveness is measured as the ratio of a country’s share in the world’s exports of non-extractive goods and services to its share in world non-extractive GDP.
Score
10.2 /100
Score change
since 2000
At a glance
- Zambia is an average performer relative to other African countries, but it is less competitive than the global average.
- As a leading producer of copper, producing nearly 70 percent of all African copper, Zambia has consistently performed poorly in this dimension.
- Zambia’s non-extractive exports have an insignificant global market share, as more than one-third of its exports are unprocessed commodity products.
Productivity increases measure the value added per unit of labor in agriculture, manufacturing, and services.
Score
11.1 /100
Score change
since 2000
At a glance
- Zambia’s economy is less productive than its peers and has failed to make progress between 2000 and 2020.
- Agricultural productivity has been very low and declining, with just US$560 of agricultural value added in 2020.
- Services productivity increased from US$5200 per worker in 2000 to US$8240 per worker in 2009 but fell off and remained stagnant since then.
- Manufacturing productivity saw major fluctuations between 2000 and 2020, but overall productivity was not affected in any significant way due to the small size of the sector.
Technology upgrading measures the medium-and high-technology content in total production activities and total commodity exports.
Score
28.2 /100
Score change
since 2000
At a glance
- Zambia’s score on Technology upgrading has increased somewhat since 2003, but it still performed better in 2000 than it did in 2020.
- The lack of progress is mostly attributed to the poor adoption of medium and high technology in production, while the country has made some progress in boosting its higher technology exports.
Human well-being measures economic and social outcomes and enablers in terms of incomes, income inequality, formal employment, and female participation in formal labor markets.
Score
18.8 /100
Score change
since 2000
At a glance
- Zambia has the second-lowest Human well-being score in Africa, and it is one of the few countries that has seen a decline since 2000.
- Zambia’s lack of inclusive growth is a result of economic activity being highly concentrated in the mining sector.
- Income inequality is very high and has risen drastically between 2000 and 2020, while GDP per capita has leveled off and declined since 2013.
- Despite some progress, the vast majority of workers are still in informal employment.
Discover more from the ATI
ATI Scorecard
Explore the data behind the economic transformation progress of 30 African countries between 2000-2020.
Growth with DEPTH
Explore the ATI in DEPTH and see how African countries performed on each dimension between 2000-2020.
Methodology
Learn more about our methodology, sources, and how we calculate the index.
Country Profiles
To explore the results of the index in greater detail and provide context and analysis, the ATI report includes 11 case studies.
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