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Zimbabwe - People

The US government estimates the total population at 14.2 million (July 2015 estimate).

Primarily of the Bantu group of south and central Africa, the black Zimbabweans are divided into two major language groups, which are subdivided into several ethnic groups. The Mashona (Shona speakers), who constitute about 75% of the population, have lived in the area the longest and are the majority language group. The Matabele (Sindebele speakers), representing about 20% of the population and centered in the southwest around Bulawayo, arrived within the last 150 years. An offshoot of the South African Zulu group, they maintained control over the Mashona until the white occupation of Rhodesia in 1890.

The Shona, concentrated in Mashonaland, constitute about 80 percent of the Zimbabwean population and the Ndebele, centered in Matabeleland, 17 percent. Within the Shona, the three main subgroups are the Zezuru, the Karanga, and the Manyica. Mugabe is a Zezuru, and since independence in 1980 the Zezuru have been the dominant ethnic group in Zimbabwe. With the signing of the Unity Accord in 1987, Mugabe, who had been prime minister, became president, and two vice presidents were selected: Joshua Nkomo, an Ndebele, and Simon Muzenda, a Karanga. Under the Accord, there was an understanding that one vice president would be Ndebele.

Nkomo died in 1999 and was replaced by Joseph Msika, also an Ndebele. Muzenda died in 2003. In what became known as the Tscholotsho incident, Emmerson Mnangagwa, a Karanga, attempted to succeed Muzenda. Msika was elderly and Mnangagwa and his backers, including Jonathan Moyo, schemed that Mnangagwa, after becoming vice president, would become first vice president after Msika's death and would be first in line to succeed Mugabe. Mugabe instead selected Joice Mujuru, a Zezuru.

More than half of white Zimbabweans, primarily of English origin, arrived in Zimbabwe after World War II. Afrikaners from South Africa and other European minorities, including Portuguese from Mozambique, also are present. Until the mid-1970s, there were about 1,000 white immigrants per year, but from 1976 to 1985 a steady emigration resulted in a loss of more than 150,000, leaving about 100,000 in 1992. Renewed white emigration in the late 1990s and early 2000s reduced the white population to less than 50,000. English, the official language, is spoken by the white population and understood, if not always used, by more than half of the black population.

Zimbabwe boasts one of Africa's highest literacy rates. Primary and secondary schools were segregated until 1979. In the first decade after independence in 1980, the educational system was systematically enlarged by the Zimbabwean Government, which was committed to providing free public education to all citizens on an equal basis. Though in the late 1970s only 50% of the black children (5-19 years old) were listed officially as attending rural schools, today most children attend primary school despite the fact that school fees are now charged for all schools at all levels. Primary through post-secondary enrollment has expanded from 1 million to about 2.9 million since independence.

There is an impressive network of independent private schools and church-run mission schools that have significantly more resources and thus significantly higher school fees than government-run schools. Higher education is offered at seven state-run universities, the most prominent being the University of Zimbabwe in Harare and the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo, and three private church-run universities, Africa University (Methodist), Catholic University, and Solusi University (Seventh Day Adventist). There is also a large network of teacher-training, nursing, and polytechnic colleges.