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SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE NORTHERN PROVINCE OF ZAMBIA
A PARTICULAR CASE When you speak about poverty in a country like Zambia, it is very helpful to talk in particulars, to take up specific instances. A recent visit to one of the poorest provinces in Zambia provides just such an opportunity. For the vast array of general statistics of Zambian poverty begin taking on some human faces when you look at the specifics revealed in the Northern Province. With 20% of Zambia’s land mass, the Northern Province is territorially the biggest of the nine provinces of the country. According to the 2000 Population Census, it also has the third largest population share of 13.7% (lagging behind only the Copperbelt and Lusaka Provinces whose population shares are 16.1% and 13.9% respectively). The incidence of poverty in Zambia based on a money-metric poverty datum line (quantitative measurement simply in money terms, not qualitative measurement in terms of standards of living, etc.) was estimated to be 73% in 1998. However, the incidence of poverty in the Northern Province was much higher -- 81%. This is the second highest figure, overtaken only by that for Western Province (89%). The high incidence of poverty in Northern Province is in tandem with the unsatisfactory state of social infrastructure and performance on social indicators. The Living Conditions Monitoring Survey of 1998 provides us with information on the state of social infrastructure and performance in the Northern Province as well as in each of its twelve districts. Table 1 shows how the Northern Province fared vis-ŕ-vis the other provinces in the country and Table 2 provides information for the twelve districts of the province. Table 1: Social infrastructure and performance in Zambia’s provinces, 1998
Source: Living Conditions in Zambia 1998
Table 1 brings
out a couple of paradoxical
situations in respect of Northern Province. The province with
a plenitude of perennial rivers has one of the highest percentages
of population with no access to safe water. The province that is
deemed to have the potential to become the country’s food basket
has one of the highest incidences of stunting among children. Table 2: Social infrastructure and performance in the districts of Northern Province, 1998
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