The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTATS) reports that the country’s population as at 20th April 2022 was 15,178,979, of which 7,289,558 (48%) were male and 7,889,421 (52%) were female, giving a sex ratio of 92 males for every 100 females.
In its preliminary census report, the agency said, “Given the 2012 population size of 13,061,329, this gives an annual population growth rate of 1.5 percent. The population constituted 3,818,992 households, giving an average of 4 persons per household. Given a land area of 390,757 square kilometres, the resultant population density stood at 39 persons per square kilometre.”
In terms of distribution of population by province, ZIMSTATS said Harare province constituted 16 percent of the total population, followed by Manicaland and Mashonaland West provinces with 13.4 and 12.5 percent respectively.
“The distribution of the population by province for year 2022 indicates that Harare Province had 2,427,209 persons. Manicaland and Mashonaland West provinces had 2,037,762 and 1,893,578 persons respectively. In all provinces, the female population was higher than the male population.
The sex ratios ranged from 86 males per 100 females in Bulawayo province to 98 males per 100 females in Mashonaland West province.
ZIMSTATS also noted that the distribution of households shows that Harare province had 653,562 households followed by Manicaland and Mashonaland West provinces with 502,945 and 466,843 respectively. Masvingo province had the highest average household size of 4.17 followed by Matabeleland North province with 4.15.
The distribution of households shows that Harare province had 17.1 percent of the households. Manicaland Province had 13.2 percent and Mashonaland West Province had 12.2 percent.
The national annual population growth rate between 2012 and 2022 was 1.5 percent. Mashonaland East and West provinces had annual population growth rates of 2.9 and 2.6 percent respectively, according to ZIMSTATS.
“The number of persons per square kilometre in Harare province was 2,783. Bulawayo province had 1,390 persons per square kilometre and Manicaland province had 56 persons per square kilometer.”
ZIMSTATS further said the majority of the population in the country was in rural areas (61.4%). About 38.6% of the population is in urban areas.