- ISO 3166
ZM- Main language + region
bem-ZM- Currency
- ZMW · Zambian Kwacha
- Region
- EMEA · SSA
Zambia
Zambia has 20.8M people, and 3.6M of them are online. Bemba is the most widely spoken language at 34%, one of 11 languages CLDR lists here. English is official nationally. A product shipping here defaults to bem-ZM.
Market summary
Each figure carries its own world scale, so it reads without a second market beside it.
People online
3.6M
0%world median 81%100%
17% of 20.8M people use the internet, per the World Bank's 2024 figure. Estimated by multiplying CLDR population by that share.
Income per person
$1,318
Higher than 12% of 213 territories
GDP per capita in current US dollars, World Bank Open Data, most recent reported year. A rough guide to spending power, not revenue.
Can pay online
73%
0%world median 71%100%
Adults aged 15 and over holding a bank or mobile-money account, World Bank Global Findex 2024. Below half means a card-only checkout excludes most of the market.
Languages
11
Bemba 34% · Nyanja 19% · English 16%
Languages CLDR records here with a share of 0.1% or more. 1 of them is official nationally.
English proficiency
573
Very lowVery high
High proficiency on the EF EPI 2025 scale. The sample is self-selected online test takers. It never enters any score on this site.
Adult literacy
61%
0%world median 95%100%
Share of adults who can read, as recorded in CLDR territory data. Low literacy shifts a product toward icons, audio, and video before another language.
What people speak
Shares include second languages, so totals can exceed 100%.
Most spoken in Zambia
share of 20.8M people
- Bemba34%7.1M
- Nyanja19%4M
- Englishofficial16%3.3M
- Tonga (Zambia)11%2.3M
- Lozi5.5%1.1M
- Nsenga3%624K
- Lala-Bisa2.8%582.4K
- Tumbuka2.6%540.8K
Filled bars are nationally official languages. Bars are scaled to the largest language rather than to 100%. 3 more languages sit below the top eight, at 5.3% combined.
CLDR also records diaspora populations, so a language reaches further than any single page shows. The language profiles show each one's full footprint.
Day-one requirements
What the interface needs for the main language spoken here (bem-ZM).
Plural categories
2
Word-forms a translator writes for counted text, like English's "1 item" and "2 items".
Script family
Latin
Default system fonts cover this script on all major platforms.
Reading direction
Left-to-right
Standard. Use dir='auto' on user-generated content fields.
Date
21 Epreo 2026
Short: 21/04/2026
Time
6:30 akasuba
Week starts Mon
Currency
K 1,234.56
1,234.56 in ZMW · Zambian Kwacha