Poverty Footprint Study on how the Coca Cola - Oxfam America

5 Setting the scene
Overview
Zambia
Zambia is one of the poorest countries in the world,
ranked 164 out of 182 countries on the United
Nation’s (UN) 2009 Human Development Index. 23
When Zambia first became independent in 1964,
it was a middle-income country poised to become
prosperous. This prosperity was short-lived, however,
with the country enduring an economic decline
that persisted until the 1990s. Economic growth in
the 1990s was the lowest in southern Africa, 24 and
unemployment and inflation soared, resulting in per
capita incomes that were 50 percent less in 1999
than they had been 25 years earlier.
26 Exploring the links between international business and poverty reduction
From 2003 to 2008, the economy grew at an
average of 5 percent annually, stimulated by
policies conducive to foreign investment, strong
macroeconomic management, lower inflation, political
stability and a copper-mining boom. 25 The majority of
Zambia’s foreign debt was cleared in 2005 when the
country received a debt relief package of
$4 billion. The economy suffered a setback in 2008
with a crash in copper prices 26 due to the global
financial crisis, but recovery since has been strong,
with a 6.3 percent growth rate recorded in 2009.
The total percentage of people living in poverty
dropped from a high of 74 percent in 1993 to 64
percent in 2006. 27