Sub-Saharan Africa · Partial data: missing TOT, GF10, GF0107, rev
Data checked 28 Oct 2026 · next scheduled check 1 Jan 2027 · UN World Population Prospects (via World Bank) released 1 Jul 2026 · World Bank WDI released 8 Oct 2026
Total spending · 2025
Not available
Welfare · 2025
Not available
Healthcare · 2025
Not available
Defence · 2025
1.26%
-0.2 pts since 1995
Education · 2025
Not available
Debt interest · 2025
Not available
Gross debt · 2025
100.6%
of GDP · -160 pts since 2000
Population · 2025
21.9m
149.4% since 1995
Public-sector employment
Not available: no official public-sector employment series is loaded for Zambia yet.
Not available: general-government welfare (COFOG 10) and COFOG debt transactions (01.7). No matching official observation was found in the sources checked; narrower-sector or differently defined figures are not substituted.
Healthcare rose from 1.5% to 3.6% of GDP between 2000 and 2020, then fell to 2.4% by 2023.
Defence rose from 1.5% to 2.1% of GDP between 1995 and 2008, then fell to 1.3% by 2025.
Education rose from 1.8% to 5.2% of GDP between 1995 and 2014, then fell to 4.1% by 2023.
Gross debt fell from 261.0% to 18.9% of GDP between 2000 and 2010, then rose to 100.6% by 2025.
Population grew from 8.8 million in 1995 to 21.9 million in 2025; the UN projects 38.1 million by 2050.