Section: Population Figures and Profile

Sub-section: Global Figures

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Between 570,000 and 1,000,000 IDPs in Zimbabwe (Sep 2008)

No comprehensive surveys of IDPs have been done in Zimbabwe, and estimating the total number of IDPs in the country is made more difficult by the fact that a significant number of IDPs in Zimbabwe have been displaced more than once. The UN estimated in July 2005 that 570,000 people had been made homeless by Operation Murambatsvina. In September 2008 UNDP estimated that one million people have been made homeless by the fast-track land reform programme, which started in 2000. Other causes of displacement are the 2008 political violence, and Operation Chikorokoza Chapera (2006-2007) which was aimed at informal mine workers. Some idea of the combined impact of the different causes of displacement can be gleaned from the 2007 ZimVAC assessment, as discussed below.


OCHA, Zimbabwe Consolidated Appeal, 10 December 2007, p.36:

"Sporadic involuntary internal migration have continued in 2007 adding to the ongoing plight of MVPs [Mobile and Vulnerable Populations] in Zimbabwe, among them those affected by the Government of Zimbabwe’s OM/ORO [Operation Murambatsvina / Operation Restore Order] in 2005 and the Fast Track Land Reform Programme, which began in 2000. While no nationwide data exists as to the total scale of MVPs in Zimbabwe, preliminary readings of the ZimVAC [Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee] 2007 findings show that 17% of the sampled population had migrated from their original places of residence since 2000. Among those who had migrated, almost half (48%) had been asked to leave their previous area of residence. This suggests that the scale of involuntary movements is of serious concern (approximately 8% of the sampled population)."

The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (generally referred to as the ZimVAC) conducts an annual Food Security and Nutrition Assessment. The 2007 Assessment asked whether interviewees had moved in the past five years, and if so, why they had moved. The options from which interviewees could choose in answer to this second question were "asked to move", “education opportunities”, “search for land for farming”, “death of spouse/partner”, “search for food”, “to seek employment”, and “other”.

The survey was conducted in 30 districts. In each district, 10 wards were sampled, and in each ward 25 households were surveyed. Thus a total of 7,500 households were surveyed. About 8% of the sampled population indicated that they had been "asked to move" in the past five years.

If the June 2007 ZimVAC figures are taken as representative for the entire population of Zimbabwe, this would indicate that about eight per cent of the population had moved involuntarily in the five years preceding the survey.

There are no precise figures for Zimbabwe's total population. Zimbabwe’s 2002 census recorded a total population of 11.635 million people, and Zimbabwe’s Central Statistics Office (CSO) uses population projections of 11.83 million for 2007 and 12.1 million for 2008. However, in 2008 FAO/WFP argued that the estimate of 12.1 million was probably too high, because of the impact of HIV/AIDS and the large numbers of people migrating from Zimbabwe. The two agencies concluded that “The true population of the country perhaps lies somewhere between 11 to 12 million.” For the purposes of estimating the number of people in need of food aid in Zimbabwe in 2008-2009, FAO and WFP used a population estimate of 11.865 million people for 2008. (See FAO/WFP, 18 June 2008, p.7.)

If the population of Zimbabwe lies somewhere between 11 and 12 million people, and if about eight per cent of the entire population have moved involuntarily, that would indicate that the total number of internally displaced people in Zimbabwe lies between 880,000 and 960,000.

This number would reflect the total number of displaced farm workers and their families, victims of forced evictions in urban areas including Operation Murambatsvina, and victims of Operation Chikorokoza Chapera. Some of these people have been displaced more than once (for example displaced farm workers who moved to the cities and who were then displaced by Operation Murambatsvina).

[Zimbabwe's Central Statistical Office estimates the population of Zimbabwe for 2009 as 12.2 million people. However, the World Bank uses 11 million as a planning figure, and FAO/WFP have adopted this figure for the purposes of estimating the number of people in need of food aid in 2000-2010 (see FAO/WFP, 22 June 2009, p.7).]

The IDP estimates based on the 2007 ZimVAC do of course not yet include the people who have been displaced by political violence following the elections on 29 March 2008 and in the run-up to the second round of voting in the presidential elections on 27 June 2008 (estimated by the MDC to number as many as 200,000 people, while the UN in Zimbabwe used a lower estimate of 36,000 people).

See for further details also the information under the headings "2008 political violence", "Operation Murambatsvina", and "Displaced farm workers and their families".
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