| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 40,000 (0.3%)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Lusaka and theCopperbelt | |
| Languages | |
| English,Afrikaans[2] | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity andJudaism[3] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| White Zimbabweans,White South Africans,White people in Botswana |
White people in Zambia orWhite Zambians are people fromZambia who are ofEuropean descent and who do not regard themselves, or are not regarded as, being part of anotherracial group. Many are ofBritish ancestry and are descendants of people who worked in theCopperbelt Province.[4]
The first Europeans to discover Zambia were thePortuguese in the late 1700s.[5]
In the 1960s, White Zambians tended to favour white-minority rule inRhodesia and theapartheid system inSouth Africa, although small numbers prevented them from establishing a similar form of government in Zambia. At the Copperbelt mines, 6,500 expatriate workers held South African citizenship. White Zambians made up the second-largest group of immigrants moving to South Africa by 1967, fearful of the changing political climate in Zambia.[6]
Between 1964 and 1972, white Zambians were disproportionately represented in the officer corps of theZambian Defence Force.[7] Upon independence, most of the senior officer corps, including the chief of staff of the Zambian Army, were White Zambians.[7] By 1972, sufficient numbers of qualified black Zambian personnel had been trained to replace them, and many of the white senior officers retired.[8] For a number of years afterwards, white Zambians were explicitly barred from enlisting in the national military and received a blanket exemption from conscription.[8]
In 1966, over half the whites lived on the Copperbelt, 18% lived inLusaka, and some 95% lived in all near the line of rail from the Copperbelt to theVictoria Falls.[9]
In 2014, Zambia had a White population of European origin which numbered approximately 40,000.[10] Since independence, the community has never exceeded 1.1% of Zambia's population. Many long-term residents had voluntarily retained South African or British nationality. However, only about 40,000 hold Zambian citizenship.Guy Scott, a White Zambian citizen and former Vice President, became ActingPresident of Zambia after the unexpected death of PresidentMichael Sata.[11] This made him the first head of stateof White European descent in Africa sinceF. W. de Klerk in 1989.[12]
| Government | Year | Whites | Change | Natives | Percentage of Whites |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| British South Africa Company (1891–1924) | 1911 | 1,497 | - | n/a | n/a |
| 1923 | 3,750 | +2,253 | 1,753,000[13] | 0.2% | |
| 1924 | 4,000 | +250 | n/a | n/a | |
| British Protectorate of Northern Rhodesia (1924–1953) | 1925 | 4,624 | +624 | n/a | n/a |
| 1931 | 13,846 | +9,222 | n/a | n/a | |
| 1932 | 10,553 | -3,293 | n/a | n/a | |
| 1933 | 11,278 | +725 | n/s | n/a | |
| 1935 | 10,000 | -1,278 | n/a | n/a | |
| 1940 | 15,188 | +5,188 | 2,099,000[13] | 0.7% | |
| 1943 | 18,745 | +3,537 | n/a | n/a | |
| 1945 | 21,371 | +2,626 | n/a | n/a | |
| 1946 | 21,919 | +548 | n/a | n/a | |
| 1951 | 37,221 | +15,302 | n/a | n/a | |
| Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953–1963) | 1954 | 60,000 | +22,779 | n/a | n/a |
| 1956 | 64,800 | +4,800 | n/a | n/a | |
| 1960 | 76,000 | +11,200 | 3,082,627 | 2% | |
| 1961 | 75,000 | -1,000 | 3,269,151 | 2% | |
| 1963 | 74,000 | -1,000 | 3,368,961 | 2% | |
| Republic of Zambia (1964–present) | 1964 | 70,000[14] | -4,000 | 3,472,843 | 0.2% |
| 1966 | 70,000 | - | 3,692,409 | .2% | |
| 1970 | 35,000 | -35,000 | 4,179,000 | .1% | |
| 1977 | 10,000[10] | -25,000 | 5,288,891 | .02% | |
| 2005 | 30,000 | +20,000 | 11,470,022 | .03% | |
| 2014 | 40,000 | +10,000 | 14,950,544 | .03% |
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| European emigration by location |
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| Historical concepts | |||||||||||
| Sociological phenomena and theories |
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| Negative stereotypes of Whites | |||||||||||
| Whiteidentity politics | |||||||||||
