March 29 (Reuters) - Below are some key facts on Zimbabwe, which holds presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections on Saturday. * AREA: 386,900 sq km (149,400 sq miles) and landlocked. It is slightly bigger than Germany. Zimbabwe borders Zambia to the north, Mozambique to the east, Botswana and Namibia to the west and South Africa to the south. The capital is Harare. * POPULATION: Around 13 million. The prevalence of AIDS, falling life expectancy, high infant death rates and mass emigration because of the economic crisis mean estimates are unreliable. * LANGUAGE: The official language is English. Shona, Ndebele and other minority languages are also spoken. * ETHNIC GROUPS: Most are of Bantu-speaking Shona or Ndebele origin. Other groups include the Venda, Shangaan, Tonga and Kalanga. * RELIGION: African traditional religions -- 55 percent; Christianity -- 45 percent; also small minorities of Muslims and others * ECONOMY: Food shortages have helped drive prices higher and inflation topped 100,000 percent year on year in January. -- Critics blame shortages and a collapse in foreign currency earnings partly on President Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms to give to landless blacks. -- Once the regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe now has to import food, further straining foreign exchange reserves. -- The U.N. agricultural production index for Zimbabwe fell from nearly 107 in 2000 to just over 74 in 2005. -- Top exports include gold, platinum and tobacco. South Africa is the biggest trading partner by far. -- Apart from the chronic shortage of basics, frequent power cuts, broken sewers and bad roads mirror the economic decay. -- Only one adult in four is in formal employment and an estimated 3.5 million Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa and other countries to seek jobs. (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)
Refugees, mainly from Zimbabwe and Somalia, demonstrate outside the parliament in Cape Town March 20, 2008. Many refugees fleeing economic hardship and conflict on the African continent face bureaucratic obstacles and ...
