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www.afrobarometer.org

PRESS RELEASE
One in Five People Cite Job Creation as the Most Important Problem Facing Zambia
Unemployment tops the list of problems facing the nation, according to the most recent Afrobarometer survey. This is followed by infrastructure, and then by farming/agriculture. Education and health take the fourth and fifth positions, respectively (Figure 1). Farming and agriculture was named the biggest problem by the highest number of people in 2009, when unemployment ranked second (Figure 2).

Figure 1: Perceptions of nation's most important problems that government should address (2013)

19% 20% 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% Unemployment Infrastructure/ roads Farming/ agriculture Education Health 12% 10% 9% 15%

Survey question: In your opinion, what are the most important problems facing this country that government should address? (% who chose each option) The displacement of farming/agriculture as the most important problem facing the nation may be a reflection of a complex combination of demographic socio-economic factors, such as an increase in young people becoming part of the work force or the growth in urban population. Clearly, though the Zambian economy has been growing at average rate of 6%, this growth is either not enough, or it is not inclusive enough, to generate jobs for a fast growing and youthful population. 1

Figure 2: Perceptions on most important problems facing the nation (2009)

18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% Farming/ agriculture Unemployment Poverty/ destitution Food shortage/ famine Education 8% 7% 13% 17% 17%

Survey question: In your opinion, what are the most important problems facing this country that government should address?
(% who chose each option)

Generally, these results appear to show that many Zambians feel they are afflicted by economic related problems, such as unemployment, agricultural production, and poverty in general. This is followed by problems related to social services, such as education and health. In the 2013 survey, general public perception appears to be that government has performed well in the general management of the economy and in the provision of several social services (health, education, combating HIV/AIDS), and in some matters of governance (fighting corruption, reforming the judiciary). (Figure 3 and Table 1). However, public perceived poor performance by the central government in the areas of job creation, improvement of living standards, narrowing of income gaps and ensuring that people have enough to eat ( Figure 4 and Table 1). The fact that the public perception on governments delivery of social services (health and education) is favorable, and yet still site them as major problems facing the nation, perhaps shows that while efforts are being made to address problems in these areas, the problems have not yet gone and much more needs to be done.

Figure 3: Perceptions on government performance: good performance areas

100% 81% 80% 60% 40% 23% 20% 0% 75% 62% 60% 42% 36% 59% 59% 55% 45%

52% 37%

52%

50%

50% 35% 26%

2013

2009

Survey question: How well or badly would you say the current government is handling the following matters, or havent you
heard enough to say? (% who say government is handling these matters well)

Table 1: Perceptions on central governments performance in addressing various problems

Dont Badly (%) Well (%) Know (%) Managing the economy 34 62 3 Improving living standards of the poor 55 43 2 Creating jobs 65 32 3 Keeping prices down 65 33 2 Narrowing income gaps 66 29 5 Reducing crime 44 52 3 Improving basic health services 40 59 1 Addressing educational needs 39 60 1 Providing water and sanitation services 58 40 3 Ensuring enough to eat 64 34 2 Fighting corruption 42 50 8 Resolving violent conflict between communities 25 59 16 Combating HIV/AIDS 16 81 5 Maintaining roads and bridges 49 50 1 Providing reliable electric supply 58 39 3 Empowering women 36 55 9 Reforming the judiciary 21 52 27 Survey question: How well or badly would you say the current government is handling the following matters, or havent you heard enough to say?

Figure 4: Perceptions on government performance: bad performance areas

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

2013

2009

Survey question: How well or badly would you say the current government is handling the following matters, or havent you
heard enough to say? (% of survey participants who say government is handling these matters badly or very badly)

In 2009, the publics judgment on central government was less favorable than in 2013. In that year, the only area that received a favorable rating was combating HIV and AIDS. The rest were said to be badly performed (see Figure 3). In general, one of the factors that affect government performance is the allocation of resources to competing needs. Figure 5 shows the budgetary allocations to a few of these in four consecutive years (2009 -2012). We notice that the General Economic, Commercial, and Labor sector has consistently received one of the lowest budgetary allocations of about 1% of the total budget in the years under consideration. It is worth noting that the economic empowerment fund is under this budget line. The budgetary allocations to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector did not vary much: hovering around 7%. However, allocations to transport saw an upswing in 2011 and 2012, while the health sector experienced a dip in 2010, 2011 and 2012. In relative terms, education consistently received higher budgetary allocations (between 17% and 20%). The relatively low allocations to the General Economic, Commercial, and Labour sectors seem to tie up well with public perception of poor performance in the areas of job creation, poverty reduction and the narrowing of income gaps. These were judged to be poorly performed. However, the performance in the health sector was rated fairly high, though budgetary allocations reduced in the three years preceding the survey. 5

Figure 5: Budgetary allocations to selected areas of the social and economic sectors
25 20 15 10 5 0 Education Health Transport Agriculture, Forestry General Economic, and Fishing Commercial, and Labour 2011 2012

2009

2010

Table 2: Budgetary allocations to selected areas of the social and economic sectors
2009 17.2 11.9 9.9 7.2 1.1 2010 19.9 8.2 9.1 6.8 0.8 2011 18.6 8.6 16 6 1 2012 17.5 9.3 16.8 6.1 1

Education Health Transport Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing General Economic, Commercial, and Labour

Afrobarometer
The Afrobarometer (AB) is a comparative series of public opinion surveys that measure public attitudes toward democracy, governance, the economy, leadership, identity, and other related issues. It is an independent, non-partisan, African-based network of researchers. The purpose of the Afrobarometer is to measure popular perspectives on the social, political, and economic environments in each country where it is implemented and across Africa, and the goal is to give the public a voice in policy making processes by providing high-quality public opinion data to policymakers, policy advocates and civil society organizations, academics, media, donors and investors, and ordinary Africans.

The first round of surveys took place in 1999-2001 in 12 countries, including Zambia. The Network has just concluded Round 5 surveys in 35 countries in Africa. In Zambia, Afrobarometers work is coordinated by RuralNet Associates Ltd, a private development consultancy firm. In the Round 5 survey, several issues were investigated, among them the perceptions of Zambians on the most important problems facing the nation, and how likelihood of the government solving the problems.

Visit us online at www.afrobarometer.org and follow us on Face book and Twitter. @Afrobarometer For further information, please contact Stephen Tembo or Fison Mujenja on +260 1 293529/292821/292814 or ruralnet@ruralnet.co.zm