The Republic of Zambia is a large country in the heart of sub-equatorial Africa. More than a quarter of its 11 to 12 million people live in two urban areas near the center: in the capital of Lusaka and in the industrial towns of the Copperbelt.

The rest of Zambia is very sparsely populated, and the majority of people make their living as subsistence farmers.

In four decades of independence, Zambia has found peace, but not prosperity. Today, it is one of the poorest and least developed nations on earth. Nearly two-thirds of the population live on less than a dollar a day.

Zambia's problems have been compounded since the mid-1980s by the devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic. The statistics are shocking:

• One in every six adults are living with HIV/AIDS
• 98,000 people died of HIV in 2005
• Life expectancy at birth has fallen below 40 years
• 710,000 children are AIDS orphans

Nearly half of Zambia's population is under 15 years of age. Of the 710,000 AIDS orphans in the country, 130,000 of them are living with HIV/AIDS. The rest have simply lost their parents to the disease. Child-headed households were once a rarity, but in recent years have become increasingly common.
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