Zimstat migration figures contradict UK on number of Zimbos in Britain

The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat)’s latest findings on the number of Zimbabweans living in the United Kingdom (UK) is likely to be viewed with suspicions of misrepresentation as it appears to contradict the UK’s own 2019 survey.

The Zimstat report published on Tuesday claims that there are 23 166 Zimbabweans living in the UK.

In 2019, the UK’s Office for National Statistics estimated that there were 128,000 people resident in the UK who had been born in Zimbabwe. If compared with the latest Zimstat figures, it means that there is a reduction of Zimbabwean nationals by 104, 834 in the UK in the space of three years.

Zimstat estimated Zimbabwean Diaspora of 908,913 people, with 85% of the number being those living in South Africa

The report also states that 13.6% of all households surveyed in Zimbabwe had relatives outside the country.

Matabeleland South had the largest proportion of households with family members abroad (33%), followed by Matabeleland North and Masvingo.

Zimstat further said it found that there are more males than females who have left the country. The highest proportion (28%) of emigrants were from the 20 to 24 years age group.

The census authority further established that 84% of the total number of Zimbabweans in the diaspora left the country to find jobs.

Masvingo and Matabeleland South provinces had relatively more people who had emigrated for employment than other provinces.

Harare and Bulawayo provinces had relatively more people who had emigrated for education or training purposes.

A few months ago Zimstat established that the population of Zimbabwe as at 20th April 2022 was 15 178 979, of which 7 289 558 (48 percent) were male and 7 889 421 (52 percent) were female, giving a sex ratio of 92 males for every 100 females.