More than half of Zimbabwean population born outsi...

More than half of Zimbabwean population born outside the country delivered in SA

Census accounts for almost 1 million Zimbabweans outside the country
Majority in SA
Definitive number of Zimbabweans outside the country remains unknown
Discrepancy of over 200 thousand people between Census report and official UK government figures
Zimstat says whole families that migrated closing households in unaccounted for

Almost 140 thousand people living in Zimbabwe were born in South Africa, the latest 2022 Census results releases by Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency reveal.

Of the 236 246 people born outside Zimbabwe, 137 594 were born in South Africa. They make up almost one percent of the total Zimbabwean population.

Matebeleland South and Masvingo province account for the largest numbers respectively having 23 476 and 23 093 SA born residents.

Bulawayo has the highest percentage of SA born people from its population of those born outside Zimbabwe. The city’s 17 840 of 23 062 foreign born residents are SA born.

The report put the total number of Zimbabweans outside the country at 908 914 with 773 246 of those living in South Africa.

The results are clearly flawed. The UK is an example. The Zimstat report puts the number of Zimbabweans living in the UK and 23 166. The UK government gives a definitive figure of 222 349 Zimbabweans being legally in the UK as of June 2022. That is a difference of over 200 thousand people.

Zimstat says that the census could not capture statistics in cases where whole families emigrated and no longer have households in Zimbabwe.

South Africa is another illustrative case. The government of that country estimates that there are 182 000 Zimbabweans holding Special Exemption Permits.

The many illegal migrants in that country would account for the almost 600 thousand difference with the census report figure of above three quarters of a million.

Both the UK and SA cases show that the real number of Zimbabweans living outside the country will remain a matter of conjecture for now.

But even with the unaccounted for whole families, there is no clear substance to claims that there are over 3 million Zimbabweans living outside the country.