Country profile · Sub-Saharan Africa · Lower middle income

Zimbabwe

Every figure below carries its global rank and its history — and a plain line on what the number means. Figures: World Bank, World Development Indicators (open data), retrieved 2026-07-27.

At a glance

Latest available year per indicator

GDP · 2025

$51.2 bn

97th largest of 214

The size of the economy — everything produced in a year. The headline number every other figure argues with.

GDP growth · 2025

8.1%

11th fastest-growing of 214

How fast output is expanding, inflation-adjusted. Growth without jobs or wages is where the story usually hides.

GDP per capita · 2025

$3,021

164th highest of 214

Output per person — the rough proxy for average living standards, and an average that hides a lot.

Inflation (CPI) · 2022

104.7%

4th highest of 193

How fast consumer prices rise. What it understates for poorer households is half the story.

Unemployment · 2025

9.3%

42nd highest of 187

The share of the labour force seeking work without finding it — and it counts precarious work as 'employed'.

Population · 2025

17.0 mn

73rd largest of 217

The denominator of everything per-capita.

Exports · 2024

18.1%

161st highest of 193

How much of the economy is sold to the world — openness, measured on the way out.

Imports · 2024

23.4%

166th highest of 193

How much of demand is met from abroad — openness, measured on the way in.

FDI, net inflows · 2024

1.1%

143rd highest of 202

Long-term foreign investment into real assets — a confidence signal that is hard to fake and slow to reverse.

Total reserves · 2024

$485.0 mn

163rd largest of 179

The central bank's war chest for defending the currency and paying for imports.

Current account · 2024

1.2%

71st highest of 200

The broadest external balance — trade plus income and remittances. Persistent deficits must be financed.

Government debt

No recent data reported

What the state owes relative to the economy carrying it. Reported patchily — gaps here are common.

Exchange rate · 2025

26.6

90th highest of 213

How many units of local currency a dollar buys — a running vote of confidence.

Gini index · 2019

50.3

9th most unequal of 171

Inequality in one number: 0 is perfect equality, 100 is one person holding everything. Surveyed rarely.

Life expectancy · 2024

63.1

200th highest of 217

The single most honest summary of whether an economy serves its people.

Extreme poverty · 2019

49.2%

13th highest of 171

The share of people living below the international extreme-poverty line — the floor beneath every other economic statistic.

What these indicators can — and cannot — tell you: Economics, Explained

The long view

1990 – latest

GDPcurrent US$
010bn20bn30bn40bn50bn19901995200020052010201520202025
GDP per capitacurrent US$
01k2k3k19901995200020052010201520202025
GDP growthannual %
-1001019901995200020052010201520202025
Inflation (CPI)annual %
01002003004005002010201220142016201820202022

Put Zimbabwe next to any other economy — open the comparison desk — or see where it sits on the world heat map.