ActionAid Zambia Policy Brief-Zambia's Resource Curse_What the Numbers Say

Mining remains the backbone of Zambia’s economy. It accounts for 17.4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), contributes about 70% of the country’s foreign exchange earnings, and provides roughly 30% of
government revenue.
Despite this, for many Zambians, particularly women, youth, children, artisanal and small-scale miners (ASMs), the lived reality has often been one of exclusion, poverty prevalence, environmental damage, insecure livelihoods, limited access to social services, and let alone amenities. While national income may rise during mineral price booms or mining activity expansions, benefits have not been shared equitably with communities close to extraction points, frequently experiencing greater costs, as evidenced by the legacy Kabwe lead pollution, including the Kafue River acid contamination in 2025.
This contradiction between resource wealth and persistent vulnerability resides at the center of Zambia’s development challenge, with scholars such as Boos and Holm-Müller (2016) confirming the existence of what is called the resource curse. The term resource curse refers to the paradox in which countries
endowed with abundant natural resources, such as oil, gas, and minerals, often fail to translate that wealth into broad-based development gains. For example, you would expect mineral-rich Solwezi or Kalumbila to host a state-of-the-art cancer disease hospital, but ironically, local patients in need of special care would have to seek better options in Lusaka or abroad. From a justice and human rights perspective, the resource curse manifests not only through weak growth outcomes but also through environmental harm, land insecurity, inadequate social sector spending, and deeply gendered impacts. Feminist political economy perspectives emphasise that women and children are often the first to feel the consequences of poor resource governance, through reduced access to services, unpaid care burdens, and exposure to environmental risks. From these dynamics, critical questions about who benefits from mining, who bears the cost, and whose rights are protected arise.
Against the backdrop of Zambia’s planned mining expansion towards 3 million tonnes of copper annually, the development of the Lobito Corridor, including growing global demand for energy transition critical minerals, understanding these dynamics is increasingly urgent. This research brief
therefore examines how income generated from mining activities and broader economic governance conditions shape development outcomes in Zambia, with the aim of informing human-centred, justice-oriented policy choices in the extractive sector.