Share of female business owners in Zambia
Zambia: Share of female business owners was 31.0% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of female business owners in Zambia, 2014–2024
Source: World Bank's Entrepreneurship Survey and database (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/entrepreneurship). Downloaded on May 2, 2026. Measured in % of total business owners.
Analysis
Zambia recorded 31.0% for share of female business owners in 2024. That is the highest value across all 11 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 7.6% on the previous year and up 45.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of female business owners in Zambia peaked at 31.0% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 21.3%, in 2014.
That places Zambia 20th out of 72 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 11 years of available data.
Share of female business owners in Zambia, year by year
| Year | % of total business owners | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 21.3% | — |
| 2015 | 23.0% | +8.1% |
| 2016 | 22.5% | -2.1% |
| 2017 | 21.6% | -4.1% |
| 2018 | 22.0% | +1.9% |
| 2019 | 24.1% | +9.6% |
| 2020 | 27.0% | +11.9% |
| 2021 | 26.8% | -0.8% |
| 2022 | 27.0% | +0.7% |
| 2023 | 28.8% | +6.9% |
| 2024 | 31.0% | +7.6% |
Zambia compared with similar countries
- Zambia's 31.0% is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 21.7%, 1.4× the median. (21 countries reporting)
- Zambia's 31.0% is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 27.2%, 1.1× the median. (16 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 22.4% | 21.3% | 24.1% | 6 |
| 2020s | 28.1% | 26.8% | 31.0% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Zambia
More private sector data for Zambia
- Merchandise trade 91.7% (2025)
- Food imports 7.8% (2024)
- Manufactures imports 64.4% (2024)
- Merchandise imports 13.17 billion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 8.7% (2024)
- Manufactures exports 14.1% (2024)
- Merchandise exports 13.31 billion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 607.56 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.461 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 18.07 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of female business owners in Zambia?
- Share of female business owners in Zambia was 31.0% in 2024, according to World Bank's Entrepreneurship Survey and database (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/entrepreneurship). Downloaded on May 2, 2026.
- What is the highest share of female business owners recorded in Zambia?
- The highest recorded value was 31.0% in 2024.
- What is the lowest share of female business owners recorded in Zambia?
- The lowest recorded value was 21.3% in 2014.
- How does Zambia rank for share of female business owners?
- Zambia ranks 20th out of 72 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of female business owners rising or falling in Zambia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 45.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Zambia data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank's Entrepreneurship Survey and database (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/entrepreneurship). Downloaded on May 2, 2026, published as part of Share of female business owners (% of total business owners). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 11 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Share of female business is the proportion of female newly registered limited liability company owners out of the total number of newly registered limited liability company owners in the economy in the calendar year.