Despite robust annual growth of 5.7 percent in the recent past, poverty in Zambia remains
stubbornly high. The poverty headcount rate is 60 percent (as of 2010), and 39 percent of
the population live in extreme poverty, with insufficient consumption to meet their daily
minimum food requirements. Chronic malnutrition remains very high, with 47 percent of
children under the age of 5 being stunted in 2010, close to the high levels of the early
1990s. The report recommends a unified National Safety Net Program comprising cash
transfers and public works to reach the poorest 20% of the population. The estimated cost
is about US$100 million per year. This is less than 2% of public spending and around 15% of
the current subsidies programs benefiting the non-poor.