
Zambia is a landlocked country in southern Africa, with Lusaka serving as its capital. Zambia gained its independence from the United Kingdom's protectorate of Northern Rhodesia on 24 October 1964, and President Kenneth Kaunda and his United National Independence Party (UNIP) ruled Zambia from 1964 to 1991; it was officially a one-party state from 1972 to 1991. During the 1990s, a period of socio-economic growth and government decentralization began, and it became one of the world's fastest economically reformed countries. In 2016, Zambia had a population of 16,591,390 people.