Global CityIntelligence

Zambia / Southern Africa

Lusaka City Intelligence

Lusaka is Zambia's inland-plateau capital metro, with national-services anchor role, growing services activity, and hydro-grid context that shapes the energy conversation. Lusaka is a southern africa city of about ~3.2M metro in Zambia. On the composite city-intelligence score, Lusaka sits below the indexed median, with practical gaps to close (64/100).

Last updated
2026-05-16
Data year
2025
Population
~3.2M metro
View of Lusaka, Zambia

Image credit: Image: Matthew Grollnek / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Overall score

Use the Lusaka profile to compare cost framing, country-level context, and hydro-energy signals alongside other Southern-African metros.

Overall64/100
Affordability74/100
Air quality70/100
Energy60/100

Overall city intelligence

Mixed

64/100

Composite directional score across affordability, air quality, clean energy, and resilience.

Data confidence

Directional

Directional indicators pending integration of verified city-level data.

Verified utility layers

See country hub

Emergency, healthcare, and transport verification status appears on the country hub.

Lusaka data table

The table is part of the initial server-rendered HTML and mirrors the key city score cards.

Lusaka city intelligence data table
MetricValueContext
Overall score64/100Composite score across major city intelligence modules.
Cost of Living74/100Lusaka's cost-of-living profile is a directional indicator pending integration of verified city-level data; structured benchmark context applies.
Air Quality70/100Lusaka's air-quality profile is a directional indicator framed against WHO and regional benchmarks; verified city-level measurements appear in the dedicated air-quality dataset section once integrated.
Energy60/100Lusaka's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context.
Safety61/100Lusaka's safety profile is a directional indicator; verified country-level emergency profiles attach via the country hub where available.
Internet Speed62/100Lusaka's connectivity profile is a directional indicator combining national digital-readiness context with widely cited speed-test references.
Climate Risk58/100Lusaka's climate-risk profile is a directional indicator combining regional hazard categories with national adaptation capacity.
Resilience58/100Climate adaptation and infrastructure continuity context.

Safety

Deterministic safety estimates from our index — planning signals derived from country priors and city data, not official crime statistics.

Safety

Overall safety47/100
Low crime48/100
Personal safety48/100
Night safety40/100
Road safety50/100

Lusaka scores below average for safety in our index (47/100); research neighborhoods and take standard precautions.

Quality of Life

A composite quality-of-life estimate and its component indicators.

Quality of Life

Quality of life53/100
Healthcare52/100
Education60/100
Green space43/100
Cleanliness53/100
Infrastructure56/100
Mobility56/100

Lusaka has a modest quality-of-life estimate (53/100) across our combined indicators.

Family Friendliness

How the city scores for raising a family, with the indicators that drive it.

Family Friendliness

Family friendliness52/100
Education60/100
Green space43/100
Overall safety47/100

Lusaka scores modest for family living (52/100).

Digital Nomad Suitability

Suitability for remote workers, based on connectivity, mobility, and livability.

Digital Nomad Suitability

Digital nomad suitability62/100
Walkability78/100
Cycling58/100
Infrastructure56/100

Lusaka is moderate for remote workers (62/100), based on connectivity, affordability and walkability and day-to-day amenities.

Retirement Suitability

Suitability for retirement, weighing healthcare, affordability, climate, and environment.

Retirement Suitability

Retirement suitability55/100
Healthcare52/100
Cleanliness53/100
Outdoor lifestyle23/100

Lusaka is moderate for retirement (55/100), appealing for affordability.

Emergency and public safety in Lusaka

Local public safety guidance for Lusaka, with the country-level emergency contacts that apply when calling for police, fire, or ambulance.

Unverified

For the universal emergency contacts that apply in Lusaka, including police, fire, and ambulance, see the Zambia emergency profile, which currently lists no verified national contacts.

Methodology and the wider source registry are documented on the scoring methodology and data sources pages.

Healthcare and hospitals in Lusaka

Healthcare context for Lusaka, with national-level information from Zambia where city-specific data is not yet verified. This is informational only and does not provide medical advice.

Unverified

For the national healthcare and public-health context that applies in Lusaka, see the Zambia healthcare profile, which currently lists no verified national healthcare information.

Related sections: emergency and public safety, scoring methodology, and data sources.

Transport and mobility in Lusaka

Local mobility context for Lusaka, with national-level context from Zambia where city-specific data is not yet verified. This is informational only.

Unverified

For national transport authorities and operators that apply in Lusaka, see the Zambia transport profile, which currently lists no verified national transport information.

Related sections: emergency and public safety, healthcare and hospitals, cities directory, countries directory, scoring methodology, data sources.

Air quality dataset

Source-attributed air-quality dataset for Lusaka. Verified measurements are surfaced when published from accepted official datasets; transparent fallback is shown otherwise.

Air quality dataset for Lusaka

Verified data unavailableLast updated 2026-05-16 / data year 2025

Verified air-quality measurements are not yet published for this location

Source-attributed values for Lusaka will appear here after the platform integrates verified measurements from accepted official publishers. Until then, structured air-quality module context remains available on the dedicated module page.

Lusaka air-quality dataset coverage
MetricValueData yearStatus
Air qualityVerified air-quality measurements are not yet published for this location.

Data provenance

Source attribution

  • Global City Intelligence — air-quality dataset

    Verified data unavailable
    Publisher
    Global City Intelligence
    Last verified
    2026-05-16

    The air-quality dataset begins empty by design. Verified city-level measurements appear here only after they are sourced from accepted publishers (WHO, EEA, US EPA, OpenAQ, OECD, or official national/city environmental agencies).

Explore Lusaka modules

City pages link to module and ranking pages so crawlers can move through the topic cluster naturally.

Cost of Living in Lusaka

Lusaka's cost-of-living profile is a directional indicator pending integration of verified city-level data; structured benchmark context applies.

Air Quality in Lusaka

Lusaka's air-quality profile is a directional indicator framed against WHO and regional benchmarks; verified city-level measurements appear in the dedicated air-quality dataset section once integrated.

Energy in Lusaka

Lusaka's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context.

Safety in Lusaka

Lusaka's safety profile is a directional indicator; verified country-level emergency profiles attach via the country hub where available.

Internet Speed in Lusaka

Lusaka's connectivity profile is a directional indicator combining national digital-readiness context with widely cited speed-test references.

Climate Risk in Lusaka

Lusaka's climate-risk profile is a directional indicator combining regional hazard categories with national adaptation capacity.

City rankings

Compare this city against other indexed cities in crawlable ranking tables.

Cost of living in Lusaka

Cost of living estimates for Lusaka — monthly budgets, rent, food, and transport in the local currency, plus an affordability score for comparison. Planning estimates derived from country baselines, not live prices.

Climate in Lusaka

Climate profile for Lusaka — Semi-Arid climate, annual average 26.9°C, comfort score 63/100. Month-by-month temperatures, rainfall, sunshine, and the best months to visit. Deterministic planning estimates, not a forecast.

Economy and jobs in Lusaka

Economy and jobs profile for Lusaka — mixed economy, economy score 53/100, key industries including government, mining, logistics. Employment, salary, startup, remote-work, and career indicators. Deterministic planning estimates.

Universities and education in Lusaka

Education profile for Lusaka — regional education center, education score 59/100, 5 representative universities, plus research, student life, and international-student indicators. Deterministic dataset, not institutional rankings.

Healthcare and retirement in Lusaka

Healthcare and retirement profile for Lusaka — mixed healthcare profile, healthcare score 54/100, retirement score 58/100. Medical access, specialist and emergency care, affordability, and retirement suitability. Deterministic planning estimates.

Estimate a monthly budget for Lusaka

Estimate a monthly budget for Lusaka using your own housing, food, transport, healthcare, and lifestyle inputs. Planning estimator only — not an official cost-of-living measurement.

Plan a trip budget for Lusaka

Plan a trip budget for Lusaka using your own accommodation, food, local transport, activities, travel, healthcare buffer, and emergency buffer inputs. Planning estimator only — not an official travel cost estimate.

Nearby cities from Lusaka

Where else nearby you could spend a day or a weekend from Lusaka. Links are derived from geographic proximity, shared region, shared natural-recreation areas, transport corridors, and country borders — not popularity or tourism rankings.

Gaborone, Botswana

Cross-border · about 1057 km from Lusaka. Explore Gaborone's city intelligence profile.

Pretoria, South Africa

Cross-border · about 1149 km from Lusaka. Explore Pretoria's city intelligence profile.

Maputo, Mozambique

Cross-border · about 1255 km from Lusaka. Explore Maputo's city intelligence profile.

Windhoek, Namibia

Cross-border · about 1420 km from Lusaka. Explore Windhoek's city intelligence profile.

Interpretation

Use the Lusaka profile to compare cost framing, country-level context, and hydro-energy signals alongside other Southern-African metros. Its standout dimensions are cost of living (74/100) and air quality (70/100). The area most worth watching is climate risk (58/100), where the model registers practical gaps. Data year 2025; last updated 2026-05-16. Drawn from 4 institutional references.

Country context is available on the Zambia country page. Related rankings include Overall Intelligence, Quality of Life, Remote Work. See where Lusaka appears in global rankings or read the scoring methodology.

Structured indicators on this page are directional and intended for orientation. Verified datasets are being integrated; official sources should be used for critical decisions.

Sources

4 institutional references inform this view, listed below with reliability notes. Structured indicators on this page are directional and intended for orientation; verified datasets are being integrated and official sources should be used for critical decisions.