Eastern Province, Zambia

Eastern
Province
Map of Eastern Province
Eastern Province showing its districts (in green).
Country	Zambia
Capital	Chipata
Government
• Type	Provincial Administration
• Provincial Minister	Peter Phiri
Area
• Total	98,877 km2 (38,177 sq mi)
Elevation	818 m (2,684 ft)
Population  (2022)
• Total	2,454,588
• Density	25/km2 (64/sq mi)
Ethnic groups [1]
• Chewa	39.7%
• Nsenga	20.3%
• Tumbuka	15.6%
• Ngoni	15.3%
• Kunda	3.3%
Languages [1]
• Chewa	34.6%
• Nsenga	21.4%
• Nyanga	17.4%
• Tumbuka	16.5%
• Ngoni	4.6%
Time zone	UTC-
HDI (2018)	0.533[2] low · 9th
Website	www.eas.gov.zm

Eastern Province is one of Zambia's ten provinces. The province lies between the Luangwa River and borders with Malawi to the east and Mozambique to the south, from Isoka in the northeast to the north of Luangwa in the south.^[3] The provincial capital is Chipata. Eastern province has an area of 51,476 km² (19,875 sq mi), locally shares border with three other provinces of the country and is divided into fifteen districts.

As per the 2010 Zambian census, Eastern Province had a population of 1,592,661, accounting to 12.16% of the total Zambian population. The sex ratio was 1,030 for every 1,000 males. As of 2010, Chewa was the largest community in the region with 39.7 per cent of the total population and Chewa was the most widely spoken language with 34.6 per cent speaking it. On the tourism front, the province has four national parks. The province has two significant traditional ceremonies being the Nc'wala festival celebrated in Chipata District by the Ngoni tribe during February and the Chewa Kulamba ceremony celebrated in Katete District by the Chewa Kingdom which is held annually on the last Saturday in August. The Kulamba ceremony, which is attended by over 200,000 people, was banned by the Colonial regime and gathers Chewa chiefs from across the Kingdom in Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique who come to pay homage to their King and update him of events in the Kingdom. Agriculture is the major occupation in the province which accounts for 20.41 per cent of the total area cultivated in Zambia. The province accounted for 19.61 per cent of the total agricultural production in the country with sunflower being the major crop. Chipata Airport and Mfuwe Airport are the two airports in the province.