Overview
Mozambique, bordered by Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Eswatini, has a 2,500-kilometer coastline along the Indian Ocean facing Madagascar and serves as a strategic gateway for four of its six landlocked neighbors. Home to an estimated 33 million people in 2022, about two-thirds live in rural areas, relying on agriculture and natural resources for livelihoods. The country is endowed with arable land, abundant water, energy, minerals, and recently discovered offshore natural gas deposits. Its deep seaports and relatively large labor pool further support economic potential.
Despite these advantages, Mozambique faces multiple, overlapping development and humanitarian challenges. Political instability has intensified following the October 2024 presidential, legislative, and provincial elections, which sparked widespread unrest over alleged electoral fraud, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Governance and economic transparency issues, including the handling of the hidden debt investigation, continue to undermine confidence, while structural reforms are needed to support a struggling private sector. Security concerns remain acute, particularly in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province, where an insurgency since 2017 has killed thousands and displaced over a million people. Although military operations have reduced active conflict, northern Mozambique remains exposed to mobile raids, abductions, extortion, and informal taxation, constraining livelihoods and access to essential services.
The country is also facing a neglected humanitarian crisis exacerbated by repeated climate shocks. In 2025, three major cyclones combined with El Niño–induced droughts compounded the vulnerability of returning populations, leaving hundreds of thousands in need of food, healthcare, education, and protection, particularly women, girls, and children. Humanitarian access remains limited due to insecurity, road blockages, airstrip closures, and mandatory military escorts, while bureaucratic hurdles, funding shortfalls, and increased government oversight constrain aid delivery. Without sustained support and security improvements, development gains risk being reversed, and essential services will remain largely non-functional, leaving communities highly exposed to continued shocks.
Source: World Bank, 2024 & OCHA, 2026
