Zimbabwe Unemployment Soars to 94%, Seven Million in Need of Food

Zimbabwe's unemployment rate has spiked to 94 percent, meaning that fewer than half a million people in the country are formally employed, the UN's humanitarian arm said Thursday.

"At close of 2008, only six percent of the population was formally employed, down from 30 percent in 2003," said a report from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Out of the country's 12 million people, only 480,000 have formal jobs, down from 3.6 million in 2003, the report said.

"The most obvious indicator of the current decline is the staggering inflation rate," last estimated at 231 million percent in July, it said.

The new data was contained in an appeal by OCHA for 35 agencies working in the country, seeking 550 million US dollars (420 million euros) to assist the 5.1 million Zimbabweans in need of food aid.

The once-dynamic economy has shrunk by more than 45 percent over the past five years, leaving half of Zimbabwe's urban population relying on remittances from friends and family overseas, the report said.

The World Food Program said in a statement that it aims to assist 5.1 million people in February while a group of U.S.-sponsored aid organisations plans to assist 1.8 million more people in the southern African country.

"The overall total for people in need of assistance in February and March is around 7 million," the WFP said.

Zimbabwe's economic meltdown has been worsened by a cholera outbreak across the country which has killed nearly 3,100 people and infected 58,993 -- the worst Africa death toll from cholera in 15 years.