Lusaka is the capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about 1,279 metres (4,196 ft). As of 2010, the city's population was about 1.7 million, while the urban population is estimated at 2.5 million in 2018. Lusaka is the centre of both commerce and government in Zambia and connects to the country's four main highways heading north, south, east and west. English is the official language of the city administration, while Nyanja and Bemba are the commonly spoken street languages.

In the 1890s the area in which Lusaka is situated was taken over by the British South Africa Company from the local chiefs in the course of the formation of Northern Rhodesia, with control passing to the British Colonial Office in 1924. Lusaka became the capital of Northern Rhodesia in 1935. The city figured prominently in the movement for independence and was where the Federation of African Societies founded the Northern Rhodesian Congress in 1948. After the federation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia took place in 1953, Lusaka was a hub of the civil disobedience movement (1960) that led to the creation of the independent state of Zambia, of which Lusaka became the capital.
 

• For 2016, Lusaka ranks as the 200th costliest city dropping 20 places from 2015 when Mercer placed Lusaka as the world’s 180th most expensive city for newly relocated citizens
• Including its immediate surrounding neighborhood, the population count for Lusaka’s built-up urban area is approximately 2.7 million inhabitants.
• Lusaka’s extended urban perimeters contains 121 square miles (313 square kilometers)
• Lusaka is the smallest province in Zambia
• All of Africa’s Big Five can be found in Zambia including lions, rhinos and elephants. South Luangwa National Park is a protection area for these animals
   

As the national capital, Lusaka is the seat of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government, epitomized by the presence of the National Assembly , the State House , and the High Court. The Parliament is situated at the Parliament complex, which features a 15-story building. The city is also the capital of Lusaka Province, the smallest and most populous of the country's nine provinces, and forms an administrative district run by Lusaka City Council. In 2007, the mayor was Steven Chilatu , and the deputy mayor was Mary Phiri. Lusaka’s newer government section contrasts with the old township along the railway line.

Zambia’s initial constitution was abandoned in August 1973 when it became a one-party state. The constitution of the Second Republic provided for a «one-party participatory democracy,» with the United National Independence Party the only legal political party. In response to mounting pressures within the country, the constitution was changed in 1991 to allow the reintroduction of a multiparty system. Under the terms of the constitution, the president, who is head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces, is elected by universal adult suffrage to no more than two five-year terms. Central government is represented throughout Zambia by the provincial government system, by which resident ministers—each of whom is the president’s direct representative—are appointed by the president to each of the provinces. The provinces are divided into districts, each of which has a district council chairman responsible to the provincial deputy minister; the district council chairman is particularly concerned with political and economic developments. His civil service counterpart is the district executive secretary. The cities of Lusaka, Ndola, and Kitwe have councils and mayors, but the formerly separate management of mine townships on the Copperbelt has been abolished.

The court system consists of the Supreme Court, the High Court, subordinate magistrate’s courts, and local courts. Because the law administered by all except the local courts is based on English common law, decisions of the higher British courts are of persuasive value; in fact, a few statutes of the British Parliament that were declared by ordinance to apply to Zambia are in force so far as circumstances permit. Most of the laws presently on the statute book, however, have been locally enacted by ordinance or, since independence, by Zambian acts.The Supreme Court consists of the chief justice, deputy chief justice, and several other justices; it is the court of last resort. Customary law is followed when it is not incompatible with other legislation.

The judiciary remains formally independent. The president appoints the chief justice and, on the advice of the Judicial Services Commission, also appoints other judges; however, the constitution severely restricts the president’s powers of dismissal, and on occasion judges have not shrunk from challenging the authority of the government or party. At the same time, the scope of the judiciary was seriously limited by presidential powers of preventive detention under emergency regulations brought in at the time of Rhodesian UDI in November 1965 and subsequently regularly renewed by the National Assembly. The ending of these state-of-emergency regulations on Nov. 8, 1991, was one of the first acts of the new government. The president is elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage; election to the National Assembly, which is conducted simultaneously, is also largely decided on this basis, although a small proportion of National Assembly members are nominated by the president. There is a 27-member House of Chiefs, with a two-year-term rotating membership. It has no legislative function: it may consider bills but not block their passage.
 

Although basically reliant on its agricultural environs, and a major collecting point for corn and tobacco, Lusaka has a mixed economy that includes cement, textile, and shoe manufacture, and food processing.The economy of Zambia is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and its capital, Lusaka is the fastest growing city in the Southern African Development Community . Zambia itself is one of Sub-Saharan Africa's most highly urbanized countries. About one-half of the country's 16 million people are concentrated in a few urban zones strung along the major transportation corridors, while rural areas are under-populated. Unemployment and underemployment are serious problems. National GDP has actually doubled since independence, but due in large part to high birth rates and AIDS per capita annual incomes are currently at about two-thirds of their levels at independence. As of 2018, Zambia's GDP per capita, PPP stands at $4,216.46 For the first time since 1989 Zambia's economic growth reached the 6%-7% mark needed to reduce poverty significantly. Cooperation continues with international bodies on programs to reduce poverty, including a new lending arrangement with the IMF in the second quarter of 2004. A tighter monetary policy will help cut inflation, but Zambia still has a serious problem with high public debt.

Lack of balance-of-payment support meant the Zambian government did not have resources for capital investment and periodically had to issue bonds or otherwise expand the money supply to try to meet its spending and debt obligations. The government continued these activities even after balance-of-payment support resumed. This has kept interest rates at levels that are too high for local business, fuelled inflation, burdened the budget with domestic debt payments, while still falling short of meeting the public payroll and other needs, such as infrastructure rehabilitation. The government was forced to draw down foreign exchange reserves sharply in 1998 to meet foreign debt obligations, putting further pressure on the kwacha and inflation. As a result, 2001 year-end inflation was below 20%, its best result in decades. In 2002 inflation rose to 26.7%. However, in 2007 inflation hit 8%, the first time in 30 years that Zambia had seen single digit inflation.On January 27, 2011, it was reported by the Central Statistical Office that inflation rose to 9%. There are, however, positive macroeconomic signs, rooted in reforms implemented in the early and mid-1990s. Zambia's floating exchange rate and open capital markets have provided useful discipline to the government, while at the same time allowing continued diversification of Zambia's export sector, growth in the tourist industry, and procurement of inputs for growing businesses.

Lusaka is home to Kenneth Kaunda International Airport . There is also Lusaka City Airport, which is used by the Zambian Air Force. The airport is currently undergoing a major expansion and modernisation. The city is served by the operating sections of the Cape to Cairo Railway, which connects it to Lubumbashi and Bulawayo. The international airport is connected to the railway line. The city is crossed by Transafican Highway 9 , which connects it to the cities of Harare and Lubumbashi, and by Transafrican Highway 4 , which connects it to Dodoma and Bulawayo.Intracity public transport is provided primarily by minibuses, but also includes larger buses and shared taxis on fixed routes. Vehicles on most routes travel between specific parts of the city and the four terminals in the central business district : Kulima Tower, City Market, Millennium and Lumumba. There is no official map of public transport routes in Lusaka, but an initiative to create a user-generated content map was begun in 2014. All public transport vehicles in Lusaka are operated by private operators. Bus services within Lusaka neighbourhoods, the CBD and towns surrounding Lusaka, such as Siavonga and Chirundu, use the Lusaka City Market Bus station, Inter-city Bus Terminus, Millenium Bus Station and Kulima Tower Station.