ONLY 5.9% of business establishments nationally are registered with the National Social Security Authority of Zimbabwe (“NSSA”), data by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency has shown.
This figure is largely attributed to the overwhelming prevalence of informal businesses across Zimbabwe, with 76.1% of all establishments operating informally.
Harare leads with 6.7% registered, while Mashonaland Central records the lowest at just 2.0%, highlighting stark provincial disparities in formal compliance.
Despite the low percentage, Harare records the highest number of NSSA-registered establishments due to its large business base of over 83 300 establishments mapped during the economic census.
Mashonaland Central’s smaller enterprise pool and dominance of informal activity explain its lowest registration level at 2.0%.
A large share of workers in Zimbabwe are in the informal sector, particularly street vending, informal transport, agriculture, hence they aren’t on formal payrolls, so their employers don’t register them with NSSA.
In rural provinces, businesses are smaller and more survivalist, hence less likely to register with NSSA.
