However, once you move to the periphery of the towns and cities you experience the impact of the inward migration. Shanty settlements have grown up. One such shanty town, Muambe, lies on the edge of Mufulira town. It is an illegal settlement and not recognised by the government. As such it not provided with any social services such as schools and hospitals.
Most people living within the squalor of the shanty town are unemployed.
This does not mean that people remain idle. Many work in the informal sector. These are people who undertake a whole range of business activities unrecorded outside the formal or registered sector. Many of the people who work in the informal sector earn very little and live in conditions of extreme poverty. In addition to the inward migration the conditions of poverty result in a rapid natural growth rate in the population.