mercymusonda/SQL_PROJECT

SQL analysis exploring how Zambia's dependence on metals and ores exports has shaped its inflation and unemployment outcomes from 2004 to 2025 # Zambia's Trade, Inflation & Unemployment Analysis (2004–2025) **Aim:** To explore how dependence on metals and ores exports has shaped Zambia's economic outcomes over two decades. ## 📌 Project Overview This project analyses Zambia's international trade in metals and ores alongside its inflation and unemployment trends from 2004 to 2025. Using PostgreSQL, the analysis works through five focused questions that build on each other, starting from trade patterns and ending at a full picture of Zambia's most economically vulnerable years. The goal is not just to describe what happened, but to understand the relationship between Zambia's heavy reliance on a single commodity group and the real economic consequences felt by its people. ## 🗂️ Data Sources The data used was from the **World Bank Open Data Source** and comprised of: 1. **Exports:** Ores & metals exports (% of merchandise exports) 2. **Imports:** Ores & metals imports (% of merchandise imports) 3. **Inflation:** Inflation, consumer prices (annual %) 4. **Unemployment:** Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate) ## 🛠️ Tools Used - **PostgreSQL / pgAdmin:** data cleaning, transformation, and analysis - **SQL:** all querying and unpivoting of raw data - **Excel:** all visualization ## ❓ Analysis Questions 1. *When did Zambia experience its biggest export surges and crashes in metals & ores?* 2. *Did Zambia import more metals & ores during years when its exports crashed?* 3. *During years when export share fell, did inflation increase?* 4. *When prices rose, did Zambians also lose jobs?* 5. *Which years were truly the hardest for Zambia?* ## Q1 — Export Surges & Crashes (2004–2025) ### 🔍 Question *When did Zambia experience its biggest export surges and crashes in metals & ores from 2004 to 2025?* ### 🧠 Why This Matters Before exploring the economic impact of trade, it is important to first understand the trade pattern itself. Zambia is one of the world's largest copper …