By early 1987, about 110,000 whites were estimated to have remained in Zimbabwe, about half the number on independence in 1980. There were also about 25,000 Coloured (of mixed race) and 10,000 Asians. Some 1.5 million people who had left for neighboring states during the civil war returned after independence, putting considerable strain on the new nation. In addition, by the end of 1992, famine and civil war in Mozambique had driven an estimated 136,600 Mozambicans into Zimbabwe. Between 1992 and 1996, 241,000 Mozambican refugees repatriated from Zimbabwe. As of 1999, Zimbabwe was hosting some 1,200 refugees, the majority of whom were from Somalia, Ethiopia, and countries in the Great Lakes region.
In the early 1990s, there were about 25,000 Zimbabwe-born whites and 14,000 Zimbabwe-born blacks living in South Africa. As of 1999, there was still a small but steady flow of Zimbabweans into South Africa in search of better paid employment.
In 2000 there were 656,000 migrants living in Zimbabwe, including refugees. The net migration rate that year was -0.2 migrants per 1,000 population. The government views the migration levels as satisfactory.