This is a list of famous or notable Zambians, or people of Zambian descent, or people who have influenced Zambia listed in the following categories, and in no particular order:

• Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba
• Saviour Chibiya
• Hakainde Hichilema
• Rajan Mahtani
• Sylvia Masebo
• Clever Mpoha
• Susan Mulikita

• Kenneth David Kaunda – President – 1964–1991
• Frederick Titus Jacob Chiluba – President – 1991–2001
• Levy Patrick Mwanawasa – President – 2001–2008
• Rupiah Bwezani Banda – President – 2008–2011
• Michael Chilufya Sata – President – 2011–2014
• Dr. Guy Scott – Acting President – October 2014–January 2015
• Edgar Lungu – President – 2015–2021
• Hakainde Hichilema – President – 2021–Current

• Reuben Chitandika Kamanga – Vice President – 1964–1967
• Simon Kapwepwe – Vice President – 1967–1970
• Mainza Mathias Chona – Vice President – 1970–1973
  (post abolished thereafter and reintroduced in 1991)
• Levy Patrick Mwanawasa – Vice President – 1991–1994
• Godfrey Miyanda – Vice President – 1994–1997
• Christon Tembo – Vice President – 1997–2001
• Enoch P. Kavindele – Vice President – 2001–2003
• Nevers Mumba – Vice President – 2003–2004
• Lupando Katoloshi Mwape – Vice President – 2004–2006
• Rupiah Bwezani Banda – Vice President – 2006–2008
• George Kunda – Vice President – 2008–2011
• Dr. Guy Scott – Vice President – 2011–2014
• Inonge Wina – Vice President – 2015–2021
• Mutale Nalumango – Vice President – 2021–Current

• Mainza Chona – Prime Minister, 1973–1975, 1977–1978
• Elijah Mudenda – Prime Minister, 1975–1977
• Daniel Lisulo – Prime Minister, 1978–1981
• Nalumino Mundia – Prime Minister, 1981–1985
• Kebby Musokotwane – Prime Minister, 1985–1989, Secretary-General, UNIP 1989–1991, Opposition President, 1992
• Malimba Masheke – Prime Minister, 1989–1991 (post abolished thereafter)

• Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika – former minister/democratic campaigner
• Anderson Mazoka – former opposition leader (1998–2006)
• Austin Liato – former minister/labour leader, former Pan-African Parliament MP
• Besa Mumba – youngest female commercial pilot
• Besnat Jere – former Pan-African Parliament MP
• Chibesa Kankasa – Zambian freedom fighter and politician^[1]
• Crispin Shumina – former MP, former Pan-African Parliament MP
• Dickson Jere – former Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations, under Rupiah Banda
• Edward Makuka Nkoloso – former director of Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy
• Elias Chipimo Jnr – retired opposition leader
• Gladys Nyirongo – former Lands Minister
• Hakainde Hichilema – opposition leader (2006–2021 (Became president))
• Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika – diplomat, former UNICEF Regional Adviser for Africa, Presidential Candidate (2001)
• Kabinga Pande – former Foreign Affairs Minister
• Kalombo Mwansa – former Foreign Affairs Minister
• Luke Mwananshiku – former Finance Minister
• M. K. Mubanga – former Pan-African Parliament MP
• Mundia Sikatana – former Justice Minister
• Ompie Nkumbula-Lieventhal – former MP, former Pan-African Parliament MP
• Patrick Anthony Mwewa Chikusu – Deputy Minister of Health in the Republic of Zambia
• Peter Daka – Minister of science and technology, former Pan-African Parliament MP
• Ronnie Shikapwasha – former Information Minister
• Susan Nakazwe – former Mayor of Lusaka
• Thokozile Muwamba – first female fighter pilot
• Vaughan Gething - former First Minister of Wales

Chieftainships are listed here. These articles cover all holders of the traditional titles; prominent individual holders may also have their own articles, usually in People in the History of Zambia below.

Other notable traditional leaders include:

• Chitimukulu
• Mwata Kazembe
• Chief Kanongesha
• Chief Monze
• Litunga
• Paramount Chief Mpezeni
• Chief Mporokoso

• Emmanuel Milingo – Christian leader, has established the 'Married Priests Now' organisation in the USA
• Adrian Mung'andu – Catholic archbishop of Lusaka

• Corné Krige captain of South African rugby Springbok world cup
• Ellis Chibuye
• Felix Bwalya
• George Gregan captain of Australian rugby team
• Madalitso Muthiya
• Obed Mutanya
• PG Nana
• Samuel Matete world champion 400m hurdles
• Yunus Badat
• Amon Simutowe
• Bob Hesford England rugby
• Daffyd James Wales rugby
• Phil Edmonds England cricket
• Neal Radford England cricket
• Jeff Whitley Northern Ireland football
• Robert Earnshaw Wales football
• Ian McCallum South Africa rugby Springbok
• Roy McCallum South Africa rugby Springbok
• Satwant Singh International rally driver
• Steve Arneil youngest ever international rugby player aged 16 and karate expert

• Backxwash, Zambian-Canadian rapper
• Denise Chaila, Irish and Zambian rapper, singer, poet, grime, and hip hop artist
• Matthew Ngosa
• Paul Ngozi, musician, band leader of the Ngozi Family rock band
• Sampa The Great, singer, rapper, songwriter
• Yo Maps

• Dambisa Moyo
• Field Ruwe
• Binwell Sinyangwe
• Wilbur Smith
• Ellen Banda-Aaku
• Namwali Serpell
• Fwanyanga Mulikita
• Kenneth Kaunda
• Andrew Kaumba

• Amon Simutowe

• Likando Kalaluka - Attorney General of the republic of Zambia from 2015 to 2021
• Chipokota Mwanawasa - Special Assistant to the Zambian President for Public Policy from 2021 to date.
• Nelly Mutti
• Bokani Soko - Prominent business and lawyer

• Jonah Buyoya - Zambian journalist
• Mary Mbewe - Zambian journalist, and executive editor^[2]
• Smokey Haangala - Zambian journalist, poet, writer, composer, musician^[3]

• Aaron Mujajati
• Natasha Salifyanji Kaoma, medical doctor, and organization founder^[4]

• Steve Arneil – Karate Kyokushin practitioner born in South Africa, but lived in Zambia
• Joseph and Luka Banda – Conjoined twins
• Lukwesa Burak – Sky News anchor based in London
• Norman Carr – British wildlife conservationist who set up national parks in Zambia
• John Edmond – Zambian-born Rhodesian singer
• Phil Edmonds – English cricketer born in Lusaka
• Robert Earnshaw – Zambian-born Welsh international football player
• Stanley Fischer – Zambian-born Deputy Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and Governor of the Bank of Israel
• Tawny Gray – sculptor
• George Gregan – Zambian-born captain of the Australian Wallabies Rugby Union team
• Amy Holmes – Zambian-born (Zambian father, American mother), The Blaze news anchor and CNN political contributor
• Daffyd James – Zambian-born Welsh international rugby player
• V. M. Jones – Author
• Arthur Kalaluka – military officer
• Corné Krige – Zambian-born South African Springboks Rugby Union team captain
• Robert Lange – Zambian-born record producer and songwriter
• Chilu Lemba – Radio and TV presenter
• Rozalla Miller – British/Zimbabwean singer born to a Zambian mother
• Dambisa Moyo – International economist and best-selling author, born and raised in Lusaka
• Martin Mubanga – Zambian extrajudicial prisoner of the United States
• Monica Musonda – Lawyer turned entrepreneur
• Rungano Nyoni – Zambian-born Welsh director
• Nsofwa Petronella Sampa – Psychological counselor and HIV activist
• Emeli Sandé – British singer, Zambian father
• Denise Scott Brown – Zambian-born American architect
• David Shepherd – British conservationist who has painted Zambian wildlife
• Kapelwa Sikota (1928–2006) – First Zambian registered nurse
• Hammerskjoeld Simwinga – Conservationist/environmentalist
• Peter Amos Siwo – Pioneering graduate and civil servant
• Wilbur Smith – Zambian-born (Ndola) British/South African author
• Jeff Whitley – Zambian-born played for Northern Ireland

This is a list of deceased historical figures (or sub-lists of them) in Zambia and its antecedent territories, and combines Zambians, Africans and non-Zambians including British people and Northern Rhodesians.^{[citation needed]}

• Robert Edward Codrington – colonial administrator of the two territories ruled by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) which later became Zambia
• Father Jean-Jacques Corbeil – Canadian missionary and ethnographer of Bemba culture
• Dan Crawford – missionary pioneer
• Bishop Joseph Dupont – missionary pioneer
• Sir Stewart Gore-Browne – called Chipembele by Africans, soldier, pioneer white settler, builder, politician and supporter of independence in Northern Rhodesia
• List of governors of Northern Rhodesia
• List of governors-general of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
• Evelyn Dennison Hone – last governor of Northern Rhodesia
• Alice Lenshina – leader of the Lumpa religious sect
• General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck – leader of German East Africa forces of World War I
• Lewanika – Litunga of the Lozi
• David Livingstone – British Scottish missionary-explorer
• Michael Mataka – first native Zambian to become police commissioner
• Mwata Kazembe – Chief of the Kazembe-Lunda
• Mpezeni – warrior-king of one of the largest Ngoni groups of central Africa
• Nalumino Mundia – Prime Minister, 1981–1985
• Alick Nkhata – popular Zambian musician and broadcaster in the 1950s through to the mid-1970s
• Baldwin Nkumbula
• Harry Nkumbula – Nationalist leader who assisted in the struggle for the independence of Northern Rhodesia from British colonialism
• Mwene Chitengi Chiyengele – Mbunda chief who led his tribesmen from north-eastern Angola to Bulozi, western Zambia around 1795.
• Cecil Rhodes – English-born businessman, mining magnate, and politician in South Africa and an ardent believer in colonialism and imperialism, founder of the state of Rhodesia
• Sebetwane – Basotho chief who fled from Shaka Zulu, eventually conquering and settling in Western Province
• Mamochisane – daughter of Sebetwane, succeeded him as Makololo queen
• Sekeletu – Makololo King of Barotseland in western Zambia from about 1851 to his death in 1863
• Alfred Sharpe – British administrator and agent for Cecil Rhodes
• Lawrence Aubrey Wallace
• Roy Welensky – leader of white trade union and settler politician
• Rohan Oza creator of Vitamin Water in the US, sold to Coke a cola

• History of Zambia
• List of Zambia-related topics
• List of Mbunda Chiefs in Zambia