The Limpopo River Basin is the most highly developed basin in the SADC region and supports a significant population, including some of the region’s poorest and richest communities. The basin has numerous urban areas and commercial and subsistence farming communities, as well as important forestry resources and mines.

The Limpopo basin has a population of about 14 million people, which is 18 percent of the total population of the four basin countries - Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The basin is home to over ten ethnic groups, eight of which are communities transcending national boundaries and which share many cultural values and languages. Inter-marriages between people of these communities are common.