South Africa has the largest number of people living in the basin area - accounting for over 10 million people (representing 24 percent of that country’s total population). Botswana, which has nearly 60 percent of its total population residing within the catchment of the basin, appears to be the country most dependent on the basin. This is largely a result of widespread scarcity of water resources in the country, which makes the Limpopo river basin a large attraction for human settlements and key economic activities.

The national interests and priorities of the riparian countries differ in relation to water resources management, as follows:

• water use control for Botswana,
• upliftment of the lives of marginalized people for South Africa,
• irrigation and agricultural development for Zimbabwe, and
• flood control for Mozambique.