Inter prediction is a key technology in video coding standards. In natural videos, moving objects lead to complex motion fields that are difficult to represent, potentially limiting the coding efficiency. In view of this, we propose a multi-zone division-based inter prediction (MDIP) framework to improve the partitioning precision of moving objects and achieve the flexible description of the complex motion field. For each coding block, four multi-zone division modes are supported to adapt to the different motion situations in the block. With the guidance of division mode, motion compensation and motion information coding are separately performed for different zones to achieve higher prediction accuracy and economize the bits consumed for motion information signalling. The proposed algorithm is implemented into the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) reference software, VTM version 6.0. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves up to 2.90% and on average 0.49% BD-rate reduction compared to the VTM anchor, under the lowdelay P configuration, without any increase in time complexity.