The universal temperature dependence of self-diffusion anisotropy (SDA) coefficients for hcp metals with c/a<1.633 is obtained within the framework of concepts on the linear correlation between SDA characteristics and the c/a ratio. The results are confirmed by an analysis of impurity-diffusion anisotropy and are in agreement with the characteristics of point-defect anisotropic migration calculated by computer simulation for α-Zr. A method for estimating SDA promoting factors is proposed; the anisotropy of the binding energy for the vacancy, the `ultrafast' diffusing impurity atom pair is discovered for hcp zirconium. The anisotropy of the compensation effect parameters is estimated within the framework of the elasticity model; an analysis of diffusion mechanisms for anomalous hcp metals is performed. By the same methods the anisotropy of interdiffusion is analyzed for hcp alloys of the zirconium-titanium system.