Namibia | Facts & Information

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

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Map of Namibia

Facts & Figures

President: Hage Geingob (2015)

Prime Minister: Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila (2015)

Total area: 318,694 sq mi (825,418 sq km)

Population (2013 est.): 2,182,852 (growth rate: 0.817%); birth rate: 21.11/1000; infant mortality rate: 45.61/1000; life expectancy: 52.17

Capital and largest city (2009 est.): Windhoek, 342,000.

Monetary unit: Namibian dollar

Current government officials

Languages: Oshiwambo languages 49.7%, Nama/Damara 11%, Kavango languages 10.4%, Afrikaans 9.4% (also a common language), Herero languages 9.2%, Zambezi languages 4.9%, English (official) 2.3%, other African languages 1.5%, other European languages .7%, other 1% (2016 est.)

Ethnicity/race: black 87.5%, white 6%, mixed 6.5%. Note: about 50% of the population belong to the Ovambo tribe and 9% to the Kavangos tribe; other ethnic groups are Herero 7%, Damara 7%, Nama 5%, Caprivian 4%, Bushmen 3%, Baster 2%, Tswana 0.5%

Religions: Christian 80%–90% (Lutheran at least 50%), indigenous beliefs 10%–20%

National Holiday: Independence Day, March 21

Literacy rate: 88.8% (2010 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2012 est.): $16.84 billion; per capita $7,800. Real growth rate: 4%. Inflation: 5.8%. Unemployment: 51.2%. Arable land: .99%. Agriculture: millet, sorghum, peanuts, grapes; livestock; fish. Labor force: 818,600; agriculture 16.3%, industry 22.4%, services 61.3% (2008 est.). Industries: meatpacking, fish processing, dairy products; mining (diamonds, lead, zinc, tin, silver, tungsten, uranium, copper). Natural resources: diamonds, copper, uranium, gold, lead, tin, lithium, cadmium, zinc, salt, vanadium, natural gas, hydropower, fish; note: suspected deposits of oil, coal, and iron ore. Exports: $4.657 billion (2012 est.): diamonds, copper, gold, zinc, lead, uranium; cattle, processed fish, karakul skins. Imports: $5.762 billion (2012 est.): foodstuffs; petroleum products and fuel, machinery and equipment, chemicals. Major trading partners: South Africa, U.S. (2006).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 140,000 (2011); mobile cellular: 2.24 million (2011). Broadcast media: 1 private and 1 state-run TV station; satellite and cable TV service is available; state-run radio service broadcasts in multiple languages; about a dozen private radio stations; transmissions of multiple international broadcasters are available (2007). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 78,280 (2012). Internet users: 127,500,600 (2009).

Transportation: Railways: total: 2,626 km (2008). Highways: total: 64,189 km; paved: 5,477 km; unpaved: 58,712 km (2010). Ports and harbors: Luderitz, Walvis Bay. Airports: 112 (2012).

International disputes: concerns from international experts and local populations over the Okavango Delta ecology in Botswana and human displacement scuttled Namibian plans to construct a hydroelectric dam on Popa Falls along the Angola-Namibia border; managed dispute with South Africa over the location of the boundary in the Orange River; Namibia has supported, and in 2004 Zimbabwe dropped objections to, plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the Zambezi River, thereby de facto recognizing a short, but not clearly delimited, Botswana-Zambia boundary in the river.

Major sources and definitions

Geography

Namibia is bordered on the north by Angola and Zambia, on the east by Botswana, and on the east and south by South Africa. It is for the most part a portion of the high plateau of southern Africa, with a general elevation of from 3,000 to 4,000 ft.

Government

Republic.

History

The San peoples may have inhabited what is now Namibia more than 2,000 years ago. The Bantu-speaking Herero settled there in the 1600s. The Ovambo, the largest ethnic group today, migrated in the 1800s.

In the late 15th century, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to visit Namibia. Formerly called South-West Africa, the territory became a German colony in 1884. Between 1904 and 1908, German troops massacred tens of thousands of Herero, who had revolted against colonial rule. In 1915, during World War I, Namibian territory was taken over by South African forces. In 1921, it became a mandated territory of the League of Nations, under the administration of South Africa.

South Africa Struggles to Retain Power over Namibia

Upon the dissolution of the League of Nations in 1946, South Africa refused to accept United Nations authority to replace its mandate with a UN trusteeship. A black Marxist separatist group, the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO), formed in 1960 and began small-scale guerrilla attacks aimed at achieving independence. In 1966, the UN called for South Africa's withdrawal from the territory, and officially renamed it Namibia in 1968. South Africa refused to obey. Under a 1974 Security Council resolution, South Africa was required to begin the transfer of power or face UN action. Prime Minister Balthazar J. Vorster rejected UN supervision, claiming that his government was prepared to negotiate Namibian independence, but not with SWAPO, which the UN had recognized as the “sole legitimate representative” of the Namibian people.

Installation of Namibian Government

South Africa handed over limited powers to a new multiracial administration in 1985 (the previous government had enforced South Africa's apartheid laws). Installation of this government ended South Africa's direct rule, but it retained an effective veto over the new government's decisions. Finally, in 1988 a South Africa agreed to a plan for independence. SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma was elected president, and on March 21, 1990, Namibia achieved nationhood.

Nujoma was reelected in 1994 and again in 1999, after the constitution was amended to allow him to seek a third term. Nujoma announced in Nov. 2001 that he would not seek reelection when his term expired in 2004. In Nov. 2004, Hifikepunye Pohamba of SWAPO was elected president with 76% of the vote. He took office on March 21, 2005, and was easily reelected in 2009, taking 75% of the vote.

In 2004, Germany issued a formal apology for the massacre of Herero by German colonial troops between 1904 and 1908.

In a 2012 cabinet reshuffle, Hage Geingob became prime minister, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah foreign minister, Nahas Angula defense minister, and Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana home affairs minister. In 2014 presidential elections, Geingob won by an overwhelming 86.7% of the vote. His party, SWAPO, received 80% of the vote.

Geingob took office as president on March 21, 2015. He nominated Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila as prime minister. A member of the National Assembly of Namibia since 1995, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila also took office on March 21. She previously served as minister of finance from 2003 to 2015.

See also Encyclopedia: Namibia

U.S. State Dept. Country Notes: Namibia

Central Bureau of Statistics http://www.npc.gov.na/cbs/index.htm .