flag of Namibia
Independence
South African troops patrol the border region for PLAN insurgents, 1980s.
As SWAPO's insurgency intensified, South Africa's
case for annexation in the international community continued to decline. The UN
declared that South Africa
had failed in its obligations to ensure the moral and material well-being of South West Africa's indigenous inhabitants and had thus
disavowed its own mandate. On 12 June 1968, the UN General Assembly adopted a
resolution proclaiming that, in accordance with the desires of its people,
South West Africa be renamed Namibia. United Nations Security Council
Resolution 269, adopted in August 1969, declared South
Africa's continued occupation of Namibia illegal.
In recognition of this landmark decision, SWAPO's armed wing was renamed the
People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN).
Namibia
became one of several flashpoints for Cold War proxy conflicts in southern Africa during the latter years of the PLAN insurgency.
The insurgents sought out weapons and sent recruits to the Soviet
Union for military training. SWAPO's political leadership, dependent
on military aid from the Soviets, Cuba,
and Angola,
positioned the movement within the socialist bloc by 1975. This practical
alliance reinforced the prevailing perspective of SWAPO as a Soviet proxy,
which dominated Cold War ideology in South Africa
and the United States.
For its part, the Soviet Union supported SWAPO partly because it viewed South Africa as
a regional Western ally.
Growing war weariness and the reduction of tensions between
the superpowers compelled South Africa,
Angola, and Cuba to accede to the Tripartite Accord, under
pressure from both the Soviet Union and the United States. South Africa
accepted Namibian independence in exchange for Cuban military withdrawal from
the region and an Angolan commitment to cease all aid to PLAN. PLAN and South Africa
adopted an informal ceasefire in August 1988, and a United Nations Transition
Assistance Group (UNTAG) was formed to monitor the Namibian peace process and
supervise the return of refugees. The ceasefire was broken after PLAN made a
final incursion into the territory, possibly as a result of misunderstanding
UNTAG's directives, in March 1989. A new ceasefire was later imposed with the
condition that the insurgents were to be confined to their external bases in
Angola until they could be disarmed and demobilised by UNTAG.
By the end of the 11-month transition period, the last South
African troops had been withdrawn from Namibia, all political prisoners
granted amnesty, racially discriminatory legislation repealed, and 42,000
Namibian refugees returned to their homes. Just over 97% of eligible voters
participated in the country's first parliamentary elections held under a
universal franchise. The United Nations plan included oversight by foreign
election observers in an effort to ensure a free and fair election. SWAPO won a
plurality of seats in the Constituent Assembly with 57% of the popular vote.
This gave the party 41 seats, but not a two-thirds majority, which would have
enabled it to draft the constitution on its own.
The Namibian Constitution was adopted in February 1990. It
incorporated protection for human rights and compensation for state
expropriations of private property, and established an independent judiciary,
legislature, and an executive presidency (the constituent assembly became the
national assembly). The country officially became independent on 21 March 1990.
Sam Nujoma was sworn in as the first President of Namibia at a ceremony
attended by Nelson Mandela of South
Africa (who had been released from prison
the previous month) and representatives from 147 countries, including 20 heads
of state. In 1994, following the first multiracial elections in South Africa, that country ceded Walvis Bay to Namibia.
After independence
Since independence Namibia has completed the transition
from white minority apartheid rule to parliamentary democracy. Multiparty
democracy was introduced and has been maintained, with local, regional and
national elections held regularly. Several registered political parties are
active and represented in the National Assembly, although the SWAPO has won
every election since independence. The transition from the 15-year rule of
President Nujoma to his successor Hifikepunye Pohamba in 2005 went smoothly.
Since independence, the Namibian government has promoted a
policy of national reconciliation. It issued an amnesty for those who fought on
either side during the liberation war. The civil war in Angola spilled
over and adversely affected Namibians living in the north of the country. In
1998, Namibia Defence Force (NDF) troops were sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
as part of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) contingent.
In 1999, the national government quashed a secessionist
attempt in the northeastern Caprivi Strip. The
Caprivi conflict was initiated by the Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA), a rebel
group led by Mishake Muyongo. It wanted the Caprivi Strip
to secede and form its own society.
Geography
At 825,615 km2 (318,772 sq mi), Namibia
is the world's thirty-fourth largest country (after Venezuela). It lies mostly between
latitudes 17° and 29°S (a small area is north of 17°), and longitudes 11° and
26°E.
Being situated between the Namib and the Kalahari deserts, Namibia has the least rainfall of any country in
sub-Saharan Africa.
The Namibian landscape consists generally of five
geographical areas, each with characteristic abiotic conditions and vegetation,
with some variation within and overlap between them: the Central Plateau, the
Namib, the Great Escarpment, the Bushveld, and the Kalahari
Desert.
The Central Plateau runs from north to south, bordered by
the Skeleton Coast
to the northwest, the Namib Desert and its coastal plains to the southwest, the
Orange River to the south, and the Kalahari Desert
to the east. The Central Plateau is home to the highest point in Namibia
at Königstein elevation 2,606 metres (8,550 ft).
The Namib is a broad expanse of hyper-arid gravel plains and
dunes that stretches along Namibia's
entire coastline. It varies between 100 km (60 miles) and 200 km (120 miles) in
width. Areas within the Namib include the Skeleton
Coast and the Kaokoveld in the north
and the extensive Namib
Sand Sea
along the central coast.
The Great Escarpment swiftly rises to over 2,000 metres
(7,000 ft). Average temperatures and temperature ranges increase further inland
from the cold Atlantic waters, while the
lingering coastal fogs slowly diminish. Although the area is rocky with poorly
developed soils, it is significantly more productive than the Namib
Desert. As summer winds are forced over the Escarpment, moisture
is extracted as precipitation.
The Bushveld is found in north-eastern Namibia along the Angolan border and in the Caprivi Strip. The area receives a significantly greater
amount of precipitation than the rest of the country, averaging around 400 mm
(16 in) per year. The area is generally flat and the soils sandy, limiting
their ability to retain water and support agriculture.
The Kalahari Desert, an arid region that extends into South Africa and Botswana,
is one of Namibia's
well-known geographical features. The Kalahari, while popularly known as a
desert, has a variety of localised environments, including some verdant and
technically non-desert areas. The Succulent Karoo is home to over 5,000 species
of plants, nearly half of them endemic; approximately 10 percent of the world's
succulents are found in the Karoo. The reason
behind this high productivity and endemism may be the relatively stable nature
of precipitation.
Namibia's
Coastal Desert is one of the oldest deserts in
the world. Its sand dunes, created by the strong onshore winds, are the highest
in the world. Because of the location of the shoreline, at the point where the
Atlantic's cold water reaches Africa's hot
climate, often extremely dense fog forms along the coast. Near the coast there
are areas where the dune-hummocks are vegetated. Namibia has rich coastal and marine
resources that remain largely unexplored.
Climate
Namibia
extends from 17°S to 25°S latitude: climatically the range of the sub-Tropical
High Pressure Belt. Its overall climate description is arid, descending from
the Sub-Humid [mean rain above 500 mm (20 in)] through Semi-Arid [between 300
and 500 mm (12 and 20 in)] (embracing most of the waterless Kalahari) and Arid
[from 150 to 300 mm (6 to 12 in)] (these three regions are inland from the
western escarpment) to the Hyper-Arid coastal plain [less than 100 mm (4 in)].
Temperature maxima are limited by the overall elevation of the entire region:
only in the far south, Warmbad for instance, are maxima above 40 °C (100 °F)
recorded.
Typically the sub-Tropical High Pressure Belt, with frequent
clear skies, provides more than 300 days of sunshine per year. It is situated
at the southern edge of the tropics; the Tropic of Capricorn cuts the country
about in half. The winter (June – August) is generally dry. Both rainy seasons
occur in summer: the small rainy season between September and November, the big
one between February and April. Humidity is low, and average rainfall varies from
almost zero in the coastal desert to more than 600 mm (24 in) in the Caprivi Strip. Rainfall is highly variable, and droughts
are common.In the summer of 2006/07 the rainfall was recorded far below the
annual average. In May 2019, Namibia
declared a state of emergency in response to the drought, and extended it by
additional 6 months in October 2019.
Weather and climate in the coastal area are dominated by the
cold, north-flowing Benguela Current of the Atlantic Ocean, which accounts for
very low precipitation (50 mm (2 in) per year or less), frequent dense fog, and
overall lower temperatures than in the rest of the country. In Winter,
occasionally a condition known as Bergwind (German for "mountain
breeze") or Oosweer (Afrikaans for "east weather") occurs, a hot
dry wind blowing from the inland to the coast. As the area behind the coast is
a desert, these winds can develop into sand storms, leaving sand deposits in
the Atlantic Ocean that are visible on
satellite images.The Central Plateau and Kalahari areas have wide diurnal
temperature ranges of up to 30 °C (86 °F).
Efundja, the annual seasonal flooding of the northern parts
of the country, often causes not only damage to infrastructure but loss of life.
The rains that cause these floods originate in Angola, flow into Namibia's
Cuvelai-Etosha Basin, and fill the oshanas (Oshiwambo: flood plains) there. The
worst floods so far occurred in March 2011 and displaced 21,000 people.
Water sources
Namibia
is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa
and depends largely on groundwater. With an average rainfall of about 350 mm
(14 in) per annum, the highest rainfall occurs in the Caprivi in the northeast
(about 600 mm (24 in) per annum) and decreases in a westerly and southwesterly
direction to as little as 50 mm (2 in) and less per annum at the coast. The
only perennial rivers are found on the national borders with South Africa, Angola,
Zambia, and the short border
with Botswana
in the Caprivi. In the interior of the country, surface water is available only
in the summer months when rivers are in flood after exceptional rainfalls.
Otherwise, surface water is restricted to a few large storage dams retaining
and damming up these seasonal floods and their run-off. Where people do not
live near perennial rivers or make use of the storage dams, they are dependent
on groundwater. Even isolated communities and those economic activities located
far from good surface water sources, such as mining, agriculture, and tourism,
can be supplied from groundwater over nearly 80% of the country.
More than 100,000 boreholes have been drilled in Namibia over
the past century. One third of these boreholes have been drilled dry. An
aquifer called Ohangwena II, on both sides of the Angola-Namibia border, was
discovered in 2012. It has been estimated to be capable of supplying a
population of 800,000 people in the North for 400 years, at the current (2018)
rate of consumption. Experts estimate that Namibia has 7,720 km3 (1,850 cu mi)
of underground water.
Communal Wildlife Conservancies
Namibia
is one of few countries in the world to specifically address conservation and
protection of natural resources in its constitution. Article 95 states,
"The State shall actively promote and maintain the welfare of the people
by adopting international policies aimed at the following: maintenance of
ecosystems, essential ecological processes, and biological diversity of
Namibia, and utilisation of living natural resources on a sustainable basis for
the benefit of all Namibians, both present and future."
In 1993, Namibia's
newly formed government received funding from the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) through its Living in a Finite Environment
(LIFE) Project. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism, with financial support
from organisations such as USAID, Endangered Wildlife Trust, WWF, and Canadian
Ambassador's Fund, together form a Community Based Natural Resource Management
(CBNRM) support structure. The project's main goal is to promote sustainable
natural resource management by giving local communities rights to wildlife
management and tourism.
Government
Namibia
is a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic. The
President of Namibia is elected to a five-year term and is both the head of
state and the head of government. All members of the government are
individually and collectively responsible to the legislature.
The Constitution of Namibia outlines the following as the
organs of the country's government:
• Executive:
executive power is exercised by the President and the Government.
• Legislature:
Namibia
has a bicameral Parliament with the National Assembly as
lower
house, and the National Council as the upper house.
• Judiciary: Namibia
has a system of courts that interpret and apply the law in the name of the
state.
While the constitution envisaged a multi-party system for Namibia's
government, the SWAPO party has been dominant since independence in 1990.
Foreign relations
Namibia
has a largely independent foreign policy, with persisting affiliations with
states that aided the independence struggle, including Cuba. With a
small army and a fragile economy, the Namibian government's principal foreign
policy concern is developing strengthened ties within the Southern African
region. A dynamic member of the Southern African Development Community, Namibia is a
vocal advocate for greater regional integration. It became the 160th member of
the UN on 23 April 1990. On its independence it became the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Military
In early 2020, The Global Firepower Index (GFP) reported
that Namibia's
military is ranked as one of the weakest in the world, at 126th out of 137
countries. Among 34 African countries, Namibia is also poorly ranked at
the 28th position. Despite this, government spending for the Ministry of
Defence stood at N$5,885 million (a 1.2% decrease from the previous financial
year). With close to 6 million Namibian dollars, the Ministry of Defence
receives the fourth highest amount of money from Government per ministry.
Namibia
does not have any enemies in the region, though it has been involved in various
disputes regarding borders and construction plans.
The Namibian constitution defines the role of the military
as "defending the territory and national interests." Namibia formed
the Namibian Defence Force (NDF), comprising former enemies in a 23-year bush
war: the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) and South West African
Territorial Force (SWATF). The British formulated the plan for integrating
these forces and began training the NDF, which consists of a small headquarters
and five battalions.
The United Nations Transitional Assistance Group (UNTAG)'s
Kenyan infantry battalion remained in Namibia for three months after independence
to help train the NDF and to stabilise the north. According to the Namibian
Defence Ministry, enlistments of both men and women will number no more than
7,500.
The chief of the Namibian Defence Force is Air Vice Marshal
Martin Kambulu Pinehas (with effect from 1 April 2020).
In 2017, Namibia
signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Administrative divisions
Namibia
is divided into 14 regions which are subdivided into 121 constituencies. The
administrative division of Namibia
is tabled by Delimitation Commissions and accepted or declined by the National
Assembly. Since state foundation four Delimitation Commissions have delivered
their work, the last one in 2013 under the chairmanship of Judge Alfred
Siboleka.
Regional councillors are directly elected through secret
ballots (regional elections) by the inhabitants of their constituencies.
Local authorities in Namibia can be in the form of
municipalities (either Part 1 or Part 2 municipalities), town councils or
villages.
Human rights
Homosexual acts are illegal in Namibia and discrimination, as well
as intolerance, against LGBT people is still widespread. However, LGBT
Namibians face virtually no violence or harassment from the Namibian police,
military or government[citation needed] and no LGBT Namibians have ever been
arrested or charged with sodomy in the last 20–25 years. Some Namibian
government officials and high-profile figures, such as Namibia's Ombudsman John
Walters and First Lady Monica Geingos, have called for sodomy and homosexuality
to be decriminalised and are in favour of LGBT rights.
In November 2018, it was reported that 32% of women aged
15–49 have experienced violence and domestic abuse from their spouses/partners
and 29.5% of men believe that physical abuse towards their wife/partner is
acceptable. On the other hand, the Namibian constitution guarantees the rights,
freedoms and equal treatment of women in Namibia
and SWAPO, the ruling party in Namibia,
has adopted a “zebra system”, which ensures a fair balance of both genders in
government and equal representation of women in the Namibian government.
Namibia
is considered one of the most free and democratic countries in Africa, with a government that maintains and protects
basic human rights and freedoms.
Economy
Namibia's
economy is tied closely to South
Africa’s due to their shared history. The
largest economic sectors are mining (10.4% of the gross domestic product in
2009), agriculture (5.0%), manufacturing (13.5%), and tourism.
Namibia
has a highly developed banking sector with modern infrastructure, such as
online banking and cellphone banking. The Bank of Namibia (BoN) is the central
bank of Namibia
responsible for performing all other functions ordinarily performed by a
central bank. There are 5 BoN authorised commercial banks in Namibia: Bank Windhoek, First
National Bank, Nedbank, Standard Bank and Small and Medium Enterprises Bank.
According to the Namibia Labour Force Survey Report 2012,
conducted by the Namibia Statistics Agency, the country's unemployment rate is
27.4%."Strict unemployment" (people actively seeking a full-time job)
stood at 20.2% in 2000, 21.9% in 2004 and spiralled to 29.4% in 2008. Under a
broader definition (including people that have given up searching for employment)
unemployment rose to 36.7% in 2004. This estimate considers people in the
informal economy as employed. Labour and Social Welfare Minister Immanuel
Ngatjizeko praised the 2008 study as "by far superior in scope and quality
to any that has been available previously",but its methodology has also
received criticism.
In 2004 a labour act was passed to protect people from job
discrimination stemming from pregnancy and HIV/AIDS status. In early 2010 the
Government tender board announced that "henceforth 100 per cent of all
unskilled and semi-skilled labour must be sourced, without exception, from
within Namibia".
In 2013, global business and financial news provider,
Bloomberg, named Namibia the
top emerging market economy in Africa and the
13th best in the world. Only four African countries made the Top 20 Emerging
Markets list in the March 2013 issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine, and Namibia was rated ahead of Morocco (19th), South
Africa (15th) and Zambia (14th). Worldwide, Namibia also fared better than Hungary, Brazil
and Mexico.
Bloomberg Markets magazine ranked the top 20 based on more than a dozen
criteria. The data came from Bloomberg's own financial-market statistics, IMF
forecasts and the World Bank. The countries were also rated on areas of particular
interest to foreign investors: the ease of doing business, the perceived level
of corruption and economic freedom. To attract foreign investment, the
government has made improvement in reducing red tape resulted from excessive
government regulations, making Namibia one of the least bureaucratic places to
do business in the region. Facilitation payments are occasionally demanded by
customs due to cumbersome and costly customs procedures. Namibia is also
classified as an Upper Middle Income country by the World Bank, and ranks 87th
out of 185 economies in terms of ease of doing business.
The cost of living in Namibia is relatively high because
most goods, including cereals, need to be imported. Its capital city, Windhoek, is the 150th
most expensive place in the world for expatriates to live.
Taxation in Namibia
includes personal income tax, which is applicable to total taxable income of an
individual. All individuals are taxed at progressive marginal rates over a
series of income brackets. The value added tax (VAT) is applicable to most of
the commodities and services.
The B2 between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, NamibiaDespite the remote nature of much of the country, Namibia has
seaports, airports, highways, and railways (narrow-gauge). It seeks to become a
regional transportation hub; it has an important seaport and several landlocked
neighbours. The Central Plateau already serves as a transportation corridor
from the more densely populated north to South
Africa, the source of four-fifths of Namibia's
imports.
Agriculture
About half of the population depends on agriculture (largely
subsistence agriculture) for its livelihood, but Namibia must still import some of
its food. Although per capita GDP is five times the per capita GDP of Africa's
poorest countries, the majority of Namibia's people live in rural
areas and have a subsistence way of life. Namibia has one of the highest
rates of income inequality in the world, due in part to the fact that there is
an urban economy and a more rural cashless economy. The inequality figures thus
take into account people who do not actually rely on the formal economy for
their survival. Although arable land accounts for only 1% of Namibia, nearly
half of the population is employed in agriculture.
About 4,000, mostly white, commercial farmers own almost
half of Namibia's arable land.The governments of Germany and the United Kingdom
will finance Namibia's land reform process, as Namibia plans to start
expropriating land from white farmers to resettle landless black Namibians.
Agreement has been reached on the privatisation of several
more enterprises in coming years, with hopes that this will stimulate much
needed foreign investment, but reinvestment of environmentally derived capital
has hobbled Namibian per capita income. One of the fastest growing areas of
economic development in Namibia
is the growth of wildlife conservancies. These are particularly important to
the rural, generally unemployed, population.
Mining and electricity
Providing 25% of Namibia's revenue, mining is the
single most important contributor to the economy. Namibia
is the fourth largest exporter of non-fuel minerals in Africa
and the world's fourth largest producer of uranium. There has been significant
investment in uranium mining and Namibia is set to become the
largest exporter of uranium by 2015. Rich alluvial diamond deposits make Namibia a
primary source for gem-quality diamonds. While Namibia is known predominantly
for its gem diamond and uranium deposits, a number of other minerals are
extracted industrially such as lead, tungsten, gold, tin, fluorspar, manganese,
marble, copper and zinc. There are offshore gas deposits in the Atlantic Ocean that are planned to be extracted in the
future. According to "The Diamond Investigation", a book about the
global diamond market, from 1978, De Beers, the largest diamond company, bought
most of the Namibian diamonds, and would continue to do so, because
"whatever government eventually comes to power they will need this revenue
to survive".
Domestic supply voltage is 220 V AC. Electricity is
generated mainly by thermal and hydroelectric power plants. Non-conventional
methods of electricity generation also play some role. Encouraged by the rich
uranium deposits the Namibian government plans to erect its first nuclear power
station by 2018, also uranium enrichment is envisaged to happen locally.
Diamonds
Although much of the world's diamond supply comes from what
have been called African blood diamonds, Namibia has managed to develop a diamond
mining industry largely free of the kinds of conflict, extortion, and murder
that have plagued many other African nations with diamond mines. This has been
attributed to political dynamics, economic institutions, grievances, political
geography, and the effects of neighbourhoods, and is the result of a joint
agreement between the government and De Beers that has led to a taxable base,
strengthening state institutions.
Tourism
Tourism is a major contributor (14.5%) to Namibia's GDP,
creating tens of thousands of jobs (18.2% of all employment) directly or
indirectly and servicing over a million tourists per year. The country is a
prime destination in Africa and is known for ecotourism, which features
Namibia's extensive wildlife.
There are many lodges and reserves to accommodate
ecotourists. Sport and trophy hunting is also a large and growing component of
the Namibian economy, accounting for 14% of total tourism in the year 2000, or
19.6 million U.S. dollars, with Namibia boasting numerous species sought after
by international sport hunters.
In addition, extreme sports such as sandboarding, skydiving
and 4x4ing have become popular, and many cities have companies that provide
tours.[citation needed] The most visited places include the capital city of
Windhoek, Caprivi Strip, Fish River Canyon, Sossusvlei, the Skeleton Coast
Park, Sesriem, Etosha Pan and the coastal towns of Swakopmund, Walvis Bay and
Lüderitz.
Windhoek plays a very
important role in Namibia's
tourism due to its central location and close proximity to Hosea Kutako
International Airport.
According to The Namibia Tourism Exit Survey, which was produced by the
Millennium Challenge Corporation for the Namibian Directorate of Tourism, 56%
of all tourists visiting Namibia
in 2012–13 visited Windhoek.
Many of Namibia's tourism-related parastatals and governing bodies such as
Namibia Wildlife Resorts and the Namibia Tourism Board as well as Namibia's
tourism-related trade associations such as the Hospitality Association of
Namibia are headquartered in Windhoek. There are also a number of notable
hotels in Windhoek, such as Windhoek Country Club Resort, and some
international hotel chains, such as Hilton Hotels and Resorts.
Namibia's
primary tourism-related governing body, the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB), was
established by an Act of Parliament: the Namibia Tourism Board Act, 2000 (Act
21 of 2000). Its primary objectives are to regulate the tourism industry and to
market Namibia
as a tourist destination. There are also a number of trade associations that
represent the tourism sector in Namibia, such as the Federation of Namibia
Tourism Associations (the umbrella body for all tourism associations in
Namibia), the Hospitality Association of Namibia, the Association of Namibian
Travel Agents, Car Rental Association of Namibia and the Tour and Safari
Association of Namibia.
Demographics
Namibia
has the second-lowest population density of any sovereign country, after Mongolia. In
2017 there were on average 3.08 people per km2. The total fertility rate in
2015 was 3.47 children per woman according to the UN.
Ethnic groups
The majority of the Namibian population is of Bantu-speaking
origin—mostly of the Ovambo ethnicity, which forms about half of the
population—residing mainly in the north of the country, although many are now
resident in towns throughout Namibia. Other ethnic groups are the Herero and
Himba people, who speak a similar language, and the Damara, who speak the same
"click" language as the Nama.
In addition to the Bantu majority, there are large groups of
Khoisan (such as Nama and San), who are descendants of the original inhabitants
of Southern Africa. The country also contains
some descendants of refugees from Angola. There are also two smaller
groups of people with mixed racial origins, called "Coloureds" and
"Basters", who together make up 8.0% (with the Coloureds outnumbering
the Basters two to one). There is a substantial Chinese minority in Namibia; it
stood at 40,000 in 2006.
Whites (mainly of Afrikaner, German, British and Portuguese
origin) make up between 4.0 and 7.0% of the population. Although their
proportion of the population decreased after independence due to emigration and
lower birth rates, they still form the second-largest population of European
ancestry, both in terms of percentage and actual numbers, in Sub-Saharan Africa
(after South Africa).
The majority of Namibian whites and nearly all those who are of mixed race,
speak Afrikaans and share similar origins, culture, and religion as the white
and coloured populations of South Africa. A large minority of whites (around
30,000) trace their family origins back to the German settlers who colonised Namibia
prior to the British confiscation of German lands after World War I, and they
maintain German cultural and educational institutions. Nearly all Portuguese
settlers came to the country from the former Portuguese colony of Angola. The
1960 census reported 526,004 persons in what was then South
West Africa, including 73,464 whites (14%).
Religion
The Christian community makes up 80%–90% of the population
of Namibia,
with at least 75% being Protestant, of which at least 50% are Lutheran.
Lutherans are the largest religious group, a legacy of the German and Finnish
missionary work during the country's colonial times. 10%–20% of the population
hold indigenous beliefs.
Missionary activities during the second half of the 19th
century resulted in many Namibians converting to Christianity. Today most
Christians are Lutheran, but there also are Roman Catholic, Methodist,
Anglican, African Methodist Episcopal, Dutch Reformed and Latter-day Saints.
Islam in Namibia
is subscribed to by about 9,000 people, many of them Nama. Namibia is home
to a small Jewish community of about 100 people.
Languages
Up to 1990, English, German, and Afrikaans were official
languages. Long before Namibia's independence from South Africa, SWAPO was of
the opinion that the country should become officially monolingual, choosing
this approach in contrast to that of its neighbour South Africa (which granted
all 11 of its major languages official status), which it saw as "a
deliberate policy of ethnolinguistic fragmentation." Consequently, SWAPO
instituted English as Namibia's
sole official language, though only about 3% of the population speaks it as a
home language. Its implementation is focused on the civil service, education
and the broadcasting system, especially the state broadcaster NBC. Some other
languages have received semi-official recognition by being allowed as medium of
instruction in primary schools. Private schools are expected to follow the same
policy as state schools, and "English language" is a compulsory
subject. Some critics argue that, as in other postcolonial African societies,
the push for monolingual instruction and policy has resulted in a high rate of
school drop-outs and of individuals whose academic competence in any language
is low.
According to the 2011 census, the most common languages are
Oshiwambo (the most spoken language for 49% of households), Khoekhoegowab
(11.3%), Afrikaans (10.4%), RuKwangali (9%), and Otjiherero (9%). The most
widely understood national language is Afrikaans, the country's lingua franca.
Both Afrikaans and English are used primarily as a second language reserved for
public communication. A complete list of languages according to the 2011 census
is 48.9% Oshiwambo, 11.3% Khoekhoegowab, 10.4% Afrikaans, 8.6% Otjiherero, 8.5%
RuKwangali, 4.8% siLozi, 3.4% English, 1.2% Other African Languages, 0.9%
German, 0.8% San, 0.7% Other European Languages, 0.3% Setswana, and 0.1% Asian
Languages.
Most of the white population speaks either German or
Afrikaans. Even today, 106 years after the end of the German colonial era,
German plays a role as a commercial language. Afrikaans is spoken by 60% of the
white community, German by 32%, English by 7% and Portuguese by
4–5%.Geographical proximity to Portuguese-speaking Angola explains the relatively high
number of Portuguese speakers; in 2011 these were estimated to be 100,000, or
4–5% of the total population.
Health
Life expectancy at birth is estimated to be 64 years in 2017
– among the lowest in the world.Namibia launched a National Health Extension Programme in
2012 deployment 1,800 (2015) of a total ceiling of 4,800 health extension
workers trained for six months in community health activities including first
aid, health promotion for disease prevention, nutritional assessment and
counseling, water sanitation and hygiene practices, HIV testing and
community-based antiretroviral treatment.
Namibia
faces non-communicable disease burden. The Demographic and Health Survey (2013)
summarises findings on elevated blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes and
obesity:
Among eligible respondents age 35–64, more than 4 in 10
women (44 percent) and men (45 percent) have elevated blood pressure or are
currently taking medicine to lower their blood pressure.
Forty-nine percent of women and 61 percent of men are not
aware that they have elevated blood pressure.
Forty-three percent of women and 34 percent of men with
hypertension are taking medication for their condition.
Only 29 percent of women and 20 percent of men with
hypertension are taking medication and have their blood pressure under control.
Six percent of women and 7 percent of men are diabetic; that
is, they have elevated fasting plasma glucose values or report that they are
taking diabetes medication. An additional 7 percent of women and 6 percent of
men are prediabetic.
Sixty-seven percent of women and 74 percent of men with
diabetes are taking medication to lower their blood glucose.
Women and men with a higher-than-normal body mass index
(25.0 or higher) are more likely to have elevated blood pressure and elevated
fasting blood glucose
Estimated percentage of HIV among young adults (15–49) per
country as of 2011.15–50The HIV epidemic remains a public health issue in Namibia despite
significant achievements made by the Ministry of Health and Social Services to
expand HIV treatment services. In 2001, there were an estimated 210,000 people
living with HIV/AIDS, and the estimated death toll in 2003 was 16,000.
According to the 2011 UNAIDS Report, the epidemic in Namibia "appears to be
leveling off." As the HIV/AIDS epidemic has reduced the working-aged
population, the number of orphans has increased. It falls to the government to
provide education, food, shelter and clothing for these orphans. A Demographic
and Health Survey with an HIV biomarker was completed in 2013 and served as the
fourth comprehensive, national-level population and health survey conducted in
Namibia as part of the global Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) programme.
The DHS observed important characteristics associated to the HIV epidemic:
Overall, 26 percent of men age 15–49 and 32 percent of those
age 50–64 have been circumcised. HIV prevalence for men age 15–49 is lower
among circumcised (8.0 percent) than among uncircumcised men (11.9 percent).
The pattern of lower HIV prevalence among circumcised than uncircumcised men is
observed across most background characteristics. For each age group,
circumcised men have lower HIV prevalence than those who are not circumcised;
the difference is especially pronounced for men age 35–39 and 45–49 (11.7
percentage points each). The difference in HIV prevalence between uncircumcised
and circumcised men is larger among urban than rural men (5.2 percentage points
versus 2.1 percentage points).
HIV prevalence among respondents age 15–49 is 16.9 percent
for women and 10.9 percent for men. HIV prevalence rates among women and men
age 50–64 are similar (16.7 percent and 16.0 percent, respectively).
HIV prevalence peaks in the 35–39 age group for both women
and men (30.9 percent and 22.6 percent, respectively). It is lowest among
respondents age 15–24 (2.5–6.4 percent for women and 2.0–3.4 percent for men).
Among respondents age 15–49, HIV prevalence is highest for
women and men in Zambezi (30.9 percent and
15.9 percent, respectively) and lowest for women in Omaheke (6.9 percent) and
men in Ohangwena (6.6 percent).
In 76.4 percent of the 1,007 cohabiting couples who were
tested for HIV in the 2013 NDHS, both partners were HIV negative; in 10.1
percent of the couples, both partners were HIV positive; and 13.5 percent of
the couples were discordant (that is, one partner was infected with HIV and the
other was not).
As of 2015, the Ministry of Health and Social Services and
UNAIDS produced a Progress Report in which UNAIDS projected HIV prevalence
among 15–49-year-olds at 13.3% [12.2–14.5%] and an estimated 210,000
[200,000–230,000] living with HIV.
The malaria problem seems to be compounded by the AIDS
epidemic. Research has shown that in Namibia the risk of contracting
malaria is 14.5% greater if a person is also infected with HIV. The risk of
death from malaria is also raised by approximately 50% with a concurrent HIV
infection. The country had only 598 physicians in 2002.
Sport
The most popular sport in Namibia is association football.
The Namibia
national football team qualified for the 1998, 2008 and 2019 editions of the
Africa Cup of Nations, but has yet to qualify for the World Cup.
The most successful national team is the Namibian rugby
team, having competed in six separate World Cups. Namibia were participants in the
1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cups. Cricket is also popular,
with the national side having qualified both for 2003 Cricket World Cup and
2020 ICC T20 World Cup. In December 2017, Namibia Cricket reached the final of
the Cricket South Africa (CSA) Provincial One Day Challenge for the first time.
In February 2018 Namibia hosted the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 with
Namibia, Kenya, UAE, Nepal, Canada and Oman to compete for the final two ICC
Cricket World Cup Qualifier positions in Zimbabwe.
The most famous athlete from Namibia is Frankie Fredericks, sprinter
in the 100 and 200 m events. He won four Olympic silver medals (1992, 1996) and
also has medals from several World Athletics Championships. Golfer Trevor Dodds
won the Greater Greensboro Open in 1998, one of 15 tournaments in his career.
He achieved a career high world ranking of 78th in 1998.[citation needed]
Professional cyclist and Namibian Road Race champion Dan Craven represented
Namibia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in both the road race and individual time
trial.[citation needed] Boxer Julius Indongo is the unified WBA, IBF, and IBO
world champion in the Light welterweight division. Another famous athlete from Namibia is
ex-professional rugby player Jacques Burger. Burger played for Saracens and
Aurillac in Europe, as well as gaining 41 caps
for the national
team.
Education
Namibia
has free education for both primary and secondary education levels. Grades 1–7
are primary level, grades 8–12 are secondary. In 1998, there were 400,325
Namibian students in primary school and 115,237 students in secondary schools.
The pupil–teacher ratio in 1999 was estimated at 32:1, with about 8% of the GDP
being spent on education. Curriculum development, educational research, and
professional development of teachers is centrally organised by the National
Institute for Educational Development (NIED) in Okahandja.
Most schools in Namibia are state-run, but there
are some private schools, which are also part of the country's education
system. There are four teacher training universities, three colleges of agriculture,
a police training college, and three universities: University of Namibia (UNAM),
International University of Management (IUM) and Namibia University of Science
and Technology (NUST).
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