GET INFORMED: NAMIBIA FACTS
To get a better picture of the LAC's work, an overall picture of Namibia is presented.
OVERVIEW
Capital City: Windhoek
Date of Independence: March 21, 1990
Head of State: President Hifikepunye Pohamba
Last Election Held: November 2004
Ruling Party: Swapo party
Legislature: National Assembly and National Council
Official language: English
Other Languages: Oshiwambo 48.5%, Nama/Damara 11.5%, Afrikaans 11.4%, Kavango groups 9.7%, Otjiherero 7.9%, Caprivian groups 5%, San groups 1.2%, German 1.1%, Tswana 0.3% 3POPULATION
Total population, 2005: 2.03 million 4
Annual no. of births, 2005: 56,000 4
Population growth rate: 2.6% 3
Urban population: 33% 3
Population density: 2.2 people per square kilometre 1
Average household size: 5 persons 3
Population, 2005, under 18: 993,000 4
Population, 2005, under 5: 268,000 4
Adult literacy rate (+15 years): 84% 2CHILDREN:
Percentage of population less than 15 years of age: 39% 6
Primary school net enrolment rate: 93.4% 1
Secondary school net enrollment rate: 49.5% 1
Percentage of the population with tertiary education: 5.9% 1
Estimated children, (0-17 years) orphaned by AIDS, 2005: 85,000 4
Estimated children (0-17 years) orphaned due to all causes, 2005: 140,000 4
Percentage of children, under 15 years, who have lost one or both parents: 12% 1WOMEN
Total Fertility rate: 4.1 children born per woman 3
Teenage pregnancy, ages 15 to 19: 18% 6
Estimated percentage of female-headed households: 33% 7
Percentage of women who use contraceptives, 1997-2005: 44% 4
Percentage of women who had a skilled attendant at delivery, 1997-2005: 76% 4
Percentage of ever-partnered women who report they have experienced physical and/or sexual violence: 36% 6
Percentage of Namibian men who agreed that wife-beating is justifiable for one or more reasons: 44% 6
Amount of reported rapes and attempted rapes to police in 2005: 1,184 cases 9
Increase in reported rapes and attempted rape from 2000 to 2005: 39% 9
Percentage of victims of reported rape and attempted rapes who are under the age of 18, 2005: 34% 9HEALTH:
Life expectancy at birth, 2005: 46 years 4
Percentage of population who reported they spent an entire day without eating: 43 per cent 6
Five leading causes of death: HIV/AIDS, Diarrhoea, Pulmonary TB, Pneumonia, Malaria 6
Estimated deaths per every 1,000 births under 5 years: 71
Rank of highest TB infection in the world: Third 6
Leading cause of death under age of 5: Malaria 6
HIV/AIDS: Estimated adult HIV prevalence rate (15+ years), end-2005: 19.6% 4
HIV/AIDS: Percentage of people who who reported using a condom during their last high-risk sexual encounter: 43% of women, 67% of men 6
Malaria: Approximate amount of people living in malarious areas: 1.09 million 5
Percentage of children under 5 with suspected pneumonia±, 1999-2005*: 18.4% 4ECONOMY
GDP per capita: US$1.667 3
Percentage of the population living on less than US$2 a day: 56% 1
Economic growth from 2001-2006 per year: 4% 1
Percentage of population who are unemployed: 20.2% 6
Percentage of population, age 20-24, who are unemployed: 42% 6
Share of the population in households that spend more than 60% of total income on food: 32% 2
Percentage of central government expenditure (1994-2004) allocated to health: 10% 4
Percentage of central government expenditure (1994-2004) allocated to education: 22% 4
Percentage of central government expenditure (1994-2004) allocated to defence: 7% 4
Overseas Development Assistance per capita, 2001: US$60 6ENVIRONMENT
Percentage of population with access to safe water: 87% 3
Percentage of population using adequate sanitation facilities, 2004: 25% 4
Number of farmers: 4,100 6
Percentage of Namibia's total land surface dedicated to farming: 44% 6
Percentage of Namibia's total land dedicated to communal conservancies: 14.4% 8
Average food production deficit to population self sufficiency: 34% 6
Projected year Namibia is expected to face an absolute water scarcity: 2020 6
Footnotes:
1: UNICEF, 2007. Stemming the Tide: Can Namibia pre-empt the potential reversal in Primary Education achievements? Namibia: UNICEF
2: United Nations Development Programme, 2007. Trends in Human Development and Human Poverty in Namibia. Windhoek: UNDP
3: Government of the Republic of Namibia, 2003. Namibaia 2001 Population and Housing Census, Central Bureau of Statistics. Windhoek. Available online: http://www.npc.gov.na/census/index.htm
4: UNICEF, 2007. Country Statistics. Windhoek: UNICEF. Available online: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/namibia_statistics.html
5: WHO/UNICEF, 2005. World Malaria Report 2005, Namibia. Available online: http://rbm.who.int/wmr2005/
6: UN, 2004. United Nations Namibia, Common Country Assessment 2004. Available online: http://www.un.na/Publications/2004%20CCA%20%20print.pdf
7: UNAM/SARDC, 2005. Beyond Inequalities 2005, Women in Namibia. Windhoek/Harare. Available online: http://www.sardc.net
8: NACSO, 2007. Namibia's communal conservancies: a review of progress 2006. NACSO, Windhoek.
9: Legal Assistance Centre (LAC), 2006. Rape in Namibia: An assessment of the operation of the Combating of Rape Act 8 of 2000. Windhoek.
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