INTRODUCTION

Namibia officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa. Its western border
is the Atlantic Ocean; it shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to
the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less
than 200 metres of the Zambezi River separates the two countries. Namibia gained
independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of
Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek, and it is a member state of the United
Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African
Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Namibia, the driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, was inhabited since early times by
the San, Damara and Nama people. Around the 14th century, immigrating Bantu
peoples arrived as part of the Bantu expansion. Since then, the Bantu groups, the largest being
the Aawambo, have dominated the population of the country; since the late 19th century, they
have constituted a majority.
In the later 20th century, uprisings and demands for political representation by native African
political activists seeking independence resulted in the UN assuming direct responsibility over
the territory in 1966, but South Africa maintained de facto rule. In 1973 the UN recognised the
South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) as the official representative of the
Namibian people; the party is dominated by the Aawambo, who are a large plurality in the
territory. Following continued guerrilla warfare, South Africa installed an interim
administration in Namibia in 1985. Namibia obtained full independence from South Africa in
1990. However, Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands remained under South African control
until 1994.
Namibia has a population of 2.6 million people and a stable multi-party parliamentary
democracy. Agriculture, herding, tourism and the mining industry – including mining for gem
diamonds, uranium, gold, silver, and base metals – form the basis of its economy. The large,
arid Namib Desert has resulted in Namibia being overall one of the least densely
populated countries in the world.
 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 spiraled 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. In order 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.
 INCOME DISPARITY
According to recent statistics on the country's income share held by the highest 10%, Namibia
is a country with a substantive income disparity. The data indicates that the current income
share held by the highest 10% is approximately 51.8%. This disparity illustrates the large gap
between the rich and the poor. An additional figure describes the poverty gap: people living on
US$2 or less in the country are approximately 17.72% of the population.

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 Britain 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 eco-tourists. 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 US 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. 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, Air Namibia 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 Avani Hotels
and Resorts and 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.
 WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION
Namibia is the only country in Sub-Saharan Africa to provide water through municipal
departments. The only bulk water supplier in Namibia is NamWater, which sells it to the
respective municipalities which in turn deliver it through their reticulation networks. In rural
areas, the Directorate of Rural Water Supply in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry
is in charge of drinking water supply.
The UN evaluated in 2011 that Namibia has improved its water access network significantly
since independence in 1990. A large part of the population can not, however, make use of these
resources due to the prohibitively high consumption cost and the long distance between
residences and water points in rural areas. As a result, many Namibians prefer the traditional
wells over the available water points far away.
Compared to the efforts made to improve access to safe water, Namibia is lagging behind in
the provision of adequate sanitation. This includes 298 schools that have no toilet
facilities. Over 50% of child deaths are related to lack of water, sanitation, or hygiene; 23% are
due to diarrhea alone. The UN has identified a "sanitation crisis" in the country.
Apart from residences for upper and middle class households, sanitation is insufficient in most
residential areas. Private flush toilets are too expensive for virtually all residents
in townships due to their water consumption and installation cost. As a result, access
to improved sanitation has not increased much since independence: in Namibia's rural areas
13% of the population had more than basic sanitation, up from 8% in 1990. Many of Namibia's
inhabitants have to resort to "flying toilets", plastic bags to defecate into, which after use are
flung into the bush. The use of open areas close to residential land for urination and defecation
is very common and has been identified as a major health hazard.
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.
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 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 colonized 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%).
Namibia conducts a census every ten years. After independence the first Population and
Housing Census was carried out in 1991; further rounds followed in 2001 and 2011. The data
collection method is to count every person resident in Namibia on the census reference night,
wherever they happen to be. This is called the de facto method. For enumeration purposes the
country is demarcated into 4,042 enumeration areas. These areas do not overlap with
constituency boundaries to get reliable data for election purposes as well.
The 2011 Population and Housing Census counted 2,113,077 inhabitants. Between 2001 and
2011 the annual population growth was 1.4%, down from 2.6% in the previous ten-year period.
CONCLUSION