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Demographics of Namibia

 

 
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Demographics of Namibia
 
 
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This article is about the demographic
Demographics

Demographic or demographic data refers to selected population characteristics as used in government, marketing or opinion research, or the demographic profiles used in such research....
 features of the population
Population

File:Population density.pngIn biology, a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular species; in sociology, a collection of human beings....
 of Namibia
Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean coast. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south....
, including population density
Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans....
, ethnicity
Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common culture, linguistic, religion, human behaviour or Race traits, real or presumed, as indic...
, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Namibia
Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean coast. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south....
ns are of diverse ethnic origins. The principal groups are the Ovambo
Ovambo

The Owambo culture consists of nine kindred tribes, which inhabit Ovamboland in northern Namibia. They consist of Ndonga, Kwanyama, Kwambi, Ngandjera, Mbalantu, Mbadja, Kolonkadhi, Eunda, and Kwaluudhi....
, Kavango
Kavango

The 'Kavango' people reside on the Namibian side of the Namibian-Angolan border.They are mainly riverine living people, but about 20% reside in the dry inland....
, Herero
Herero

The Herero are a people belonging to the Bantu peoples group, with about 240,000 members alive today. The majority live in Namibia, with the remainder living in Botswana and Angola....
/Himba
Himba

The Himba are an ethnic group of about 20,000 to 50,000 people, living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene Region region . They are a nomadic, pastoral people, closely related to the Herero, and speak the same language....
, Damara, mixed race (Coloured
Coloured

In the South African, Namibian, Zambian, Botswana and Zimbabwean context, the term Coloured refers or referred to an ethnic group of people who possess sub-Saharan African ancestry, but not enough to be considered Black people under the law of South Africa....
 and Rehoboth Baster
Baster

The Basters are the descendants of liaisons between the Cape Colony The Netherlands and indigenous African women. They largely live in Namibia and are similar to Coloured or Griqua people in South Africa....
), white (Afrikaner
Afrikaner

Afrikaners are Afrikaans-speaking people who have been established in Southern Africa since the 17th century and are mainly of northwestern European ethnic groups descent....
, German, and Portuguese
Portuguese people

The Portuguese people are the ethnic group or nation native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of Southern Europe-Western Europe Europe....
), Nama
Nama language

The Khoekhoe language, or Khoekhoegowab, also known by the ethnic term N?m? and previously the now discouraged term Khoikhoi#Name, is the most populous and widespread of the Khoisan languages....
, Caprivian (Lozi), Bushmen (San
Bushmen

The Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, Kung, or Khwe are indigenous people of southern Africa that spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola....
), and Tswana
Tswana

Tswana is the name of a Southern African people. The Tswana language, also called Setswana, belongs to the Bantu group of the Niger-Congo languages....
. The Coloureds and Basters share similar genealogical origins and cultural attributes (such as home language) but nonetheless maintain distinctly separate communal identities, as do most white Namibians and black Namibians, respectively.

The Ovambo make up about half of Namibia's people.






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Encyclopedia


This article is about the demographic
Demographics

Demographic or demographic data refers to selected population characteristics as used in government, marketing or opinion research, or the demographic profiles used in such research....
 features of the population
Population

File:Population density.pngIn biology, a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular species; in sociology, a collection of human beings....
 of Namibia
Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean coast. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south....
, including population density
Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans....
, ethnicity
Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common culture, linguistic, religion, human behaviour or Race traits, real or presumed, as indic...
, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Namibia
Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean coast. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south....
ns are of diverse ethnic origins. The principal groups are the Ovambo
Ovambo

The Owambo culture consists of nine kindred tribes, which inhabit Ovamboland in northern Namibia. They consist of Ndonga, Kwanyama, Kwambi, Ngandjera, Mbalantu, Mbadja, Kolonkadhi, Eunda, and Kwaluudhi....
, Kavango
Kavango

The 'Kavango' people reside on the Namibian side of the Namibian-Angolan border.They are mainly riverine living people, but about 20% reside in the dry inland....
, Herero
Herero

The Herero are a people belonging to the Bantu peoples group, with about 240,000 members alive today. The majority live in Namibia, with the remainder living in Botswana and Angola....
/Himba
Himba

The Himba are an ethnic group of about 20,000 to 50,000 people, living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene Region region . They are a nomadic, pastoral people, closely related to the Herero, and speak the same language....
, Damara, mixed race (Coloured
Coloured

In the South African, Namibian, Zambian, Botswana and Zimbabwean context, the term Coloured refers or referred to an ethnic group of people who possess sub-Saharan African ancestry, but not enough to be considered Black people under the law of South Africa....
 and Rehoboth Baster
Baster

The Basters are the descendants of liaisons between the Cape Colony The Netherlands and indigenous African women. They largely live in Namibia and are similar to Coloured or Griqua people in South Africa....
), white (Afrikaner
Afrikaner

Afrikaners are Afrikaans-speaking people who have been established in Southern Africa since the 17th century and are mainly of northwestern European ethnic groups descent....
, German, and Portuguese
Portuguese people

The Portuguese people are the ethnic group or nation native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of Southern Europe-Western Europe Europe....
), Nama
Nama language

The Khoekhoe language, or Khoekhoegowab, also known by the ethnic term N?m? and previously the now discouraged term Khoikhoi#Name, is the most populous and widespread of the Khoisan languages....
, Caprivian (Lozi), Bushmen (San
Bushmen

The Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, Kung, or Khwe are indigenous people of southern Africa that spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola....
), and Tswana
Tswana

Tswana is the name of a Southern African people. The Tswana language, also called Setswana, belongs to the Bantu group of the Niger-Congo languages....
. The Coloureds and Basters share similar genealogical origins and cultural attributes (such as home language) but nonetheless maintain distinctly separate communal identities, as do most white Namibians and black Namibians, respectively.

The Ovambo make up about half of Namibia's people. The Ovambo, Kavango, and East Caprivian peoples, who occupy the relatively well-watered and wooded northern part of the country, are settled farmers and herders. Historically, they have shown little interest in the central and southern parts of Namibia, where conditions do not suit their traditional way of life.

Until the early 1900s, these tribes had little contact with the Nama, Damara, and Herero, who roamed the central part of the country vying for control of sparse pastureland. German colonial rule destroyed the warmaking ability of the tribes but did not erase their identities or traditional organization. People from the more populous north have settled throughout the country in recent decades as a result of urbanization, industrialization, and the demand for labor.

The modern mining, farming, and industrial sectors of the economy, controlled by the white minority, have affected traditional African society without transforming it. Urban and migratory workers have adopted Western ways, but in rural areas, traditional society remains intact.

Missionary work during the 1800s drew many Namibians to Christianity
Christianity

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion #Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as New Testament view on Jesus' life....
, especially Lutheranism
Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century Germans Reformer Martin Luther....
. While most Namibian Christians are Lutheran, there also are Roman Catholic, Methodist, Anglican, African Methodist Episcopal
African Methodist Episcopal Church

The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the "AME Church", is a Christian denomination founded by Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the mid-Atlantic area that wanted independence from white Methodists....
, and Dutch Reformed Christian
Dutch Reformed Church

Dutch Reformed Church was one of many branches of churches established during the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the sixteenth century. While the Dutch Reformed Church was based in the Netherlands, other churches holding similar theological views were founded in France, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, England, and Scotland....
s represented.

Modern education and medical care have been extended in varying degrees to most rural areas in recent years. The literacy rate of Africans is generally low except in sections where missionary and government education efforts have been concentrated, such as Ovamboland
Ovamboland

Ovamboland was the name given by English-speaking visitors to the land occupied by the Ovambo people in what is now northern Namibia and southern Angola....
. The Africans speak various indigenous languages.

The minority white population is primarily of South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
n, British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, and German descent, with a few Portuguese. About 60% of the whites speak Afrikaans (a language derived from 17th century Dutch), 32% speak German, and 7% speak English.

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

Namibia Demography
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population

  • 2,088,669 (July 2008 est.)
  • 1,927,447 (July, 2003 est.)
  • 1,771,327 (July 2002 est.)

note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected

Age structure


0-14 years: 42.5% (male 414,559; female 404,346) (2003 est.), 43% (male 384,900; female 375,282) (2000 est.)
15-64 years: 54% (male 517,469; female 522,549) (2003 est.), 53% (male 468,942; female 475,504) (2000 est.)
65 years and over: 3.5% (male 30,038; female 38,486) (2003 est.), 4% (male 28,905; female 37,794) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate

  • 0.94% (2008 est.)
  • 1.49% (2003 est.)
  • 1.57% (2000 est.)


Birth rate

34.1 births/1,000 population (2003 est.), 35.23 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate

19.17 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.), 19.49 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate

  • 0.35 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)
  • 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)


Sex ratio


at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female (2003, 2000 est.)
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female (2003, 2000 est.)
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female (2003, 2000 est.)
65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female (2003 est.), 0.76 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2003 est.), 0.99 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 68.44 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.), 70.88 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.) female: 65.06 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.) male: 71.72 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)

Life expectancy at birth


  • total population: 49.89 years
  • male: 50.39 years
  • female: 49.38 years (2008 est.)


Total fertility rate

  • 2.81 children born/woman (2008 est.)
  • 4.71 children born/woman (2003 est.)
  • 4.89 children born/woman (2000 est.)


HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate


22.5% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS


230,000 (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths


13,000 (2001 est.)

Nationality


noun: Namibian(s)
adjective: Namibian

Ethnic groups

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% to 90% (Lutheran 50% at least), indigenous beliefs 10% to 20% (see Religion in Namibia
Religion in Namibia

More than 90 percent of Namibian citizens identify themselves as Christian. The largest Christian group is the Lutheran church, which is split into three churches: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia , which grew out of the work of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission which began in 1870 among the Ovambo and Kavango people; the Evangel...
)

Languages

Oshiwambo language
Oshiwambo language

Oshiwambo or Oshivambo is a cluster of several very closely related languages in Angola and northern Namibia, notably Kwanyama , Ndonga language and Kwambi....
s are spoken by 48% of the population, the Khoekhoe language by 11%, Afrikaans
Afrikaans

Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from Dutch language and thus classified as Low Franconian languages West Germanic languages. It is mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia, with smaller numbers of speakers living in Botswana, Angola, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Australia, New Zealand, United States of America, Taiwa...
 by 11%, Kavango languages by 10% and Herero
Herero language

Herero is a language of the Bantu languages family . It is spoken by Herero people in Namibia and Botswana. Total population in both countries is approximately 133,000....
 by 10%. English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
, the official language, is spoken by less than 1% of people as their native language. Among whites, 60% speak Afrikaans, 32% German
German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
, 7% English, and 1% Portuguese
Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and Portugal. It is derived from the Latin language spoken by the Romanization Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago....
.

Literacy


definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 84% (2003 est.) 38% (1960 est.)
male: 84.4% (2003 est.), 45% (1960 est.)
female: 83.7% (2003 est.) 31% (1960 est.)

See also : Namibia
Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean coast. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south....