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Land Use
Land Area:
318,694 sq. mi.,
Slightly larger than France and the
United Kingdom combined
Population:
1.8 million, equal to Houston, Texas
Annual growth rate: 2.6 % (1991)
Land Use:
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Structure of the Economy
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT: 2003 - US $ 4.5 Billion; 2004 - US $ 5.7 Billion
GDP Growth rate: 2004 - 3.5%; 2004 - 6.0%: 3.4 %
On the following exhibit are the shares of GDP by production area (left column) and the distribution of employment. Three important elements to note are:
1. The large role of government in both production and employment.
2. The fairly small manufacturing sector, just under an eighth of GDP. Within that sector, food processing accounts for two thirds of the production.
3. The very low productivity (and earnings) from agriculture as indicated by its much smaller share of production than employment.
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Earnings Distributions
|
Per Capita |
Percent |
|
GDP |
of all GDP |
| Richest 5.4 % |
13,491 |
52.00% |
| Next 33.8 % |
1,479 |
35.60% |
| Next 27.5 % |
417 |
8.20% |
| Poorest 33.3 % |
177 |
4.20% |
| All Namibians 100% |
1,400 |
100% |
The distribution of income in the country is generally recognized as the most unequal in the world. In this exhibit, the Namibia’s income distribution is compared to those of other countries in the region and the United States. The straight diagonal line represents equal distribution of income, everyone earning the same. The further from the diagonal, the more unequal the distribution. For example, notice where the diagonal and curving country lines cross the leftmost vertical dashed line. It can be seen that the top 20 percent of earners along the diagonal earn 20 percent of GDP, as equality would dictate. In the U.S., the top 20 percent earn just over 40 percent of all GDP. Within the region, the percentages of GDP received by the top 20 percent of earners are: 50 percent in Zambia, 60 percent in Botswana, 65 percent in South Africa, and 77 percent in Namibia, the highest in the world.
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Exports & Imports
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HIV/AIDS
Namibia is among the top 10 affected nations in the World.
Prevalence among pregnant women: 19.8 %
Life expectancy at birth:
1991 - 61 years
2004 - 47 years
AIDS orphans:
2000 - 31,000
2005 - 108,470 (projected)
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Government
Mixed Presidential/Parliamentary system.
Leading parties in National Assembly (the lower and primary Parliamentary chamber)
· Southwest Africa People`s Organization 76%,
· Congress of Democrats 7%,
· Democratic Turnhalle Alliance 6%,
. National Unity Democratic Organization 4%,
. United Democratic Front 1%,
. Republican Party 1%,
. Monitor Action Group 1%
Independent judiciary
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Diversity & Inequality
Despite its small population, there is considerable diversity. This diversity is due, in large measure to:
· Differences in environmental factors (such as rainfall) across regions,
· Rural/urban differences
· Differences in the histories or Namibia’s ethnic and racial groups.
These differences were amplified, in some instances, by the colonial policies of the Germans and, after World War I, the South Africa government. Of particular importance, in this regard, were the apartheid policies under the South African regime.
DIVERSITY ACROSS GEOGRAPHIC AREAS
Administratively, Namibia is divided into thirteen regions. To convey a sense of the variation across areas, these regions are grouped into four areas, as follows:
NORTH
Caprivi, Okavango, Otjikoto,Ohangwena, Oshana, Omusati
NORTHCENTRAL
Kunene, Otjozondjupa, Omaheke
CENTER
Khomas, Erongo
SOUTH
Hardap, Karas
While these divisions are useful for describing broad differences across geographic areas, the reader should bear in mind that within each region there are considerable variations.
Water is one of the most severe constraints to population in Namibia. Rainfall is highest in the northeastern extreme of the country, declining progressively as one moves to the south and west. The Namib Desert occupies a broad strip along virtually the entire coast and the Kalahari desert is in the southeast. Largely as a result of the distribution of rainfall, the bulk of the population, nearly 60 percent, is in North and that region is, by far, the most densely populated.
By most measures of development, the North fares the poorest and the Center the best. The Center has three relatively upscale cities: Windhoek, the capital; Swakopmund, a center for tourism; and Walvis Bay, another tourist center as well as the country’s main port.
The most startling exception to the generally favorable relative position of the Center is with regards to HIV/AIDS prevalence. The richest region, the Center is the most affected, followed closely by the poorest region, the North. This reflects both the complexity of the relationship between the disease and economic status and migration from the North to the Center.
Educational Attainment
Close to 42% of all thosed aged 15 years and above and who had left school have completed primary education while about 15% of them had completed secondary education. About 33% did not complete primary school. There are no sginificant differences in educational attainment between females and males in the country.
URBAN/RURAL DIFFERENCES
Two thirds of Namibians still live in rural areas. As is the case in most developing countries, there are significant differences in average living standard indicators between urban and rural areas to the detriment of the latter. For this reason, there is significant migration into the cities. There are significant differences between urban and rural areas in terms of access to facilities/services. For example, the television is accessible to 66% of the households in urban areas as compared to only 17% in the rural areas. The telephone is accessible to 64% as against 22% in urban and rural areas respectively.
On average, rural households earn a third the incomes of their urban counterparts. As rural households tend to be larger, per capita earnings in rural areas average only a quarter of those for city dwellers. Eighty percent of urban households work in the cash economy, versus only a third of rural households.
ETHNIC DIVERSITY
The Government of Namibia does not maintain records on the ethnicity or race of its citizens. However, a sense of the population’s diversity can be gleaned from the languages spoken in the home. Two important caveats need to be made regarding this linguistic breakdown. First, the distribution of languages spoken in the home does not correlate precisely with ethnic/racial groupings. In particular, while virtually all of the English home speakers have European ancestry, some of the Afrikaans and German may have no European ancestry or mixed ancestry. Second, it is important to realize that very many Namibians are multilingual. Particularly in urban areas, most commerce is conducted in English or Afrikaans or German.
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