Namibia
- Capital:
- Windhoek
- Continent:
- Africa
- Region(s):
- Southern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa
- Largest Cities:
- Windhoek, Rundu, Walvis Bay
- Abbreviation:
- NAM
* As of 6/9/2025
1 birth
Every 6.7 minutes
1 death
Every 27.7 minutes
1 immigrant
Every 4.8 hours
1 person
Every 8.6 minutes
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa named for the Namib Desert that is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Angola, Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa. It does not quite actually border Zimbabwe, but the distance between the two countries is just the width of a 200-meter-wide riverbed at the closest point.
Most Namibian people are of Bantu-speaking origin. The largest ethnic group is the Ovambo (49.8%), who live mostly in the north of the country and in towns throughout Namibia. Other ethnic groups include Kavango (9.3%), Damara (7.5%), Herero (7.5%), white (6.4%), Nama (4.8%) Caprivian (3.7%), San (2.9%), and Basters (2.5%).
The Khoisan (including the San and Nama) are descended from original inhabitants of Southern Africa. Namibia also has many descendants of Angolan refugees. There are two groups of mixed race people in Namibia: “Coloureds” (4.1%) and “Basters.” Namibia also has a large Chinese minority.
Whites (Portuguese, British, German and Afrikaner) account for 6.4% of the population and make up the second-largest group of European ancestry in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most Namibian whites and most of the people of mixed race speak Afrikaans. A small amount of whites in the country are descendants of German colonial settlers.
In terms of religions among the population, Christians account for 80-90 (approximately 50% of this is Lutheran) of the population, while 10-20% have indigenous beliefs.
The median age of the Namibian population is at 21.2 years, with a life expectancy of 64 years overall. The current fertility rate as of 2018 is 3.29 children per woman with a maternal mean age of 21.5 years at the time of first birth. The infant mortality rate is at 35.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, ranking 55th in the world as of 2017.
91% of the population has access to clean drinking water overall while 65% of the population struggles to gain access to improved sanitation facilities. This contributes to a high risk of disease and illness in the area.
Literacy ability is currently estimated to be at 81.9% of the total population over the age of 15 years.