Namibia

C

Climate

The climate is generally hot and dry. The average annual rainfall in the Namib Desert along the coast is 51 mm (2 in). Inland, annual rainfall increases from 152 mm (6 in) in the south to 559 mm (22 in) in the north. Most rain falls in summer (October to March). The average annual temperature on the coast is 16.7° C (62° F); inland it is 21.1° C (70° F).

D

Plants and Animals

Vegetation is scanty in both the Namib and Kalahari deserts. Woodland savannah covers the central plateau. True forests are found only in the north-east. Wildlife is abundant and includes elephant, rhinoceros, lion, giraffe, zebra, and hartebeest.

III

Population

Namibia has a population of 2,055,080 (2007 estimate), with a population density of about 3 people per sq km (6 per sq mi). Windhoek, with a population of 202,000 (1999 estimate), is the country’s largest city as well as its capital.

Black Africans constitute about 86 per cent of the population of Namibia; whites, including a large German community in Windhoek, about 6.5 per cent; and people of mixed descent (“Coloureds”) about 7.5 per cent. The Ovambo, an agricultural people who live primarily in the north, make up about 50 per cent of the black African population. Other groups include the Damara, the Herero, the Dama, the Khoikhoi, and the San (Bushmen).

A

Religion

The white population and most of the black population are Christians; the remainder mostly adhere to traditional faiths.

B

Language

English is the official language, although there are only around 11,000 mother-tongue speakers. Sixteen Bantu languages (see Niger-Congo Languages) are spoken, including Owambo (collective name for Kwanyama, Kwambi, Ndonga, and others, which may be separate languages; 713,919 speakers), Herero (113,000), Kwangali (79,000), and Diriku (29,400). Ten different Click languages (Khoisan languages) are spoken, the most widely used being Nama (176,201) and Ju/’hoan (25,000 to 30,000). Afrikaans (Indo-European), which used to be an official language in Namibia, is spoken by around 133,500 as a mother tongue in the south of the country. Standard German and Portuguese are spoken by some as second languages.