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Namibia
Population: 2 198 406
GDP: 12 300 000 000.00 $
Companies & Organizations: 1
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South Africa occupied the German colony of South-West Africa during World War I and administered it as a mandate until after World War II, when it annexed the territory. In 1966 the Marxist South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) guerrilla group launched a war of independence for the area that became Namibia, but it was not until 1988 that South Africa agreed to end its administration in accordance with a UN peace plan for the entire region. Namibia has been governed by SWAPO since the country won independence in 1990. Hifikepunye Pohamba was elected president in November 2004 in a landslide victory replacing Sam Nujoma who led the country during its first 14 years of self rule. Pohamba was reelected in November 2009.
Population: 2,198,406
Nationality: noun: Namibian(s), adjective: Namibian.
Ethnic groups: black 87.5%, white 6%, mixed 6.5%, about 50% of the population belong to the Ovambo tribe and 9% to the Kavangos tribe; other ethnic groups include Herero 7%, Damara 7%, Nama 5%, Caprivian 4%, Bushmen 3%, Baster 2%, Tswana 0.5%.
Languages: Oshiwambo languages 48.9%, Nama/Damara 11.3%, Afrikaans 10.4% (common language of most of the population and about 60% of the white population), Otjiherero languages 8.6%, Kavango languages 8.5%, Caprivi languages 4.8%, English (official) 3.4%, other African languages 2.3%, other 1.7%. Namibia has 13 recognized national languages, including 10 indigenous African languages and 3 Indo-European languages.
Religions: Christian 80% to 90% (at least 50% Lutheran), indigenous beliefs 10% to 20%.
GDP: $ 12 300 000 000.00 (2013).
Namibian Defense Force (NDF): Army, Navy, Air Force.
Concerns from international experts and local populations over the Okavango Delta ecology in Botswana and human displacement scuttled Namibian plans to construct a hydroelectric dam on Popa Falls along the Angola-Namibia border; the governments of South Africa and Namibia have not signed or ratified the text of the 1994 Surveyor's General agreement placing the boundary in the middle of the Orange River; Namibia has supported, and in 2004 Zimbabwe dropped objections to, plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the Zambezi River, thereby de facto recognizing a short, but not clearly delimited, Botswana-Zambia boundary in the river.
Capital: Windhoek
Location: Southern Africa, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Angola and South Africa. First country in the world to incorporate the protection of the environment into its constitution; some 14% of the land is protected, including virtually the entire Namib Desert coastal strip.
Geographic coordinates:
22 00 S, 17 00 E
Area:
total: 824,292 sq km
land: 823,290 sq km
water: 1,002 sq km
Land boundaries:
total: 3,936 km
border countries: Angola 1,376 km, Botswana 1,360 km, South Africa 967 km, Zambia 233 km.
Coastline: 1,572 km.
Natural resources: diamonds, copper, uranium, gold, silver, lead, tin, lithium, cadmium, tungsten, zinc, salt, hydropower, fish, suspected deposits of oil, coal, and iron ore.
