Capital City: Windhoek
Surface Area: 824,292 sq km (318,261 sq miles) Population: 2,055,080 Population Density: 2.43 per sq km Adult literacy: 86.8% male; 83.5% female GDP Per Capita: US$7,600 Languages: English, Afrikaans, German, Oshikwanyama, Herero, Nama, Ju, !Kung, Lozi Ndonga, Umbundu, !Xóõ, Hoan-Juu Religion: Christian 80% to 90% (Lutheran at least 50%), indigenous religions 10% to 20%, Islam 3% Life expectancy: total population 43.11 years; male 44.39 years; female 41.79 years HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate: 19.9% Namibia won its independence in 1990 from South Africa and has been governed by successive presidents from the South-West Africa Peoples Organization (SWAPO) since. The economy is heavily dependent on the extraction and processing of minerals for export. Mining accounts for 20% of GDP. The mining sector employs only about 3% of the population. Though arable land accounts for only about 1% of Namibia, about half of the population depends on subsistence agriculture for its livelihood. Namibia normally imports about 50% of its cereal requirements; in drought years food shortages are a major problem in rural areas. Namibia is one of the nations hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and is one of 15 focus countries of the US President?s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Namibia is the first country in the world to incorporate conservation and the protection natural resources into its constitution with 14% of its land protected, including virtually the entire Namib Desert coastal strip. SourcesNamibia Tourism BoardCIA World Fact Book Ministry of Health, Republic of Namibia. Press Release: Results of the 2006 National Sentinel Survey among Pregnant Women, April 2007.
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