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Country Assessment: Africa

The Country 

Located in southwest Africa, Namibia is a large country of approximately 824,000 sq. km, with a small population of 1.7 million in 1999. Population density is close to two persons per square kilometer. The country has strong economic links with South Africa and is a member of the South African Customs Union (SACU) and the Common Monetary Area (CMA). The country is rich in minerals and its exports include diamonds, copper, gold, zinc, lead, uranium, cattle and processed fish. The Gross Domestic Product per capita is approximately US$2,000 (1998). 

Geographically Namibia is characterized by three physical regions: a low lying coastal belt largely made up by the Namib desert along the western Atlantic coast; a central plateau averaging about 1,100 meters in elevation; and, the Kalahari desert along the eastern border. Apart from four permanent rivers, all of which form international boundaries, there is virtually no other surface water. It is bordered on the north by Angola and Zambia, on the east by Botswana and South Africa, and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The climate is generally hot and dry and availability of freshwater is a major problem. 

Urbanization 

There are two major urban areas, namely the capital city, Windhoek (approx. 235,000 population) and the center of the fishing industry, Walvis Bay (60,000 popn.) located on the skeleton coast. Windhoek is located inland in the central region some 350 km from the coast while Walvis Bay lies some 30km south of the small coastal resort of Swakopmund (15,000 popn). These three urban areas together make up over 70 percent of the country’s urban population which accounts for about 33 percent of the country’s total population. The bulk of this study covers Windhoek being the city with the greatest number of informal settlements. 

Following independence from South Africa in 1990, and the correspondent elimination of the apartheidinspired measures controlling the movement and settlement of people, informal settling in Windhoek increased dramatically, mostly around the old “black” township of Katatura. The migration was largely driven by a search for employment opportunities and a better quality of life. In-migration accounted for about four percent of Windhoek’s growth from 1991 to 1995 (over 7,000 people per annum), the vast majority of who were in the “low-income” category. The overall population growth rate has been more than five percent per annum since 1991. Based on 1995 projections the City of Windhoek’s population will reach 420,000 by year 2010. Further details are summarized in the Country and City Profiles in Annex A. 

Full Report : Upgrading of Low Income Settlements Country Assessment Report: Namibia (pdf file)

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