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| | Background 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 was soon named 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 won its independence in 1990 and has been governed by SWAPO since. 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. The People | Population | 2,055,080 | | Age structure | 0-14 years: 37.7% (male 390,448/female 383,698)
15-64 years: 58.6% (male 606,239/female 597,512)
65 years and over: 3.8% (male 34,926/female 42,257) (2007 est.) | | Life expectancy at birth | total population: 43.11 years
male: 44.39 years
female: 41.79 years (2007 est.) | Population growth rate | 0.478% (2007 est.) | | Ethnic groups | Black 87.5%, White 6%, Mixed 6.5%
note: about 50% of the population belong to the Ovambo tribe and 9% to the Kavangos tribe; other ethnic groups includes Herero 7%, Damara 7%, Nama 5%, Caprivian 4%, Bushmen 3%, Baster 2%, Tswana 0.5% | | Religions | Christian 80% to 90% (Lutheran 50% at least), indigenous beliefs 10% to 20% | | Population below poverty line | the UNDP's 2005 Human Development Report indicated that 34.9% of the population live on $1 per day and 55.8% live on $2 per day | | People living with HIV/AIDS | 210,000 (2001 est.) | | HIV/AIDS - deaths | 16,000 (2003 est.) | | Mobile phones in use | 495,000 (2005) | | Internet users | 80,600 (2005) |
Data (Background & The People) provided by The World Factbook |
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