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.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population: 2,055,080 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2007 est.)

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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.)

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Median age: total: 20.2 years male: 20.1 years female: 20.3 years (2007 est.)

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Population growth rate: 0.478% (2007 est.)

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Birth rate: 23.52 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Death rate: 19.15 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Net migration rate: 0.41 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.018 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.015 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.827 male(s)/female total population: 1.008 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

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Infant mortality rate: total: 47.23 deaths/1,000 live births male: 51.03 deaths/1,000 live births female: 43.33 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth: total population: 43.11 years male: 44.39 years female: 41.79 years (2007 est.)

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Total fertility rate: 2.94 children born/woman (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 21.3% (2003 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 210,000 (2001 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - deaths: 16,000 (2003 est.)

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Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne disease: malaria water contact disease: schistosomiasis (2007)

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Nationality: noun: Namibian(s) adjective: Namibian

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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%

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Religions: Christian 80% to 90% (Lutheran 50% at least), indigenous beliefs 10% to 20%

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Languages: English 7% (official), Afrikaans common language of most of the population and about 60% of the white population, German 32%, indigenous languages 1% (includes Oshivambo, Herero, Nama)

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Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 85% male: 86.8% female: 83.5% (2001 census)

The economy is heavily dependent on the extraction and processing of minerals for export. Mining accounts for 20% of GDP. Rich alluvial diamond deposits make Namibia a primary source for gem-quality diamonds. Namibia is the fourth-largest exporter of nonfuel minerals in Africa, the world's fifth-largest producer of uranium, and the producer of large quantities of lead, zinc, tin, silver, and tungsten. The mining sector employs only about 3% of the population while 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. A high per capita GDP, relative to the region, hides the world's worst inequality of income distribution. The Namibian economy is closely linked to South Africa with the Namibian dollar pegged one-to-one to the South African rand. Privatization of several enterprises in coming years may stimulate long-run foreign investment. Increased fish production and mining of zinc, copper, uranium, and silver spurred growth in 2003-06.

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GDP (purchasing power parity): $15.27 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP (official exchange rate): $5.245 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP - real growth rate: 2.9% (2006 est.)

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GDP - per capita (PPP): $7,500 (2006 est.)

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GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 11.8% industry: 30.2% services: 58.1% (2006 est.)

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Labor force: 653,000 (2006 est.)

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Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 47% industry: 20% services: 33% (1999 est.)

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Unemployment rate: 5.3% (2006 est.)

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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

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Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 0.5% highest 10%: 64.5%

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Distribution of family income - Gini index: 70.7 (2003)

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Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5% (2006 est.)

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Investment (gross fixed): 25% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Budget: revenues: $2.233 billion expenditures: $2.214 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.)

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Public debt: 31.6% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Agriculture - products: millet, sorghum, peanuts, grapes; livestock; fish

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Industries: meatpacking, fish processing, dairy products; mining (diamonds, lead, zinc, tin, silver, tungsten, uranium, copper)

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Industrial production growth rate: NA%

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Electricity - production: 1.397 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - consumption: 2.819 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - exports: 80 million kWh (2004)

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Electricity - imports: 1.6 billion kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2004)

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Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - consumption: 18,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - exports: NA bbl/day

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Oil - imports: 17,580 bbl/day (2004)

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Oil - proved reserves: 0 bbl (1 January 2005)

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Natural gas - production: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - consumption: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - proved reserves: 62.3 billion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

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Current account balance: $572 million (2006 est.)

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Exports: $2.321 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Exports - commodities: diamonds, copper, gold, zinc, lead, uranium; cattle, processed fish, karakul skins

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Exports - partners: South Africa 33.4%, US 4% (2006)

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Imports: $2.456 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Imports - commodities: foodstuffs; petroleum products and fuel, machinery and equipment, chemicals

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Imports - partners: South Africa 85.2%, US (2006)

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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $480 million (2006 est.)

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Debt - external: $887 million (2006 est.)

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Economic aid - recipient: ODA, $160 million (2000 est.)

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Currency (code): Namibian dollar (NAD); South African rand (ZAR)

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Exchange rates: Namibian dollars per US dollar - 6.7649 (2006), 6.3593 (2005), 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003), 10.5407 (2002)

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Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March