General information about Namibia
The official name is The Republic of Namibia.
Located in southern Africa. The area is 825.4 thousand km2, the population is 1.8 million people. (2002, estimate). The official language is English. The capital is Windhoek (210 thousand people, 2002, estimate). Public holiday – Independence Day March 21 (since 1990). The monetary unit is the Namibian dollar.
Member of 41 international organizations, incl. UN (since 1990), AU (since 2000), SADC (since 1992).
Geography of Namibia
Namibia is located between 14°54′ and 25°01′ East longitude, 17°06′ and 28°18′ South latitude. In the west it is washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the cold Benguela Current approaches its shores. The coast is almost not indented, there are only two convenient bays. It borders South Africa to the south, Botswana to the east, Zambia to the northeast, and Angola to the north.
The relief is a huge plateau, the central elevated part of which (1500-2500 m) stretches from north to south. It gently drops to the east, deep into the mainland and becomes the Kalahari Desert, and in the west it breaks off at 65-160 km from the Atlantic Ocean – the Great Ledge. Between it and the ocean is the low-lying Namib Desert. The highest point is Mount Konigstein (2606 m). Most of the rivers that dry up in summer flow to the east, and the large rivers in the south and northeast – the Orange and Zambezi – are border. Only the full-flowing Okavango crosses the Caprivi belt.
Soils are desert red-brown, sandy, solonchak.
Vegetation is poor, mostly xerophytic shrubs and grasses. Tropical trees and tall grass border only the banks of the Okavango and Kunene rivers.
The fauna is also poor, but there are endemic rodents and insectivores (long-legged, aardvark). From large mammals there are antelopes, hyenas, viverras. On the ocean shore you can see seals.
The bowels are very rich in minerals. There are deposits of diamonds, uranium, copper, zinc, tin, lead, rock salt, manganese, vanadium, tungsten, lithium, cadmium, gold, silver. A natural gas field with reserves of 560 million m3 was discovered on the shelf near Tsumeb.
According to bridgat, the climate is tropical and subtropical, very dry. The least amount of precipitation falls in the Namib Desert (50 mm), and the most in the northeast (500-700 mm). On the coast, seasonal temperature fluctuations are insignificant due to the influence of the cold Benguela Current (in Walvis Bay + 19 ° C in January and + 14.5 ° in July), but its amplitude increases to the east (in Windhoek + 24 ° C in January and +14° in July). In the very east, the climate acquires continental features, and in the south of the Kalahari, although very rarely, night frosts occur.
Namibian population
Over the past 20 years, the population has increased by more than 20%. The population growth rate has fallen in recent years due to the AIDS pandemic (1.19% in 2002). Birth rate 34.17%, mortality 22.28%, infant mortality – 72.43 people. per 1000 newborns (2002). Average life expectancy – 38.97 years (women – 37.07, men – 40.18) (2002). Sex and age structure (2002): 0-14 years old – 42.6% (392,706 men and 382,690 women), 15-64 years old – 53.7% (respectively 490,151 and 488,052), 65 years and older – 3, 7% (29,345 and 37,972). 33% of the population lives in cities and towns (2002). Adult literacy is approx. 70%.
87% of the population are Africans, whites – 6%, colored – 6.5%. The largest ethnic groups are Ovambo (approx. 50% of the population), Kavango (9%), Herero (7%), Damara (7%). The Khoi-sa-ny (Bushmen) live in the Kalahari Desert.
90% are Christians, the rest adhere to local beliefs.
