New Census Data Paints a Clearer Portrait of Namibia

By:Hertha Ekandjo
About 53% of households in Namibia use firewood as the main source of energy for cooking, and only 31% of the households use electricity from mains.
This was revealed by the Namibia Statistic Agency (NSA) 2019/2021 Census Mapping report this week.
The report shows that electricity from mains as the main source of energy used for lighting stood at 45.6% for all households in Namibia.
However, about 62% of rural households used battery lamps and torch cell phones for lighting.
According to NSA, about 47.2% of the households were owner-occupied without a mortgage, while 29.6% are occupied rent-free.
The agency noted that a significant number of households use piped water for cooking, such as 35.6% use piped water outside, 3.5% inside piped water and 15.4% public piped water.
NSA report states that 24.4% of water from boreholes with open tanks covered was a common cooking water source in the Kunene region, while water from the river/dam /stream was significant in Kavango West (15.4%) and Kavango East (11.5%) regions.
Furthermore, Ohangwena and Zambezi regions recorded the highest proportion of households that rely on water from unprotected wells for cooking at 9.7% and 7.5%, respectively.
NSA statistician-general & CEO Alex Shimuafeni said that a proportion of 42.6% of households countrywide have no toilet facilities and use bush, riverbeds, and fields and this is commonly in rural areas 64.6% compared to urban areas with 22.6%.
The mapping exercise indicated that there were 507,249 dwelling units in Namibia, of which 36.6% were detached houses, while a significant proportion of about 25% were improvised housing units (Shacks/Kambashu).
“Khomas region had the highest number of dwelling units with 90,834 and relatively with the highest number of improvised housing units/shacks (41.1%),”Shimuafeni said.
“In terms of water supply points mapped in Namibia, the number stood at 14,402, of which 88.8% were in rural areas compared to 11.2% in urban areas. At the regional level, Zambezi region recorded the highest proportion of water points with 14.8%, followed by Omaheke (11.6%) and Ohangwena region (10.1%) while Oshana and Kavango East recorded the lowest 2.9% and 2.8% respectively, “the statistician-general said.
According to him, a total of 529,734 structures were situated in urban areas while 435,474 were located in rural areas. In terms of regional distribution, Khomas region recorded the highest number of structures (140,193 structures), followed by Oshana Region with 108,996 structures. The least number of structures (28,451) were mapped in the Kavango West region.