Namibia

AfricaCapital city: WindhoekCapital metro: WindhoekPrime Minister: Elijah NgurarePresident: Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah
2026 population
3.0M
Rank #142 globally
Area
826k km² (319k sq mi)
Metros tracked
4
24% of population in metros
Composite score
1.7
Rank #179 globally

population: 2023 census (24 Sep 2023) · indicators as of 5 Sep 2026 · 4 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography4 metros

Namibia metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
4 polygons

Select a metro for its rank and a link to its page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 4 tracked metros
4 metros
#1112Windhoek★ Capital▲ Largest
Khomas · 465K · Emerging Metro
1.4
Erongo · 103K · Local Metro
0.3
#3500Rundu
Kavango East · 119K · Local Metro
0.0
Hardap · 41K · Local Metro
0.0
🗂️ Regions

14 entries listed under Namibia. Select any to see its metros and footprint.

14 total
📋 At a glance
Official language
English
Legislature
Parliament of Namibia
Demonym
Namibian
Time zone
UTC+02:00
Driving side
Left
Calling code
+264
Internet TLD
.na
ISO 3166
NA
Established
1990
Highest point
Brandberg (2,573 m (8,442 ft))
National anthem
Namibia, Land of the Brave

Facts via Wikidata.

🗣️ Languages of Namibia

Afrikaans first; 4 languages share the country; 1 official.

LanguageShareStatus
Afrikaans75%None
Kuanyama35%None
Ndonga21%None
Nama (Namibia)11%None
Herero9.1%None
English7%Official

Shares count first and second language, so they overlap and can add past 100%.

English reach
7%
Tier 3 country
Effective languages
1.3
Official-language gap
93%
English is spoken by 7%

Namibia on the languages board · Language power

💹 Economy and developmentLower middle income
Human Dev. Index
#134 / 191
0.665
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#144 / 193
$15.1B
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#121 / 193
$4.9k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#122 / 190
$12.0k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#125 / 192
$4.3k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#150 / 194
67.5 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
21.0 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#133 / 194
51%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
2.0%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#191 / 193
4/km² (9/mi²)
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#104 / 193
3.8%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#47 / 175
0.82
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#166 / 166
59.1
World Bank · 2015
Internet users
#131 / 193
65%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
#103 / 185
3.5%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#60 / 192
1.1 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#13 / 186
98%
Ember · 2024

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations4 full memberships

Political & Economic

Subregional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History13 leaders · click to expand
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah✦ Current
President · 1y 3m 12d
2025–Present
Elijah Ngurare✦ Current
Prime Minister · 1y 3m 12d
2025–Present
Nangolo Mbumba
President · 1y 1m 17d
2024–2025
Saara Kuugongelwa
Prime Minister · 10y 0d
2015–2025
Hage Geingob
President · 11y 2m 0d
2012–2024
Hage Geingob
Prime Minister · 2y 3m 17d
2012–2015
Hifikepunye Pohamba
President · 7y 8m 13d
2005–2012
Nahas Angula
Prime Minister · 7y 8m 13d
2005–2012
Theo-Ben Gurirab
President · 2y 6m 21d
2002–2005
Theo-Ben Gurirab
Prime Minister · 2y 6m 21d
2002–2005
Sam Nujoma
President · 12y 5m 7d
1990–2002
Hage Geingob
President · 0d
1990–1990
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#173 · 0.0%
3%5%8%10%2000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)

The power line is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

⚔️ Wars and conflicts1 interstate war · click to expand
Combat deaths: 164,900+

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.” Figures marked “COW battle deaths” are Correlates of War battle-death counts, which run lower than total deaths.

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
3.0m
#139 in the world
Since 1800
13×
from 229k
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.04%
0.02% in 1800
788k1.6m2.4m3.2m18001850190019502000

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Namibia: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak on the median
after 2100
still growing at 2100
2050
4.5m
95% band 3.5m to 5.9m
2100
5.9m
95% band 2.6m to 13.1m
2100 against 2025
1.91×
median still rising in 2100
3.4m6.9m10.3m13.8m1950197520002025205020752100
estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
21k born · 11k died · -4k net migration
TFR 5.61 · life expectancy 41.9 · median age 19.8
1960
25k born · 11k died · -3k net migration
TFR 6.24 · life expectancy 48.5 · median age 17.8
1970
33k born · 11k died · -244 net migration
TFR 6.52 · life expectancy 54.7 · median age 17.0
1980
40k born · 12k died · -15k net migration
TFR 6.24 · life expectancy 56.6 · median age 15.5
1990
56k born · 12k died · +4k net migration
TFR 5.40 · life expectancy 61.4 · median age 17.3
2000
57k born · 22k died · +6k net migration
TFR 3.99 · life expectancy 52.9 · median age 18.0
2010
65k born · 23k died · -9k net migration
TFR 3.66 · life expectancy 56.1 · median age 19.4
2020
76k born · 21k died · +27k net migration
TFR 3.35 · life expectancy 64.1 · median age 20.8

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

🏆 National Teams

Namibia on the international stage. Select a card for the full record.