Economy - overview:
The economy is heavily dependent on the extraction and processing of minerals for export. Mining accounts for 8% of GDP, but provides more than 50% of foreign exchange earnings. Rich alluvial diamond deposits make Namibia a primary source for gem-quality diamonds. Namibia is the world's fourth-largest producer of uranium. It also produces large quantities of zinc and is a small producer of gold and other minerals. The mining sector employs only about 3% of the population. 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 one of the world's most unequal income distributions, as shown by Namibia's 70.7 GINI coefficient. The Namibian economy is closely linked to South Africa with the Namibian dollar pegged one-to-one to the South African rand. Until 2010, Namibia drew 40% of its budget revenues from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). Increased payments from SACU put Namibia's budget into surplus in 2007 for the first time since independence. SACU allotments to Namibia increased in 2009, but dropped in 2010 and 2011 because of the global recession, reducing Namibia's overall SACU income. Increased fish production and mining of zinc, copper, and uranium spurred growth in 2003-08, but growth in recent years was undercut by poor fish catches, a dramatic decline in demand for diamonds, higher costs of producing metals, and the global recession. A rebound in diamond and uranium prices in 2010 and the reopening of copper mines in 2011 provided a significant boost to Namibia's mining sector.
GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (official exchange rate): GDP - real growth rate: GDP - per capita (PPP): GDP - composition by sector: Labor force: Labor force - by occupation: Unemployment rate: Population below poverty line: Household income or consumption by percentage share: Distribution of family income - Gini index: Investment (gross fixed): Budget: Taxes and other revenues: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-): Public debt: Inflation rate (consumer prices): Central bank discount rate: Commercial bank prime lending rate: Stock of narrow money: Stock of broad money: Stock of domestic credit: Market value of publicly traded shares: Agriculture - products: Industries: Industrial production growth rate: Electricity - production: Electricity - consumption: Electricity - exports: Electricity - imports: Oil - production: Oil - consumption: Oil - exports: Oil - imports: Natural gas - production: Natural gas - consumption: Natural gas - exports: Natural gas - imports: Natural gas - proved reserves: Current account balance: Exports: Exports - commodities: Imports: Imports - commodities: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: Debt - external: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: Exchange rates:
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Namibia on this page is re-published from the 2012 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Namibia Economy 2012 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Namibia Economy 2012 should be addressed to the CIA.
$15.5 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 137
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP country ranks ]
$13 billion (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
3.6% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 112
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$7,300 (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 129
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 7.1%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 34.4%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services: 58.5% (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
803,700 (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 146
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
agriculture: 16.3%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 22.4%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - industry country ranks ]
services: 61.3%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - services country ranks ]
note: statistics are for the formal sector only; about half of Namibia's people are unemployed while about two-thirds live in rural areas; roughly two-thirds of rural dwellers rely on subsistence agriculture (2008 est.)
51.2% (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 192
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
55.8%
note: 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 (2005 est.)
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: 1.1%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%: 53% (2008)
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
70.7 (2003)
country comparison to the world: 1
[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]
20.8% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 107
[see also: Investment (gross fixed) country ranks ]
revenues: $3.959 billion
[see also: Budget revenues country ranks ]
expenditures: $5.217 billion (2011 est.)
[see also: Budget expenditures country ranks ]
30.5% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 86
[see also: Taxes and other revenues country ranks ]
-9.7% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 195
[see also: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) country ranks ]
27.4% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 100
[see also: Public debt country ranks ]
5.3% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 124
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
12% (31 December 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 47
[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]
10.2% (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 104
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$3.767 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 107
[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]
$7.86 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 110
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
$5.846 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 111
[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]
$1.176 billion (31 December 2010)
country comparison to the world: 105
[see also: Market value of publicly traded shares country ranks ]
millet, sorghum, peanuts, grapes; livestock; fish
meatpacking, fish processing, dairy products; mining (diamonds, lead, zinc, tin, silver, tungsten, uranium, copper)
6.5% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 49
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
2.197 billion kWh (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 132
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
3.928 billion kWh (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 120
[see also: Electricity - consumption country ranks ]
47 million kWh (2008 est.)
[see also: Electricity - exports country ranks ]
2.1 billion kWh (2008 est.)
[see also: Electricity - imports country ranks ]
0 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 142
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
24,000 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 122
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
0 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 141
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
19,890 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 112
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 141
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 141
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 204
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 144
[see also: Natural gas - imports country ranks ]
62.29 billion cu m (1 January 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 62
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
$108.7 million (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 57
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$4.568 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 117
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
diamonds, copper, gold, zinc, lead, uranium; cattle, processed fish, karakul skins
$5.345 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 121
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
foodstuffs; petroleum products and fuel, machinery and equipment, chemicals
$1.542 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 127
[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]
$3.405 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 130
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
$NA
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home country ranks ]
$NA
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad country ranks ]
Namibian dollars (NAD) per US dollar -
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 07-Mar-12