Countries, Compared

Namibia

Namibia is a sovereign state in southern Africa, bordered by Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, South Africa to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

Countries, Compared: country research and comparison

Namibia is a sovereign state in southern Africa, bordered by Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, South Africa to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It is a UN member state, admitted in 1990, and its statistical identifiers are stable and verifiable.

The codes and regional groupings below are statistical conventions. They do not imply a political position on borders, territorial claims, or recognition beyond UN membership status. For the authoritative UN M49 overview, see https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/overview/.

Identifiers and regional grouping

Namibia’s identifiers come from the UN Statistics Division’s M49 standard and the World Bank country API. They describe statistical and administrative coding, not political recognition or territorial claims.

  • UN M49 code: 516
  • ISO alpha-2: NA
  • ISO alpha-3: NAM
  • UN region: Africa
  • UN subregion: Sub-Saharan Africa
  • UN member state: Yes
  • World Bank capital field: Windhoek

The UN M49 overview at https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/overview/ defines the coding system and the region and subregion groupings. The World Bank country API returns the same identifiers plus economic indicators. The administrative centre listed there is the one recorded by the World Bank, not a territorial or constitutional statement. For machine-readable country metadata, query the World Bank API at https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country.

Population and demographics

Population figures change frequently. Do not treat any single number as an exact count. Census data is collected only every 5-10 years, and both UN and World Bank estimates are projections between censuses. Namibia’s last national census was conducted in 2011; the next census is expected in the 2020s. Check the Namibia Statistics Agency for official schedules and results.

UN estimates

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs publishes the World Population Prospects, the standard source for population estimates and projections. The UN’s medium-variant estimate for Namibia was about 2.5 million in 2022. A later revision may adjust that figure, so treat it as a projection rather than a count.

World Bank estimates

The World Bank provides country-level indicators through its API. Use the indicator code SP.POP.TOTL and note the reference year in the API response. World Bank figures are often one to two years behind the UN estimates because the two organisations rely on different collection and revision cycles. For a machine-readable list of World Bank countries and their metadata, query:

https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country

This returns country codes, regions, income level and the administrative centre field. For population figures, use the World Bank indicator API and note the reference year.

Using population data

Do not mix the UN estimate with the World Bank figure without stating the source and year for each. If you cite a population figure, always name the institution that produced it and the reference year. The UN M49 overview defines the regional grouping; it is not a source of population counts.

How to verify data that changes

Do not treat any figure as static. Population, languages, currency, government and economic indicators all change. Every statistic below is labelled with its source and reference year. For current numbers, use the same named sources and note the reference year for any figure you cite.

Sources for volatile figures

How to read the reference year

The reference year for each changing figure is named next to the number. If no year is named, treat the figure as unverified. Figures such as population, GDP and literacy are updated on different schedules by different agencies, so the reference year and the source matter more than the number itself.

Classification and identifiers in detail

Namibia is a UN member state. In the UN M49 standard it is code 516, with ISO alpha-2 code NA and ISO alpha-3 code NAM. The UN M49 region field places Namibia in Africa and the subregion Sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank’s country API lists Windhoek as the administrative centre.

These identifiers are statistical and administrative, not political statements. UN M49 is a coding system used for statistical convenience; it does not rule on sovereignty, borders or territorial disputes. For the current list of UN member states and regional groupings, see the UN Statistics Division M49 overview. For machine-readable country metadata, the World Bank API returns the official administrative centre, region and income-level fields.