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Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2001) - Namibia (2008)
Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2001) z Namibia (2008)
| British Indian Ocean Territory (2001) | Namibia (2008) | |
 |  | |
| Administrative divisions | - | 13 regions; Caprivi, Erongo, Hardap, Karas, Khomas, Kunene, Ohangwena, Okavango, Omaheke, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa |
| Age structure | - | 0-14 years: 37.7% (male 390,448/female 383,698)
15-64 years: 58.6% (male 606,239/female 597,512) 65 years and over: 3.8% (male 34,926/female 42,257) (2007 est.) |
| Agriculture - products | - | millet, sorghum, peanuts, grapes; livestock; fish |
| Airports | 1 (2000 est.) | 137 (2007) |
| Airports - with paved runways | total:
1 over 3,047 m: 1 (2000 est.) |
total: 21
over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 13 914 to 1,523 m: 3 (2007) |
| Airports - with unpaved runways | - | total: 116
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 22 914 to 1,523 m: 72 under 914 m: 20 (2007) |
| Area | total:
60 sq km land: 60 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes the entire Chagos Archipelago |
total: 825,418 sq km
land: 825,418 sq km water: 0 sq km |
| Area - comparative | about 0.3 times the size of Washington, DC | slightly more than half the size of Alaska |
| Background | Established as a territory of the UK in 1965, a number of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were transferred to the Seychelles when it attained independence in 1976. Subsequently, BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the Chagos Archipelago. The largest and most southerly of the islands, Diego Garcia, contains a joint UK-US naval support facility. All of the remaining islands are uninhabited. Former agricultural workers, earlier resident in the islands, were relocated primarily to Mauritius but also to the Seychelles, between 1967 and 1973. In 2000, a British High Court ruling invalidated the local immigration order which had excluded them from the archipelago, but upheld the special military status of Diego Garcia. | South Africa occupied the German colony of South-West Africa during World War I and administered it as a mandate until after World War II, when it annexed the territory. In 1966 the Marxist South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) guerrilla group launched a war of independence for the area that was soon named Namibia, but it was not until 1988 that South Africa agreed to end its administration in accordance with a UN peace plan for the entire region. Namibia has been governed by SWAPO since the country won independence in 1990. Hifikepunye POHAMBA was elected president in November 2004 in a landslide victory replacing Sam NUJOMA who led the country during its first 14 years of self rule. |
| Birth rate | - | 23.52 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Budget | - | revenues: $2.561 billion
expenditures: $2.483 billion (2007 est.) |
| Capital | - | name: Windhoek
geographic coordinates: 22 34 S, 17 05 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins first Sunday in September; ends first Sunday in April |
| Climate | tropical marine; hot, humid, moderated by trade winds | desert; hot, dry; rainfall sparse and erratic |
| Coastline | 698 km | 1,572 km |
| Constitution | - | ratified 9 February 1990, effective 12 March 1990 |
| Country name | conventional long form:
British Indian Ocean Territory conventional short form: none abbreviation: BIOT |
conventional long form: Republic of Namibia
conventional short form: Namibia local long form: Republic of Namibia local short form: Namibia former: German Southwest Africa, South-West Africa |
| Death rate | - | 19.15 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Debt - external | - | $1.429 billion (31 December 2007 est.) |
| Dependency status | overseas territory of the UK; administered by a commissioner, resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London | - |
| Diplomatic representation from the US | none (overseas territory of the UK) | chief of mission: Ambassador G. Dennise MATHIEU
embassy: 14 Lossen Street, Windhoek mailing address: Private Bag 12029 Ausspannplatz, Windhoek telephone: [264] (61) 295-8500 FAX: [264] (61) 295-8603 |
| Diplomatic representation in the US | none (overseas territory of the UK) | chief of mission: Ambassador Patrick NANDAGO
chancery: 1605 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 986-0540 FAX: [1] (202) 986-0443 |
| Disputes - international | the Chagos Archipelago is claimed by Mauritius and Seychelles | concerns from international experts and local populations over the Okavango Delta ecology in Botswana and human displacement scuttled Namibian plans to construct a hydroelectric dam on Popa Falls along the Angola-Namibia border; managed dispute with South Africa over the location of the boundary in the Orange River; Namibia has supported, and in 2004 Zimbabwe dropped objections to, plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the Zambezi River, thereby de facto recognizing a short, but not clearly delimited, Botswana-Zambia boundary in the river |
| Economic aid - recipient | - | ODA, $123.4 million (2005 est.) |
| Economy - overview | All economic activity is concentrated on the largest island of Diego Garcia, where joint UK-US defense facilities are located. Construction projects and various services needed to support the military installations are done by military and contract employees from the UK, Mauritius, the Philippines, and the US. There are no industrial or agricultural activities on the islands. When the Ilois return, they plan to reestablish sugarcane production and fishing. | 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 fourth-largest exporter of nonfuel minerals in Africa, the world's fifth-largest producer of uranium, and the producer of large quantities of lead, zinc, tin, silver, and tungsten. The mining sector employs only about 3% of the population while about half of the population depends on subsistence agriculture for its livelihood. 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. The Namibian economy is closely linked to South Africa with the Namibian dollar pegged one-to-one to the South African rand. Increased payments from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) put Namibia's budget into surplus in 2007 for the first time since independence, but SACU payments will decline after 2008 as part of a new revenue sharing formula. Increased fish production and mining of zinc, copper, uranium, and silver spurred growth in 2003-07, but growth in recent years was undercut by poor fish catches and high costs for metal inputs. |
| Electricity - consumption | NA kWh | 2.863 billion kWh (2005) |
| Electricity - exports | - | 78 million kWh (2005) |
| Electricity - imports | - | 1.567 billion kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2005) |
| Electricity - production | NA kWh; note - electricity supplied by the US military | 1.688 billion kWh (2005) |
| Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location on Diego Garcia 15 m |
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Konigstein 2,606 m |
| Environment - current issues | NA | very limited natural fresh water resources; desertification; wildlife poaching; land degradation has led to few conservation areas |
| Environment - international agreements | - | party to: Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
| Ethnic groups | - | black 87.5%, white 6%, mixed 6.5%
note: about 50% of the population belong to the Ovambo tribe and 9% to the Kavangos tribe; other ethnic groups includes Herero 7%, Damara 7%, Nama 5%, Caprivian 4%, Bushmen 3%, Baster 2%, Tswana 0.5% |
| Exchange rates | - | Namibian dollars per US dollar - 7.18 (2007), 6.7649 (2006), 6.3593 (2005), 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003) |
| Executive branch | chief of state:
Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952) head of government: Commissioner John WHITE (since NA); Administrator Louise SAVILL (since NA); note - both reside in the UK cabinet: NA elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; commissioner and administrator appointed by the monarch |
chief of state: President Hifikepunye POHAMBA (since 21 March 2005)
head of government: Prime Minister Nahas ANGULA (since 21 March 2005) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president from among the members of the National Assembly elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 15 November 2004 (next to be held in November 2009) election results: Hifikepunye POHAMBA elected president; percent of vote - Hifikepunye POHAMBA 76.4%, Den ULENGA 7.3%, Katuutire KAURA 5.1%, Kuaima RIRUAKO 4.2%, Justus GAROEB 3.8%, other 3.2% |
| Exports | - | 0 bbl/day (2004) |
| Exports - commodities | - | diamonds, copper, gold, zinc, lead, uranium; cattle, processed fish, karakul skins |
| Exports - partners | - | South Africa 33.4%, US 4% (2006) |
| Fiscal year | - | 1 April - 31 March |
| Flag description | white with six blue wavy horizontal stripes; the flag of the UK is in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the striped section bears a palm tree and yellow crown centered on the outer half of the flag | a wide red stripe edged by narrow white stripes divides the flag diagonally from lower hoist corner to upper fly corner; the upper hoist-side triangle is blue and charged with a yellow, 12-rayed sunburst; the lower fly-side triangle is green |
| GDP - composition by sector | - | agriculture: 10.6%
industry: 30.8% services: 58.6% (2007 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | - | 4.5% (2007 est.) |
| Geographic coordinates | 6 00 S, 71 30 E | 22 00 S, 17 00 E |
| Geography - note | archipelago of 2,300 islands; Diego Garcia, largest and southernmost island, occupies strategic location in central Indian Ocean; island is site of joint US-UK military facility | first country in the world to incorporate the protection of the environment into its constitution; some 14% of the land is protected, including virtually the entire Namib Desert coastal strip |
| Highways | total:
NA km paved: short stretch of paved road of NA km between port and airfield on Diego Garcia unpaved: NA km |
- |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | - | lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 64.5% (2003) |
| Imports | - | 17,580 bbl/day (2004) |
| Imports - commodities | - | foodstuffs; petroleum products and fuel, machinery and equipment, chemicals |
| Imports - partners | - | South Africa 85.2%, US (2006) |
| Independence | - | 21 March 1990 (from South African mandate) |
| Industrial production growth rate | - | 4.6% (2007 est.) |
| Industries | - | meatpacking, fish processing, dairy products; mining (diamonds, lead, zinc, tin, silver, tungsten, uranium, copper) |
| Infant mortality rate | - | total: 47.23 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 51.03 deaths/1,000 live births female: 43.33 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | - | 6.7% (2007 est.) |
| International organization participation | - | ACP, AfDB, AU, C, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, SACU, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO |
| Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 1 (2000) | - |
| Irrigated land | 0 sq km (1993) | 80 sq km (2003) |
| Judicial branch | - | Supreme Court (judges appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission) |
| Labor force | - | 660,000 (2007 est.) |
| Labor force - by occupation | - | agriculture: 47%
industry: 20% services: 33% (1999 est.) |
| Land boundaries | 0 km | total: 3,936 km
border countries: Angola 1,376 km, Botswana 1,360 km, South Africa 967 km, Zambia 233 km |
| Land use | arable land:
0% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 0% forests and woodland: NA% other: NA% |
arable land: 0.99%
permanent crops: 0.01% other: 99% (2005) |
| Languages | - | English 7% (official), Afrikaans common language of most of the population and about 60% of the white population, German 32%, indigenous languages 1% (includes Oshivambo, Herero, Nama) |
| Legal system | the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply | based on Roman-Dutch law and 1990 constitution |
| Legislative branch | - | bicameral legislature consists of the National Council (26 seats; two members are chosen from each regional council to serve six-year terms) and the National Assembly (72 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: National Council - elections for regional councils to determine members of the National Council held 29-30 November 2004 (next to be held in November 2010); National Assembly - last held 15-16 November 2004 (next to be held in November 2009) election results: National Council - percent of vote by party - SWAPO 89.7%, UDF 4.7%, NUDO 2.8%, DTA 1.9%, other 0.9%; seats by party - SWAPO 24, UDF 1, DTA 1; National Assembly - percent of vote by party - SWAPO 76.1%, COD 7.3%, DTA 5.1%, NUDO 4.2%, UDF 3.6%, RP 1.9%, MAG 0.8%, other 1.0%; seats by party - SWAPO 55, COD 5, DTA 4, NUDO 3, UDF 3, RP 1, MAG 1 note: the National Council is primarily an advisory body |
| Life expectancy at birth | - | total population: 43.11 years
male: 44.39 years female: 41.79 years (2007 est.) |
| Literacy | - | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 85% male: 86.8% female: 83.5% (2001 census) |
| Location | Southern Asia, archipelago in the Indian Ocean, about one-half the way from Africa to Indonesia | Southern Africa, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Angola and South Africa |
| Map references | World | Africa |
| Maritime claims | exclusive fishing zone:
200 NM territorial sea: 3 NM |
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm |
| Merchant marine | - | total: 1 ship (1000 GRT or over) 2,265 GRT/3,605 DWT
by type: cargo 1 (2007) |
| Military - note | defense is the responsibility of the UK; the US lease on Diego Garcia expires in 2016 | - |
| Military branches | - | Namibian Defense Force: Army, Navy, Air Wing (2006) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | - | 3.7% (2006) |
| National holiday | - | Independence Day, 21 March (1990) |
| Nationality | - | noun: Namibian(s)
adjective: Namibian |
| Natural hazards | NA | prolonged periods of drought |
| Natural resources | coconuts, fish, sugarcane | diamonds, copper, uranium, gold, silver, lead, tin, lithium, cadmium, tungsten, zinc, salt, hydropower, fish
note: suspected deposits of oil, coal, and iron ore |
| Net migration rate | - | 0.41 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Political parties and leaders | - | Congress of Democrats or COD [Ben ULENGA]; Democratic Turnhalle Alliance of Namibia or DTA [Katuutire KAURA]; Monitor Action Group or MAG [Jurie VILJOEN]; National Democratic Movement for Change or NamDMC; National Unity Democratic Organization or NUDO [Kuaima RIRUAKO]; Rally for Democracy and Progress or RDP [Hidipo HAMUTENYA]; Republican Party or RP [Henk MUDGE]; South West Africa National Union or SWANU [Rihupisa KANDANDO]; South West Africa People's Organization or SWAPO [Hifikepunye POHAMBA]; United Democratic Front or UDF [Justus GAROEB] |
| Political pressure groups and leaders | - | NA |
| Population | no indigenous inhabitants
note: approximately 1,200 former agricultural workers resident in the Chagos Archipelago, often referred to as Chagossians or Ilois, were relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles around the time of the construction of UK-US military facilities; in 1995, there were approximately 1,700 UK and US military personnel and 1,500 civilian contractors living on the island of Diego Garcia |
2,055,080
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2007 est.) |
| Population below poverty line | - | 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 |
| Population growth rate | - | 0.478% (2007 est.) |
| Ports and harbors | Diego Garcia | - |
| Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 0 (1998) | AM 2, FM 39, shortwave 4 (2001) |
| Radios | NA | - |
| Railways | - | total: 2,382 km
narrow gauge: 2,382 km 1.067-m gauge (2006) |
| Religions | - | Christian 80% to 90% (Lutheran 50% at least), indigenous beliefs 10% to 20% |
| Sex ratio | - | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.018 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.015 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.827 male(s)/female total population: 1.008 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
| Suffrage | - | 18 years of age; universal |
| Telephone system | general assessment:
separate facilities for military and public needs are available domestic: all commercial telephone services are available, including connection to the Internet international: international telephone service is carried by satellite (2000) |
general assessment: good system with a combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity of about 30 per 100 persons
domestic: core fiber-optic network links most centers and connections are now digital; Namibia's first mobile-phone network, launched in 1994, provides coverage to 86 percent of Namibia by area international: country code - 264; fiber-optic cable to South Africa, microwave radio relay link to Botswana, direct links to other neighboring countries; connected to the South African Far East (SAFE) submarine cable through South Africa; satellite earth stations - 4 Intelsat |
| Telephones - main lines in use | NA | 138,900 (2005) |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | - | 495,000 (2005) |
| Television broadcast stations | 1 (1997) | 2 (2007) |
| Terrain | flat and low (most areas do not exceed four meters in elevation) | mostly high plateau; Namib Desert along coast; Kalahari Desert in east |
| Total fertility rate | - | 2.94 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | - | 5.3% (2006 est.) |
| Waterways | none | - |
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