Poverty in Namibia is common with an unemployment rate of 29.9%, poverty incidence of 26.9% and HIV prevalence of 16.9%.Namibia has an economic growth rates averaging 4.3% according to theWorld Bank, and is one of nine nations in Africa classified by the World Bank as upper center pay.[1] However,income disparity in the country is one of the world's highest with aGini coefficient of 59.1 in 2015[2] (2017: 61.3), and there were 3,300US$ millionaires in 2017.[3]
In a 2021 report by the governmentalNamibia Statistics Agency,multidimensional poverty was determined to affect 43% of the population, 59% in rural and 25% in urban areas. The poorest regions per this measure wereKavango West (80%),Kavango East (70%) andKunene Region (64%), while the lowest rates of poverty were found inErongo (16%) andǁKaras (21%).[4]
More than 400,000 people live ininformal housing, withWindhoek (100,000 shack dwellers),Rundu (76,000) andOtjiwarongo (53,000) accommodating the largest number.[5]
