Over 90 households headed by children aged 11 or below-NSA

By Erasmus Shalihaxwe

NAMIBIA Statistics Agency (NSA) Statistician General, Alex Shimuafeni said there are about 94 household headed by children aged 11 or below while 52.8 percent of households around the country, are headed by man while 47.2 percent by woman.

Shimuafeni made the revelation at the launch of the Census Mapping Basic Report of 2019-2021 where he also highlighted Khomas region as the constituency with the highest number of households.

“In terms of regions, Khomas recorded the highest number with 90 834 households representing 17.9 percent followed by 55 438 households in Omusati region with 10.9 percent, Kavango West 3.1 percent and Kunene 3.2 percent recorded the lowest proportion of households, while most households in the country 52.8 percent were headed by males, compared to female 47.2 percent headed households.

“There were about 94 households headed by children aged 11 years old and below. Corrugated Iron sheets 84.1 percent were common material used for roofing. While results on the main material used for outer walls showed that cement/blocks/bricks/stones 37.2 percent and corrugated iron sheets 28.7 percent were mostly used,” he explained.

Shimuafeni said the mapping exercise indicated that there were 507 249 dwelling units in Namibia, of which 36.

6 percent were detached houses, while a significant proportion of about 25 percent were improvised housing units which are shacks of which the Khomas region had the highest number of dwelling units with 90 834 and relatively with the highest number of improvised housing units at 41.

1 per cent.

“In terms of water supply points mapped in Namibia, the number stood at 14 402, of which 88.8 percent were in rural areas compared to 11.

2 percent in urban areas. At the regional level, Zambezi region recorded the highest proportion of water points with 14.8 percent, followed by Omaheke with 11.6 per cent and Ohangwena region with 10.

1 percent while Oshana and Kavango East recorded the lowest with 2.9 percent and 2.8 percent respectively. Most households were found in rural areas at 52.5 percent, while urban areas recorded 47.5 percent,” Shimuafeni said.

He further added that about 53 percent of households in Namibia use firewood as the main source of energy to cook, and only 31 percent of the households use electricity from mains, while electricity from mains as the main source of energy used for lighting stood at 45.6 percent for all households in Namibia. However, about 62 percent of rural households used battery lamps, torch and cellphones for lighting.

Shimuafeni has also announced that the Population and Housing Census which was supposed to be conducted in 2021, will be conduct in 2023 around August.

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