The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has been accused of excluding the unemployment figures from the 2023 census report to save the ruling government from criticism.
The NSA yesterday released the report with statistics on Namibians’ source of income but not the number of those who have jobs.
Analysts have bemoaned this decision, with some politicians accusing the agency of trying to save the government from a bad image right before the elections.
The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) yesterday alleged that the NSA’s decision to omit the unemployment statistics from the report is a calculated strategy to hide the reality facing Namibians.
“The NSA suppresses this information because they know it signifies the failings of the Swapo government to create an environment that can create jobs and put food on Namibian tables,” IPC said in a statement.
IPC expressed concern about the suffering and vulnerability these statistics signify.
“Our focus is primarily on creating jobs and income for Namibian households. Unlike the corrupt Swapo government, we will collect and disseminate data to show our progress in achieving this goal,” it said.
Affirmative Repositioning leader Job Amupanda also alleges that the NSA was instructed to not release the unemployment figures.
“The corrupt regime has also instructed the NSA to remove access to health facility figures. Since they want to hide it from you, I hereby inform the country and stakeholders that the unemployment figures have surpassed 50%,” he says.
NSA statistician general Alex Shimuafeni yesterday defended the decision, saying employment-related statistics are part of the thematic reports that are going to be released after they have released the main report.
“We are starting with the first one, which is what we call the special report, which is the proximity report to facilities. So all those reports will be released as we are going,” Shimuafeni told The Namibian.
He said if those results come out and they are lower than what people expected, they may argue the agency is “putting the government in a bad light.”
Shimuafeni said yesterday’s statistics were a mix of the good and bad.
“Unfortunately, people have their opinions on the data. I remember when we released it the first time, the people were saying it cannot be true that the population is like that. That’s their own opinion. I cannot comment on their opinions,” he added.
INCOME SOURCE
At least 66.3% of Namibians have a source of income while 17.8% survive off social grants.
The NSA report revealed that 46.6% of Namibians receive wages and salaries while 10% get income from farming and 9% from other businesses.
Shimuafeni said using this, it can be estimated that Namibia’s unemployment rate stands at 33.7%.
“So, you can maybe have a rough estimate and say those 66% from the definition of unemployment rate or employment rate, those are people that are employed. So in that guesstimate, we’ll be saying 100 minus 66 will be 34. Maybe you can guess to say the unemployment rate is 34%,” he said.
He emphasised that this was a fair guesstimate, dispelling any figures that show a higher number.
Thirteen point eight percent of households depend on the old age pension, 2.6% on other grants and 1.4% of the population survive on drought relief assistance.
These grants include state maintenance, foster parent, vulnerable, and disability grants.
Cirrus Capital data and analytics head Tannan Groenewald yesterday described the final census results as disappointing.
“The government has a lot to answer for, and these problems are made worse due to a lack of data availability and transparency,” he said.
Groenewald said there has been significant migration into the Khomas and Erongo regions from the northern regions as Namibians are seeking secure employment and income.
“Yet, no new jobs are being created, hence the overwhelming presence of shacks in urban areas,” he added.
He pointed out that while the urban population now makes up half of the total population, the results show that over 40% of the urban population resides in shacks. This is up from 27% in 2011.
“Of the entire population, three in 10 Namibians live in shacks, and this proportion has essentially doubled from 2011,” he said.
“The NSA has not released unemployment statistics since 2018, and it is obvious that these figures are being delayed to the public until after elections,” he said
Groenewald said the literacy rates are down, and basic housing utilities have barely improved over a period of 12 years, “for those who even have homes”.
HOUSING
The report also shows that 28.7% of households in the country live in shacks. This represents 217 069 families, with 40.2% in urban areas.
The Khomas and Omaheke regions have a high density of shacks.
“The regional distribution shows that informal dwellings are mostly found in the Khomas (46.9%), Omaheke (46.8%), and Otjozondjupa (40.1%) regions. While the Omusati (8.2%), Zambezi (11.0%) and Ohangwena (11.3%) regions had the least informal dwelling households,” the report reads.
Moreover, more than 90% of households in Namibia drink safe water, “with regional variation mostly above 80%, except for the Kunene region”.
The report also says more than 40% of households own refrigerators, while 46% own a stove and 26% own a microwave.
ORPHANS IN NAMIBIA
Namibia has 113 788 orphans with one or no parents.
“It reveals that 7.6% of children aged 17 years and below had lost at least one parent, with 1.2% having lost both parents,” the report reads.
In addition, about 47% of households in Namibia use electricity for lighting.
The report indicates that 69.7% of the population aged 15 years and above have never said ‘I do’, while 15.8% of the population is married.
DIGITAL DIVIDE
In Namibia, 34.9% of households have access to mobile internet connectivity.
“A similar trend is observed at urban and rural areas where 50.3% and 16.2% of the households had access to mobile internet connectivity,” the report reads.
The NSA further says the majority (52.4%) of households own smartphones, followed by radios (47.2%) and televisions (35.1%).
“Most urban households (68.5%) owned smartphones compared to 33% of rural households. Computers or laptops were mostly owned by urban households (30.5%) compared to 6.4% of households in rural areas,” the report reads.
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