is a democratically governed, politically stable country in southern Africa.
It has been independent since 1990.
More than twice the size of Germany, Namibia is extremely sparsely populated with around 3 million inhabitants. The country’s population is very young; around 40% of Namibians are under 15 years old. More than two-thirds of the inhabitants live widely dispersed in rural areas or in urban slums, mostly in very simple huts. The vast majority of these rapidly growing townships lack electricity and water.
The average monthly income is approximately €100, however, with an extremely wide range. The country’s economy, facing an absolute unemployment rate of about 50% and a vast number of minimally paid auxiliary workers, has three main sectors: agriculture, mining, and tourism.
The AIDS issue is a significant burden on the country’s economic and social development. With an infection rate of approximately 20%, 10% of the total population, and thus more than 200,000 children, are now AIDS orphans. Approximately 50% of these are under 10 years old. It is important for our projects, which also take in AIDS orphans to the best of our ability, to know that these children are usually not themselves infected with AIDS, but are children of parents who have died from AIDS or are too ill to provide care.
