The economy is heavily dependent on the extraction and processing of minerals for export. Mining accounts for 20% of GDP. Rich alluvial diamond deposits make Namibia a primary source for gem-quality diamonds. Namibia is the fourth-largest exporter of non-fuel 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 the great inequality of income distribution; nearly one-third of Namibians had annual incomes of less than $1,400 in constant 1994 dollars, according to a 1993 study. The Namibian economy is closely linked to South Africa with the Namibian dollar pegged to the South African rand. Privatization of several enterprises in coming years may stimulate long-run foreign investment. Mining of zinc, copper, and silver and increased fish production led to growth in 2003.

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 South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) 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 won its independence in 1990 and has been governed by SWAPO since. 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.¹⁹ A factor that favoured the transition to democracy in Namibia was the singular nature of the pre-transition regime and to the fact that Namibia’s transition was one from decades of colonial rule to political independence, rather than from decades of independent neo-patrimonial rule to, hopefully, independent democratic rule. Many see strong and autonomous organisations of civil society as critical to the successful consolidation of democracy, and, in Namibia, a significant feature of the post-independence period has been a growing visibility and apparent influence of organisations of civil society throughout the country to meet a plethora of needs. Despite the many challenges, there is evidence of a growing influence on the part of civic organisations and the media in Namibia, and other circumstances related to Namibia’s unique transition to democracy in the 1990s also potentially bode well for the future; indeed, it is widely cited as one of Africa’s most successful new democracies.²⁰

GDP per capita is Intl $4918. This falls within the range of $8,272 ( Libya) and $346 ( Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the countries of Africa (Table 5).

Table 5 GDP per capita (Intl $): countries of Africa, 2001