Country · Africa
Namibia
Republic of Namibia
Namibia is a country in Southern Africa. About 2.4 million people live there, in an area of 825 615 square kilometres. Its capital city is Windhoek.
Picture credit: Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Bries (CC BY-SA 2.5) · Ji-Elle (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Namibia?
Namibia lies in Southern Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the southern half of the world, roughly 2 449 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 1 572 km long.
It shares a border with 4 countries: Angola, Botswana, South Africa and Zambia.
How big is Namibia?
Namibia covers 825 615 square kilometres.
That is about 8 times the size of Iceland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 34th largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 3 people on every square kilometre.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Namibia?
About 2.4 million people live in Namibia.
That is the 139th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Afrikaans, German, English, Herero, Khoekhoe, Kwangali, Lozi, Ndonga and Tswana.
They pay with the Namibian dollar and South African rand.
On average, people born here can expect to live about 43 years.
The land of Namibia
The land of Namibia sits on average 1 141 metres above sea level — high enough that much of it counts as mountain country.
Its coast runs for about 1 572 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 79 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Namibia different?
Websites from here often end in .na.
Namibia and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about one lives in Namibia.
It takes up about 0.62 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa the country ranks 15th of 54 by size, and 41st by population.
Namibia and its neighbours
Angola, its largest neighbour, is about 1.5 times bigger.
Angola has more people: 30.8 million against 2.4 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 19 live wild in Namibia: Lion, African elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, White rhinoceros, Cheetah and more. The highest mountain in the country is Königstein, at 2 573 metres. The longest river in the country is the Fish River. The largest lake in the country is Lake Liambezi.
Lion
African elephant
Giraffe
Zebra
White rhinoceros
Cheetah
Leopard
Meerkat
Ostrich
Dung beetle
Termite
Aardvark
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
How big is Namibia compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 11 times as big as Namibia: 9 372 610 km² against 825 615 km².
- Namibia is about 3.4 times as big as the United Kingdom: 825 615 km² against 242 900 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Namibia?
The capital of Namibia is Windhoek. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Namibia?
About 2.4 million people live in Namibia, which makes it the 139th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Namibia?
Namibia borders Angola, Botswana, South Africa and Zambia — 4 neighbours in total.
How big is Namibia?
Namibia covers 825 615 square kilometres, making it the 34th largest country in the world. That is about 8 times the size of Iceland.
What is the highest mountain in Namibia?
The highest mountain in Namibia is Königstein, 2 573 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the longest river in Namibia?
The longest river in Namibia is the Fish River, about 650 kilometres long.
What is the largest lake in Namibia?
The largest lake in Namibia is Lake Liambezi. It covers about 100 km².
Which continent is Namibia in?
Namibia is in Africa, in the part called Southern Africa.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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