Old-age pension scheme Social protection programmes: Initiatives and financing
112
ESS-33
External debt remained at a manageable level during the 2000s 12 per cent of GDP, with a slight drop in average terms during the second half of the decade figure 59. This
reduction in the external debt seems to have contributed to the fiscal surplus experienced in the late 2000s, as is evidenced by the decline in public expenditure on debt service from
7.2 per cent of GDP in 1990 to 1.6 per cent in 2008.
Figure 59. Namibia: External debt as a percentage of GDP, 2003-2008
Source: World Bank, 2010.
Another remarkable feature of Namibias recent economic evolution is the low level of ODA received by the country since 1990. On average, ODA constituted 4.1 per cent of the
gross national income GNI between 1990 and 2008, but it declined substantially to 2.8 per cent of GNI during the 2000s. This contrasts with the experience of countries such as
Mozambique which on average received ODA flows that were above 15 per cent of GNI.
ESS-33
113
Figure 60. Namibia: Official development assistance as a percentage of GNI, 1985-2008
Source: World Bank, 2010.
Namibia is a country of interesting socioeconomic contrasts. Poverty incidence and infant mortality are below Africa´s average, but the country presents the highest Gini coefficient
in the world. Progress in the Human Development Index HDI has been slow since Independence 0.657 to 0.686 between 1990 and 2007. High HIV prevalence rates
roughly 390,000 PLHIV affect over 15 per cent of the population and influence life expectancy, which is the same now as in 1985. Adult literacy and GDP per capita
contribute positively to improving the countrys position on the HDI, but enrolment in literacy programmes is now the sand in the wheels of the Governments attempts to
improve overall socioeconomic conditions. For instance, where the adult literacy rate was 76 per cent in 1990, by 2007 it had jumped to 88 per cent of the target population.
However, at the same time, enrolment of children in primary and secondary education was under 70 per cent during the 2000s after having reached a high of 83 per cent in 1995.
Table 12. Namibia: Socioeconomic conditions
Indicator Outcome
Year Source
Poverty incidence as percentage of total households 27.6 2008
Central Bureau of Statistics, 2008. Gini coefficient
74.3 1992-2007
UNDP, 2009. Human Development Index
0.678 2007
UNDP, 2009 Life expectancy at birth in years
60.4 2007
UNDP, 2009. Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births
31.4 2007
World Bank, 2010. Maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births
210 2005
World Bank, 2010. HIV and AIDS prevalence as a percentage of
population aged 15-49 17.8
2008 Ministry of Health and Social Services,
2008. Adult illiteracy rate 2007 as percentage of population
aged 15 or more 12
2007 UNDP, 2009.
Last column shows the sources for each individual indicator.