The year 2025 will be a year where the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) will be releasing and disseminating statistics for all. This is premised on the fact that in 2023, the NSA ran a nationwide population and housing census. 

A census, as it is known in short, is one of the most complete data-collection exercises that a statistical agency can undertake as it involves collecting data from every household. Considering the huge task at hand, compared to surveys for example where only proportions of households are part of a survey, a census is a very expensive and detailed exercise, and is generally only conducted once every 10 years. 

The data-collection for the 2023 population and housing census is complete, and the NSA is now  finalising thematic reports to provide the data that emanated from it. The thematic reports that will be brought forward include reports on disability, fertility, regional profiles, the interactive atlas, mortality as well as the migration report. Part of these will also be the printed Atlas version. 

The report on disability will provide a snapshot of data relating to people with disabilities. It will shed light on their situation and will assist interested person to understand and have data with regards to disability at their disposal. 

The report on fertility looks at the trend on fertility in the country. This is based on questions to women and the idea was to find out how many children they have had. This trend will indicate and compare the trend of how many children were born to a woman years ago, compared to now. 

The regional profiles will be one of the most important and interesting reports to be released because these provide census data on a regional level. This essentially means all regions will have updated demographic and social indicators as collected. The mortality report will provide in-depth data on mortality rates in the country. 

One of the most important socio-economic indicators, the labour force thematic report, will be released on 29 January 2025, and this will provide data on the labour situation. The report will provide more data than just the rate of unemployment, as it will shed light on various industries and sectors that employ Namibians. 

The NSA is mandated to collect, produce, analyse and disseminate statistics, and the agency will continue to perform as per the mandate. The NSA continues to appreciate the entire public for having participated in this huge statistical exercise, and will ensure that all data is released and disseminated to all, as per the law. NSA wishes everybody a happy and blessed 2025, and we are available to provide statistics to all. We are just a call or an email away. 

*Iipumbu Sakaria is the Manager of Corporate Communication at the NSA.