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National / Regional Profiles

Included Nations/Regions: Namibia [x], Southern Africa [x], The World [x]


Religion and State (RAS) Indexes1

Religion Indexes (Namibia)

State Funding of Religion
Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3)

Ranking: 161/253
Societal Discrimination of Minority Religions
Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3)

Ranking: 148/253
State Regulation of Majority or All Religions
Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3)

Ranking: 174/253
State Discrimination of Minority Religions
Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3)

Ranking: 163/253
For details on how these indexes were constructed, click here

Namibia: Major World Religions (1900 - 2050) (World Religion Database, 2020)2

The following groups with less than 1% of the population were hidden from this graph: Baha'is, Jews, Muslims.


Namibia: Largest Religious Groups (1900 - 2050) (World Religion Database, 2020)2

The following groups with less than 1% of the population were hidden from this graph: Atheists, doubly-affiliated, Sunnis.


Religious Adherents (World Religion Database 2020)2

Religion Namibia
[x]
Southern Africa
[x]
The World
[x]
Baha'is 0.49% 0.50% 0.11%
Buddhists --- 0.37% 6.83%
--Mahayanists --- 0.37% 4.89%
--Theravadins --- --- 1.72%
--Lamaists --- --- 0.23%
Chinese folk-religionists --- 0.16% 5.98%
Christians 90.89% 82.17% 32.16%
--unaffiliated Christians 1.34% 12.11% 1.46%
--Orthodox --- 0.04% 3.75%
--Catholics 18.89% 8.43% 15.90%
--Protestants 68.87% 23.98% 7.51%
--Independents 10.43% 38.89% 5.00%
Daoists --- --- 0.11%
Confucianists --- 0.05% 0.11%
Ethnic religionists 5.98% 7.84% 3.65%
Hindus --- 2.10% 13.58%
--Vaishnavites --- 0.69% 5.15%
--Shaivites --- 0.90% 4.86%
--Saktists --- 0.51% 3.57%
Jains --- 0.00% 0.08%
Jews 0.00% 0.10% 0.19%
Muslims 0.34% 1.55% 24.20%
--Sunnis 0.34% 1.53% 21.56%
--Shias --- 0.03% 2.44%
--Islamic schismatics --- --- 0.21%
New religionists --- 0.03% 0.85%
Shintoists --- --- 0.04%
Sikhs --- 0.02% 0.34%
Spiritists --- 0.00% 0.19%
Zoroastrians --- --- 0.00%
Non-Religious 2.29% 5.09% 11.57%
--Agnostics 2.27% 4.85% 9.65%
--Atheists 0.02% 0.24% 1.92%

Religious demographics (Namibia)3

The country has an area of 320,827 square miles and a population of 2 million. More than 90 percent identify themselves as Christian. The two largest Christian groups are the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches, while smaller numbers are affiliated with the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). There are also a number of Zionist Churches (a mixture of traditional African beliefs and Pentecostal Christianity), especially in urban areas. The Dutch Reformed Church of Namibia is predominantly made up of members of the Afrikaner ethnic group. The Himba and San ethnic groups practice indigenous religions. Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and the Baha'i faith are also practiced. Practitioners of these religious groups are predominantly immigrants, descendants of immigrants, or recent converts. They reside primarily in urban areas. Muslims, almost exclusively Sunni and comprising both citizens and foreign nationals, represent less than 1 percent of the population.

Summary Information

Namibia
[x]
Southern Africa
[x]
The World
[x]
Region Southern Africa The World --
Total Population4 2,402,852 60,635,054 7,335,774,068
Area in square miles 318,261 1,031,985 196,939,900
Life Expectancy from birth, in years5 63.6 60.4 71.9
Gross National Income per capita, in current international dollars5 10,550.0 10,232.0 16,101.0
Description of Polity Score6 (weakly democratic) -- --
Judicial Independence Composite Score, as average of scores for higher and lower courts7 1.4 1.1 0.8
Official Religion(s)8 None -- --

Namibia - Google Map


Religion and the State

Religion and State Collection (2014)

Namibia
[x]
Is proselytizing Legal?1 Yes
Is religious registration someties denied?1 There is no registration requirement
What are the consequences of registration?1 Groups need not register but registration is allowed or encouraged. This encouragement may include benefits given only to registered religions.
Official Support: The formal relationship between religion and state.1 Accommodation
The extent to which religious education is mandatory in public schools.1 Mandatory for all; the course must be in religion.
The extent to which funding is exclusive to one or a few religions.1 The government does not fund religion.
The extent to which there are religious requirements and oaths for holding office.1 Some or all officials must take an oath of office which includes mention of God or religion in general.

Constitutional Features [ View Excerpts]

Constitution

Namibia
[x]
Constitution Year10 1990
Last Amended10 2014
Source10 Constitute Project
Translation10 Original was written in English, edited by ARDA staff.
Current as of10 August 26, 2018

Socio-Economic Measures

Military Measures

Namibia
[x]
Southern Africa
[x]
The World
[x]
Composite Index of National Capability, in fraction of 117 0.0002004 0.00149238 0.005162584
2012 Military expenditure (% of GDP)5 3.2 1.4 --

Other Measures on Religion, State, and Society


Constitution Clauses Related to Religion


Constitution Excerpts (clauses that reference religion) (Namibia)10

Preamble

...

Whereas the said rights include the right of the individual to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, regardless of ... religion, creed ...

... have resolved to constitute the Republic of Namibia as a ... secular ... State ...

...

Article 1. Establishment of the Republic of Namibia and identification of its territory.

(1) The Republic of Namibia is hereby established as a ... secular ... State ...

...

Article 10. Equality and freedom from discrimination.

...

(2) No persons may be discriminated against on the grounds of ... religion, creed ...

Article 14. Family.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to ... religion, creed ... shall have the right to marry and to found a family. They shall be entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

...

Article 19. Culture.

Every person shall be entitled to enjoy, practice, profess, maintain and promote any ... religion subject to the terms of this Constitution and further subject to the condition that the rights protected by this Article do not impinge upon the rights of others or the national interest.

Article 20. Education

...

(4) All persons shall have the right, at their own expense, to establish and to maintain private schools, or colleges or other institutions of tertiary education: provided that:

...

(c) no restrictions of whatever nature are imposed with respect to the admission of pupils based on ... creed;

...

Article 21. Fundamental freedoms.

(1) All persons shall have the right to:

...

(b) freedom of thought, conscience and belief ...

(c) freedom to practise any religion and to manifest such practice;

...

Article 97.

The State shall, where it is reasonable to do so, grant asylum to persons who reasonably fear persecution on the ground of their ... religion ...

Variable Details

  • For more details on State Funding of Religion (FUN_4CAT) see this document.
  • For more details on Societal Discrimination of Minority Religions (SOC_4CAT) see this document.
  • For more details on State Regulation of Majority or All Religions (NXX_4CAT) see this document.
  • For more details on State Discrimination of Minority Religions (MXX_4CAT) see this document.
  • Sources

    1 The Religion and State (RAS) Project is a university-based project located at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel and is directed by Jonathan Fox. Round 3 of the RAS includes all countries with populations of 250,000 or more as well as a sampling of smaller states and offers annual measures from 1990 to 2014. The methods used for conducting the RAS3 collection and the complete codebook can be reviewed online. Or, the codebook and data file can be downloaded free of charge here. For details on how the RAS indexes reported on the ARDA’s National Profiles were coded, constructed, and placed into categories, click here.

    2 Todd M. Johnson and Brian J. Grim, eds. World Religion Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2022).

    3 The U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report is submitted to Congress annually by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. This report supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom. It includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. These State Department reports are open source.

    4 The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Demographics reports the estimates of religious demographics, both country by country and region by region. The RCS was created to fulfill the unmet need for a dataset on the religious dimensions of countries of the world, with the state-year as the unit of observation. It estimates populations and percentages of adherents of 100 religious denominations including second level subdivision within Christianity and Islam. The RCS Data Project would like to acknowledge, recognize, and express our deepest gratitude for the significant contributions of Todd M. Johnson the co-principal investigator of the World Religion Database.

    5 Relying on agencies from each country, as well as a synthesis of data from United Nations divisions, Eurostate Demographic statistics, the U.S. Census international database, and its own data collection, the World Bank's Open Data site offers free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.

    6 The Center for Systemic Peace (CSP) is engaged in innovative research on the problem of political violence within the structural context of the dynamic global system. The Center supports scientific research and quantitative analysis in many issue areas related to the fundamental problems of violence in both human relations and societal-systemic development processes. The Center continually monitors political behavior in each of the world's major states and reports on emerging issues and persisting conditions related to the problems of political violence and "state failure." A dataset with these and other international measures can be downloaded from here. Used with permission. *Note: Polity Scores range from -10 to 10 and include the following categories: -10 to -9: strongly autocratic, -8 to -7 autocratic, -6 to -4 weakly autocratic, -3 to +3 anocratic, +4 to +6 weakly democratic, +7 to +8 democratic, +9 to +10 strongly democratic.

    7 Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is a new approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy. V-Dem provides a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset that reflects the complexity of the concept of democracy as a system of rule that goes beyond simple presence of elections. The V-Dem project distinguishes between seven high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, egalitarian, majoritarian, and consensual, and collects data to measure these principles. A dataset with these and other international measures can be downloaded from here. Used with permission.

    8 The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Government Religious Preference (GRP) measures government-level favoritism toward, and disfavor against, 30 religious denominations. A series of ordered categorical variables index the state's institutional favoritism in 28 different ways. The variables are combined to form five composite indices for five broad components of state-religion: official status, religious education, financial support, regulatory burdens, and freedom of practice. The five components' composites in turn are further combined into a single composite score, the GRP score. The RCS Data Project would like to acknowledge, recognize, and express our deepest gratitude for the significant contributions of Todd M. Johnson, the principal investigator of the World Christian Database, the co-principal investigator of the World Religion Database, and co-author of the World Christian Encyclopedia series.

    9 Data under the "Features of Constitution" heading are drawn from coding of the U.S. State Department's 2008 International Religious Freedom Reports conducted by researchers at the Association of Religion Data Archives. The article by Brian Grim and Roger Finke describes the coding of the International Religious Freedom reports. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.

    10 Text from country constitutions was copied from primary documents obtained online using a variety of sources, including the Constitute Project, World Constitutions Illustrated, and government sources. When the text was in a language other than English, it was translated to English by ARDA staff or with web-based translation utilities such as Google Translate. Emphases were added to the text by ARDA staff to differentiate religious content from non-religious content. Text is current to the date listed in the "Current as of" field shown above. Please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are aware of any incorrect information provided on this page.

    11 Freedom House is an independent non-governmental organization that offers measures of the extent to which governments are accountable to their own people; the rule of law prevails; and freedoms of expression, association, belief and respect for the rights of minorities and women are guaranteed. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.

    12 The CIA's World Factbook was created as an annual summary and update to the now defunct National Intelligence Survey (NIS) studies. The first classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first unclassified version was published in June 1971. The NIS program was terminated in 1973 except for the Factbook, map, and gazetteer components. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO). The year 2010 marks the 67th year of the World Factbook and its predecessor programs. The maps and flags are also from the World Factbook, which is an open source.

    13 Relying on agencies from each country, as well as a synthesis of data from United Nations divisions, Eurostate Demographic statistics, the U.S. Census international database, and its own data collection, the World Bank's Open Data site offers free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.

    14 The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom is a systematic, empirical measurement of economic freedom in countries throughout the world. A set of objective economic criteria are used to study and grade various countries for the annual publication of the Index of Economic Freedom. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.

    15 The United Nations Human Development Reports provide data and statistical analysis in various areas of human development. The Human Development Report (HDR) presents two types of statistics: the human development indicator tables, which provide a global assessment of country achievements in different areas of human development, and thematic statistical analysis. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.

    16 The 2013 Gender Inequality Index is a composite measure reflecting inequality in achievements between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labor market. It varies between zero (when women and men fare equally) and one (when men or women fare poorly compared to the other in all dimensions). The health dimension is measured by two indicators: maternal mortality ratio and the adolescent fertility rate. The empowerment dimension is also measured by two indicators: the share of parliamentary seats held by each sex and by secondary and higher education attainment levels. The labor dimension is measured by women’s participation in the work force. Source: The United Nations Human Development Reports provide data and statistical analysis in various areas of human development. The Human Development Report (HDR) presents two types of statistics: the human development indicator tables, which provide a global assessment of country achievements in different areas of human development, and thematic statistical analysis. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.

    17 Military data is drawn from the National Material Capabilities (v4.0) dataset, which is a component of and hosted by the Correlates of War Project. The Correlates of War Project seeks to facilitate the collection, dissemination, and use of accurate and reliable quantitative data in international relations. Correlates of War data may be accessed through the above link. Used with permission.

    18 The article by Brian Grim and Roger Finke describes the coding of the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom reports. The 2003, 2005, and 2008 reports were coded by researchers at the Association of Religion Data Archives. The GRI, GFI and SRI values reported on the National Profiles are averages from the 2003, 2005, and 2008 International Religious Freedom reports, while the Religious Persecution measure is an average from the 2005 and 2008 reports. All other measures derived from the International Religious Freedom reports were coded from the reports 2008. A data file with all of the 2008 coding, as well as data files with other cross national collections are available for preview and download from the data archive on this site. Used with permission.

    19 The Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Dataset contains standards-based quantitative information on government respect for 15 internationally recognized human rights for 202 countries, annually from 1981-2011. It is designed for use by scholars and students who seek to test theories about the causes and consequences of human rights violations, as well as policy makers and analysts who seek to estimate the human rights effects of a wide variety of institutional changes and public policies including democratization, economic aid, military aid, structural adjustment, and humanitarian intervention. The full CIRI Human Rights Dataset can be accessed through the above link. Used with permission.

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