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Khomas is one of the fourteen
regions of Namibia Namibia uses regions as its first-level subnational administrative divisions. Since 2013, it has 14 regions which in turn are subdivided into Constituencies of Namibia, 121 constituencies. Upon Independence of Namibia, Namibian independence, th ...
. Its name refers to the Khomas Highland, a high plateau landscape that dominates this administrative subdivision. Khomas is centered on the capital city
Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...
and provides for this reason superior transportation infrastructure. It is located in the central highlands of the country and is bordered by the
Erongo region Erongo is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. The capital is Swakopmund. It is named after Mount Erongo, a well-known landmark in Namibia and in this area. Erongo contains the municipalities of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Henties Bay and Omaruru, as ...
to the west and the northwest and by the
Otjozondjupa region Otjozondjupa is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Otjiwarongo. The region further contains the municipalities of Okahandja and Grootfontein and the towns Okakarara and Otavi. , Otjozondjupa had 97,945 registered voters. Geogr ...
to the north. To the east is the
Omaheke region Omaheke (the Otjiherero word for sandveld) is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, the least populous region. Its capital is Gobabis. It lies in eastern Namibia on the border with Botswana and is the western extension of the Kalahari Desert ...
, while in the south is the
Hardap region Hardap is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Mariental. Hardap contains the municipality of Mariental, the towns Rehoboth and Aranos, and the self-governed villages Gibeon, Gochas, Kalkrand, Stampriet and Maltahöhe. I ...
. The region is characterized by its hilly countrysize and many valleys. It has well-developed economical, financial, and trade sectors. Khomas Region occupies 4.5% of the land area of Namibia but has the highest population of any of its regions (16.2%). Khomas is one of only three Namibian regions to have neither shoreline nor a foreign border.


Politics

Khomas is important electorally, as it is by far the most populous of the Namibian regions. , it has 264,905 registered voters. The governor of Khomas Region is Laura McLeod-Katjirua. The region comprises ten
constituencies An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
: * John Pandeni (until 2008: ''Soweto'') * Katutura Central * Katutura East * Khomasdal Constituency (until 2013: ''Khomasdal North Constituency'') *
Moses ǁGaroëb Moses Mague ǁGaroëb (14 April 1942, in Arixas near Mariental – 19 August 1997, in Windhoek) was a Namibian politician, founding member of SWAPO, and member of SWAPO's Politburo and Central Committee. During his political career, ǁGaroë ...
(created in 2003 from a split of
Hakahana Hakahana is a suburb of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The township is situated in the north of the town between the suburbs of Katutura, Wanaheda, and Okuryangava. Hakahana was also a former constituency in Khomas Region, Namibia Na ...
constituency) *
Samora Machel Samora Moisés Machel (29 September 1933 – 19 October 1986) was a Mozambique, Mozambican politician and revolutionary. A Socialism, socialist in the tradition of Marxism–Leninism, he served as the first President of Mozambique from the coun ...
(until 2003: ''Wanaheda'') * Tobias Hainyeko (created in 2003 from a split of
Hakahana Hakahana is a suburb of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The township is situated in the north of the town between the suburbs of Katutura, Wanaheda, and Okuryangava. Hakahana was also a former constituency in Khomas Region, Namibia Na ...
constituency) * Windhoek West *
Windhoek East Windhoek East is a constituency in the Khomas Region of Namibia. It consists of the upper-class suburbs of Windhoek: Auasblick, Avis, Klein Windhoek, Ludwigsdorf, Luxury Hill, Olympia, and Suiderhof. It had a population of 22,712 in 2011, ...
*
Windhoek Rural Windhoek Rural is a constituency in the Khomas Region of Namibia. Its district capital is the settlement of Groot Aub. It had a population of 22,254 in 2011, up from 20,212 in 2001. , it has 13,625 registered voters. Windhoek Rural contains al ...


Regional elections

Khomas region and the capital Windhoek was until 2020 dominated by the
South West Africa People's Organization The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...
(SWAPO) party. In the 2004 regional election for the
National Assembly of Namibia The National Assembly is the lower chamber of Namibia's bicameral Parliament. Its laws must be approved by the National Council, the upper house. Since 2014, it has a total of 104 members. 96 members are directly elected through a system of cl ...
, SWAPO won all ten constituencies. In the 2015 regional elections,
SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...
obtained 81% of the total votes (
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
: 78%) and again won in all ten constituencies. In the 2020 regional election SWAPO obtained 38% of the total votes. It was still the strongest party but lost
Windhoek Rural Windhoek Rural is a constituency in the Khomas Region of Namibia. Its district capital is the settlement of Groot Aub. It had a population of 22,254 in 2011, up from 20,212 in 2001. , it has 13,625 registered voters. Windhoek Rural contains al ...
to the
Landless People's Movement The Landless People's Movement is an independent social movement in South Africa. It consisted of rural people and people living in shack settlements in cities. The Landless People's Movement boycotted parliamentary elections and had a history ...
(LPM, a new party registered in 2018),
Windhoek East Windhoek East is a constituency in the Khomas Region of Namibia. It consists of the upper-class suburbs of Windhoek: Auasblick, Avis, Klein Windhoek, Ludwigsdorf, Luxury Hill, Olympia, and Suiderhof. It had a population of 22,712 in 2011, ...
to the
Independent Patriots for Change The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) is a political party in Namibia. It was founded by Panduleni Itula in August 2020. As an independent presidential candidate in the 2019 election, Itula won the best result of a losing candidate in a ...
(IPC, also a new party formed in August 2020), and Katutura Central to the
Popular Democratic Movement The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic Front ...
(PDM).


Economy and infrastructure

Khomas has 100 schools with a total of 73,302 pupils.


Demographics

According to the Namibia 2023 Population and Housing Census, Khomas has a population of 494,605 (253,520 females and 241,085 males or 95 males for every 100 females) growing at an annual rate of 3.1%. The
fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that are born to a woman over her lifetime, if they were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through their lifetime, and they were t ...
was 2.5 children per woman. 98.3% lived in urban areas while 1.7% lived in rural areas, and with an area of 37,007 km2, the population density was 13.4 persons per km2. By age, 10.6% of the population was under 5 years old, 17.4% between 5–14 years, 67.8% between 15–59 years, and 4.2% 60 years and older. The population was divided into 144,630 households, with an average size of 3.3 persons. 45.2% of households had a female head of house, while 54.8% had a male. For those 15 years and older, 72.5% had never married, 18.6% married with certificate, 2.0% married traditionally, 3.4% married by consensual union, 1.6% were divorced or separated, and 1.6% were widowed. In 2001, the most commonly spoken languages at home were
Oshiwambo The Ovambo () language is a dialect cluster spoken by the Ovambo people in southern Angola and northern Namibia, of which the written standards are Kwanyama and Ndonga. The native name for the language is ''Oshiwambo'' (also written ''Oshi ...
(37% of households),
Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...
(24%), Nama/ Damara (13%), and
Otjiherero Herero (Otjiherero) is a Bantu language spoken by the Herero and Mbanderu peoples in Namibia and Botswana, as well as by small communities of people in southwestern Angola. There were speakers in these countries between 2015 and 2018. Distr ...
(9%). Other languages found in Khomas are English, German, and a smattering of other Namibian language groups.Tonchi, Victor L., William A. Lindeke, and John J. Grotpeter, "Khomas Region" Historical Dictionary of Namibia. 2nd edition. Toronto: The Scarecrow Press, Inc, p. 211. For those 15 years and older, the literacy rate was 95.8%. In terms of education, of those 15 years and older, 68.9% had left school, 24.5% were currently at school, and 4.7% had never attended. Households in Khomas earn by far the highest average annual income at N$47,407, well more than the national average of N$17,198. There is very limited subsistence farming in the region, with only 0.4 percent of the population engaged in farming, 0.3 percent of households are rearing animals, and 0.1 percent are earning income from cash cropping. Windhoek accommodates most of Namibia's light industry and manufacturing. Some of the most important are meat processing, bottling and canning, beer brewing, plastics, and refrigeration. The city is also Namibia's educational, commercial, and tourism capital. In 2001 the employment rate for the labor force (46% of those 15+) was 71% employed and 29% unemployed. For those 15+ years old and not in the labor force (50%), 55% were students, 25% homemakers, and 20% retired, too old, etc. According to the 2012 Namibia Labour Force Survey, unemployment in the Khomas Region stood at 26.5%. The two studies are methodologically not comparable. Among households, 98.7% had
safe water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...
, 17.0% no toilet facility, 64.1% electricity for lighting, and 9.8% had wood or charcoal for cooking. In terms of households' main sources of income, 0.5% derived it from farming, 64.4% from wages and salaries, 11.7% from business or non-farming, and 4.8% from old-age pension. For every 1000 live births in 2001 there were 53 female infant deaths and 54 male. The life expectancy at birth was 56 years for females and 54 for males. Among children younger than 15, 5% had lost a mother, 10% a father, and 1% were orphaned by both parents. 4% of the entire population had a disability, of which 22% were deaf, 44% blind, 11% had a speech disability, 9% hand disability, 15% leg disability, and 4% mental disability.


External links


References

{{Coord, 22, 48, S, 17, 00, E, region:NA_type:adm1st_source:kolossus-nowiki, display=title Regions of Namibia States and territories established in 1992 1992 establishments in Namibia