New data from the 2023 Population and Housing Census shows an unemployment rate of 34.4% within the Khomas Region labour force, while 36.0% of the population aged 15 and above remains outside the labour force.
According to the report, 64.0% of the population in the Khomas Region aged 15 and older is actively part of the labour force. Within this economically active group, 65.6% are employed, meaning approximately two out of every three people seeking work are employed.
“In Khomas Region, 34.4 percent of the population in the labour force were unemployed. It is important to highlight that a significant percentage (94.6%) of the potential labour force were discouraged jobseekers,” the report stated.
The census further indicates that the region remains highly urbanised, with 98.3% of the population living in urban areas.
The total population has grown to 494,605, presenting both opportunities and significant infrastructure challenges.
The number of households has increased to 144,630, representing a 61.7% rise since 2011, while the average household size now stands at 3.3 persons. Most households rely on wages and salaries as their primary source of income.
Access to basic services remains relatively high, with 98.7% of households having access to safe drinking water and 62.7% using electricity for lighting.
However, 17.0% of households still have no toilet facilities, while 63.2% of the population has access to flush toilets, highlighting disparities in sanitation standards across the region.
“The urban locality (Windhoek) in Khomas Region had a population increase of 49.2 percent, with an annual growth rate of 3.3 between 2011 and 2023,” the report noted.
The census also highlighted gaps in early childhood education. Of the 61,978 children aged between 0 and 5 years, only 29.3% (18,144) are attending Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes.
Among those who have completed their schooling, 31.4% attained secondary education, while 19.6% completed tertiary education. The region maintains a high literacy rate of 95.5% among people aged 15 and older.
In terms of information access, residents primarily receive information through SMS (69.0%), followed by social media (54.9%), internet browsing (54.4%) and email (47.6%).
“Most households in the Khomas Region owned smartphones (72.5%), followed by televisions (51.6%) and TV decoders (44.5%). Smartphones (73.0%) were the most commonly owned asset in urban areas and 45.4% in rural areas respectively,” the report stated.
