Urbanisation-in-Namibia

Urbanisation in NamibiaMore than two-third (89%) of households in the semi-formal settlement have access to gridelectricity as opposed to only 17% of households in the informal settlement. As a result, themain source of energy for cooking and lighting in the semi-formal settlements is electricitywhile most of the household in informal settlement use wood for cooking and candles forlighting (Figures 3&4).Elecricity Gas Wood Parafin KeroseneFigure 6: Main source of energy for cookingElectricitySolar EnergyCandlesParafinGeneratorOtherFigure 7: Main source of energy for lightingIt is apparent from income distribution that the majority of households with income less thanN$2000 per month are in the informal settlements while those with a monthly income aboveN$2000 are in the semi-formal settlements. With average household size of four, this translatesinto N$16 per person per day indicating grave levels of poverty in the informal settlement.The main source of income for households in both semi-formal and informal settlements issalaries and wages. However, a fairly high proportion of households in the informal settlementreported that they also make living from informal business (20.2%).9