Editorial: Namibia Slips Down A Few Notches

IT is a gradual descent, but a descent nonetheless, when one looks at Namibia’s place on the Human Development Index (HDI) of the UN Development Programme.

The Index, launched last week, is a widely accepted measure of comparison of the living standards of people, which ranks countries according to a set of criteria which includes lifespan, education and buying power. Namibia has fallen steadily down the Index since 1999, when it occupied 115th position, to rank 126 in the latest publication.The Report pointed out that the only positive development was in the area of adult literacy where Namibia had made strides; but in other areas, such as life expectancy – down from 52,4 to 45,3 years – and of course the majority of our population is getting poorer.The gap between rich and poor in Namibia is one of the biggest in the world, and the Report points out that while a small percentage of the population still continued to generate a huge income, the majority of our country’s people have become poorer.The Report took the issue further, breaking down the income per ethnic group, and not surprisingly German-speakers topped the list, followed by English-speakers, Afrikaners and then Oshiwambo-speaking Namibians.Groups very low on the income scale include Rukavango speakers and, of course, the San community.Justifying this breakdown, the Report said that the Government should consider this data as an important first step in solving these problems, and not to see this as a ‘damning revelation’.As a result of the high-earning richer classes in Namibia, and despite a majority of poor people, the country still retained its middle income, rather than least developed status.In a separate study that is worth noting while on this topic, the number of youth in Namibia living below the poverty line is estimated to be considerably higher than the general unemployment rate.According to the African Forum and Network for Debt and Development, unemployment tended to be higher among youth than in the adult population.The abovementioned statistics are food for thought, and it is becoming more and more evident that Namibia has to try to narrow the gap between rich and poor, and has to be seen to be making progress if it hopes to improve its position on the HDI rankings next year.More importantly, and we did not need this Report to tell us this, unemployment and the increase of the poorer classes bears out the ‘rich get richer, while the poor get poorer’ accusation that is often levelled against our Government, which has not managed to achieve a levelling of the differences, at least not to any successful extent.It will take more than Government to achieve more equality than is currently the case, and it will call for consultations across the spectrum of society and creative thinking and action to make a difference to this rather depressing trend.Namibia has one strong asset – its relatively small population compared with other poverty-stricken nations the world over.It should be possible to achieve a better balance between rich and poor, although a gap will always remain..Focussing on a solution to rising unemployment is most certainly one of the country’s priorities.There are no easy answers, but there must certainly be measures that can be taken timeously in order to eventually achieve more parity .We the hope that by the time the 2005 HDI report is released, that there will at least be some improvement, however small, in this regard, for we owe it to those who have so little.Namibia has fallen steadily down the Index since 1999, when it occupied 115th position, to rank 126 in the latest publication.The Report pointed out that the only positive development was in the area of adult literacy where Namibia had made strides; but in other areas, such as life expectancy – down from 52,4 to 45,3 years – and of course the majority of our population is getting poorer.The gap between rich and poor in Namibia is one of the biggest in the world, and the Report points out that while a small percentage of the population still continued to generate a huge income, the majority of our country’s people have become poorer.The Report took the issue further, breaking down the income per ethnic group, and not surprisingly German-speakers topped the list, followed by English-speakers, Afrikaners and then Oshiwambo-speaking Namibians.Groups very low on the income scale include Rukavango speakers and, of course, the San community.Justifying this breakdown, the Report said that the Government should consider this data as an important first step in solving these problems, and not to see this as a ‘damning revelation’.As a result of the high-earning richer classes in Namibia, and despite a majority of poor people, the country still retained its middle income, rather than least developed status.In a separate study that is worth noting while on this topic, the number of youth in Namibia living below the poverty line is estimated to be considerably higher than the general unemployment rate.According to the African Forum and Network for Debt and Development, unemployment tended to be higher among youth than in the adult population.The abovementioned statistics are food for thought, and it is becoming more and more evident that Namibia has to try to narrow the gap between rich and poor, and has to be seen to be making progress if it hopes to improve its position on the HDI rankings next year.More importantly, and we did not need this Report to tell us this, unemployment and the increase of the poorer classes bears out the ‘rich get richer, while the poor get poorer’ accusation that is often levelled against our Government, which has not managed to achieve a levelling of the differences, at least not to any successful extent.It will take more than Government to achieve more equality than is currently the case, and it will call for consultations across the spectrum of society and creative thinking and action to make a difference to this rather depressing trend.Namibia has one strong asset – its relatively small population compared with other poverty-stricken nations the world over.It should be possible to achieve a better balance between rich and poor, although a gap will always remain..Focussing on a solution to rising unemployment is most certainly one of the country’s priorities.There are no easy answers, but there must certainly be measures that can be taken timeously in order to eventually achieve more parity .We the hope that by the time the 2005 HDI report is released, that there will at least be some improvement, however small, in this regard, for we owe it to those who have so little.