Transport and infrastructure in Namibia

Our listing of the primary types of transport compares the infrastructure of Namibia with the average of all countries in Africa. The traffic routes have noticeable defects in many places and are often not in particularly good condition.

In terms of the length of its rail network, Namibia ranks 7th in the world with 1.04 meters per inhabitant. In total, the rail network is 2,628 kilometers long.

› Airports in Namibia

Back to overview: Namibia

Road traffic

The network of roads and highways has a total length of 48,875 km. For each of the country's 2.53 million inhabitants, this corresponds to 19.32 meters. This puts Namibia in 26th place in the global ranking. However, it is also important to note that the country's population density is very low at around 3 inhabitants per km². In this case, disproportionately long distances generally have to be covered to reach the more remote parts of the country.

With an average of 771 traffic fatalities per year (2013 - 2019), road traffic in Namibia is considered very dangerous. This corresponds to 32.5 accident fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year. By comparison, this figure is 12.3 in the USA and 17.0 worldwide.

In Namibia, left-hand traffic is the rule on the roads, i.e. you drive in the left lane and overtake on the right. Oncoming traffic comes to meet you on the right side. This regulation was enforced in January 1st, 1970. Here you can also find an overview of all countries with left-hand traffic.

	total	per 1 mio inhabitants	per km²
	Namibia
Roadways	48,900 km	19,317.03 km	59.29 m
Railroads	2,600 km	1,038.67 km	3.19 m
Waterways	0 km	0.00 km	0.00 m
Commercial harbors	14	5.53	0.000
Airports	9	3.56	0.011

	total	per 1 mio inhabitants	per km²
	Africa
Roadways	2,997,800 km	2,151.40 km	98.86 m
Railroads	88,600 km	63.57 km	2.92 m
Waterways	68,400 km	49.09 km	2.26 m
Commercial harbors	7,905	5.67	0.000
Airports	413	0.30	0.000

Data sources used

• Global Health Observatory Data Repository (World Health Organization)
• UNCTAD
• Internation Union of Railways (UIC)
• CIA Factbook
• OECD Statistics
• Wikipedia (german)

Largest airports and airlines in NamibiaThe 9 biggest airports and in Namibia with further information and data with further information on airlines and destinations

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