Namibia

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This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

Namibia is a country in southern Africa, on the Atlantic coast. In December, 2007 it was cited in Forbes.com online magazine as one of the world's heaviest smoking countries, with a smoking rate of 50% and a population of 2 million. The average income in Namibia is about $3,230 a year, and nicotine addiction is estimated to drain about $448.61 of that in lost income per smoker, per year. [1]

Country background

In the late 1800s, Germany took control of the area and in 1908 the discovery of diamonds led to an influx of Europeans. The country is now 6 percent white with ethnic Germans being a sizable minority. In the last few years, land reform has become a larger issue. In 2005, the government began acquiring land from white farmers with the aim of resettling landless citizens. [2] [3]

Facts

  • Population: 2 million
  • Capital: Windhoek
  • Location: On the Atlantic coast, north of the country of South Africa and south of Angola.
  • [3]

Media

The BBC says of the country's media:

Namibia is one of the more media-friendly countries in Africa. The constitution provides for press freedom and on the whole this is respected by the government. Media rights body Reporters Without Borders says there is "no major obstacle to the circulation of news". Broadcasters and the private press give coverage to the opposition, including views critical of the government.[3]

U.S. private military

A U.S. private military corporation, SOC-SMG, was expelled from the country in 2007. It had plans to recruit war veterans from Namibia to work as security guards in Iraq and Afghanistan. They were hoping to get up to 4,000 Namibians with military experience. See Special Operations Consulting-Security Management Group. [4]

Leaders

Resources

Related SourceWatch articles

References

  1. Tom Van Riper, "The world's Heaviest-Smoking Countries", Forbes.com, December 4, 2007.
  2. Namibia, National Geographic, accessed April 2008.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Country profile: Namibia, BBC, accessed April 2008.
  4. Brigitte Weidlich, "Namibia: All Hiring for Iraq Halted", The Namibian/CorpWatch, October 16, 2007.

External articles

External resources

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