WINDHOEK: Over 32 per cent of Namibian households use electricity for cooking, while 42 per cent use electricity for lighting and 21 per cent for heating.
This was revealed by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) in its Namibia Household Income and Expenditure Survey (NHIES) 2009/2010 issued here last week.
Wood charcoal is commonly used as a source of energy by 56 per cent of the population for cooking, three per cent for lighting and 45 per cent for heating.
About 38 per cent of households use candles for lighting.
The survey further indicated that 84 per cent of all households in Namibia have access to safe drinking water, of which 75 per cent is piped water and nine per cent a borehole or protected well, while 13 per cent use stagnant water and three per cent flowing water.
In urban areas, the source of drinking water for 94 per cent of households is less than one kilometre away, compared to 56 per cent of the rural population.
In terms of sanitation, the NSA survey indicated that 40 per cent of households in Namibia use flush toilets, 10 per cent use pit latrines, while less than one per cent use bucket toilets and 49 per cent use the bush as toilets.
“The availability of modern toilet facilities has improved only modestly over the past years, as the percentage of households using bush toilets has declined slightly, both in urban and rural areas since 2003/2004,” read the survey.
The number of literate persons aged 15 years and over are also said to have increased from 83 per cent (2003/2004 NHIES) to 88 per cent in the 2009/2010 NHIES.
Out of all persons aged six and above, 88 per cent are reported to have been to school, while 12 per cent have never been to school.
The survey also indicated that the distance to the nearest primary school is less than two kilometres (km) for 49 per cent of households in Namibia, while for eight per cent of households in Namibia, the nearest primary school is more than 20 km away.
The NHIES describes the level of living of Namibians by using actual patterns of consumption and income, as well as a range of other socio-economic indicators, based on collected data.
This survey was designed to inform policymaking at international, national and regional levels within the context of the Fourth National Development Plan (NDP4), in support of the monitoring and evaluation of Vision 2030 and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).