As required by the Namibian Statistics Act #66 of 1976, and in accordance with United Nations recommendations, a census is conducted every ten years.

These areas overlap with constituency boundaries in order to get reliable data for election purposes as well.

The website Our World in Data prepared the following estimates based on statistics from the Population Department of the United Nations.

The majority of the Namibian population is of Bantu-speaking origin—mostly of the Ovambo ethnicity, which forms about half of the population—residing mainly in the north of the country, although many are now resident in towns throughout Namibia.

[16] The largest ten ethnic groups are Aakwanyama, Aandonga, Ovaherero, Damara, Aakwambi, Vakwangali, Nama, Aambalantu, Vakavango, and Aangandjera.

There are also two smaller groups of people with mixed racial origins, called "Coloureds" (2,1%) and "Basters" (1,5%).