POPULATION DENSITY, 1998
Data ID
File name: pop_dens
File path: d:\north_central\Population\
File type: Arcview shapefile
Category: Population
Description: Estimate of population density for North Central for 1998. The dataset was compiled by the Environmental Profiles

Project using information from several sources.
Status: Completed
Geographical area: north-central Namibia
Keywords: population
Date of last update: 1999/12/01
ID notes: Population density was based on the distribution of rural households, which came from several sources (see

notes for Population Rural Households) and information from Ministry of Environment and Tourism (for Etosha) and

Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (for Tsinsabis).



In the communal areas the number of people allocated to each household was eight for those households mapped

off aerial photographs, while the Lund Engineering and Northern Namibia Environmental Project surveys recorded

the actual number of people in each house.



In the Tsumeb area each farmstead was assigned to the enumeration area in which it fell (during the 1991

Population Census). The number of farmsteads in each enumeration area was counted and divided into the total

number of people counted in the area in 1991. That gave an average number of people per farmstead, which was

then inflated by two percent each year to produce an estimate for the 1998 population



Populations in urban areas (Okahao, Ondangwa, Ongwediva, Oniipa, Oshakati, Oshigambo, Oshikuku, Ruacana,

Uutapi and Tsumeb, as defined in the 1991 census) were inflated by four percent each year from the 1991 census

totals up to 1998.



All of the estimates of numbers of people per (rural) household, camps in Etosha and at Tsintsabis and in urban

areas were taken as reflecting numbers in 1998.



To derive the map of densities, ArcView’s Spatial Analyst Density was used to ‘spread’ the number of people at

each point over a radius of 1000 metres using the kernel method (the cell size was 500 x 500 metres. To that was

added the simple densities (number of people per area) for each urban area to produce the overall map of

densities. The value of each cell in that grid file is the estimated density in numbers of people per square kilometre.

Adding up all the densities for each cell gives a total estimated population for the region of 775 000 people,

compared with 755 000 people estimated in the population projections for 1998.
Location notes:
Data quality and organisation
Positional Accuracy: 500 x 500 metre grid
Vector/Raster: Vector
Data quality notes: Vector shape file converted from Grid
Spatial reference
Projection: Geodetic
Datum: Bessel
Spatial reference notes:
Fields
Field name Field description Field source/notes
ID unique identifier
POP_DENS Estimated number of people per square kilometre
Source/Distribution

07 December 2000 Page 1 of 2
First Previous Next Last