in northern Namibia tribal smoking a roll Namibia has many ethnic groups. 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. They also include the
Lozi people and
Kavango people. Other ethnic groups are the
Herero and
Himba people, who speak a similar language, and the
Damara, who speak the same "click" language as the
Nama. Herero and Nama peoples make up less than 10% of the population, but at the beginning of the 20th century and before the
Herero and Nama genocide, they made up a majority. The largest ten ethnic groups are Aakwanyama, Aandonga, Ovaherero, Damara, Aakwambi, Vakwangali, Nama, Aambalantu, Vakavango, and Aangandjera. In addition to the Bantu majority, there are large groups of
San, who are descendants of the original culture of Southern Africa, as well as Nama who are descendants of the above as well as mixed with colonists. They often speak
Khoekhoegowab. The country also contains some
descendants of refugees from Angola. There are also two smaller groups of people with mixed racial origins, called "
Coloureds" (2.1%) and "
Basters" (1.5%). There is a substantial
Chinese minority in Namibia; it stood at 40,000 in 2006.
Whites (mainly of
Afrikaner, German, British and
Portuguese origin) make up 1.8% of the population, according to the 2023 Population and Housing Census. Although their proportion of the population decreased after
independence due to emigration and lower birth rates, they still form the second-largest population of
European ancestry, both in terms of percentage and actual numbers, in
Sub-Saharan Africa (after South Africa/Angola). The majority of
Namibian whites and nearly all those who are of
mixed race, speak
Afrikaans and share similar origins, culture, and religion as the white and coloured populations of South Africa. A large minority of whites (around 30,000) trace their family origins back to the
German settlers who colonised Namibia prior to the British confiscation of German lands after World War I, and they maintain German cultural and educational institutions. Nearly all Portuguese settlers came to the country from the former
Portuguese colony of Angola. The 1960 census reported 526,004 persons in what was then South West Africa, including 73,464 whites (14%). ==Languages==