Mobile connections decrease as population grows

Despite the Namibian government's aspirations for 42% of its population to gain access to digital technologies by 2030, data by DataReportal reveals a 8.25% decrease in mobile connections in the past year from 2.91 million connections early in 2024 to 2.67 million connections in early 2025. This despite an estimated population growth of 2.1% in that same period of time. This report also suggests that 92.9% of internet connections in Namibia can now be considered broadband given that they are capable of 3G, 4G and/or 5G connections. Internet usage has also improved by 20.9% from last year with 1.63 million internet users in 2024 to 1.97 million users in 2025, reflecting an increase of 340 000 users. Despite an increase in the number of Namibians who are offline from 991 300 in 2024 to 1 090 000 in 2025, a slightly larger share of the population is now online as the percentage of the offline population shrunk slightly from 37.8% in 2024 to 35.6% this year. This, however, still leaves more than a million Namibians without access to the internet. SOCIAL MEDIADespite an increase in the number of social media users from roughly 703 900 in 2024 tot 754 000 in 2025, accounting for a 7.1% increase in users, the rate of social media usage shows decline of 2.2% relative to the population as social media usage was noted at 26.8% in 2024 with 24.6% in 2025. Facebook experienced growth of roughly 7.1% in the past year, growing from ~703 900 users in 2024 to ~754 000 in 2025, reflecting an increase of roughly 50 100 users in the past year. According to this body of data, Facebook’s ad reach in Namibia was equivalent to 24.6% of the total population or 42.8% of adults aged 18 and above this year.According to Facebook's ad reach statistics, 51.1% of its ad audience in Namibia was female and 48.9 percent was male at the time of reporting.Instagram grew from ~422 700 users in 2024 to ~455 000 in 2025, reflecting an increase of ~32 300 or a 7.7% increase in usership. Ad reach on Instagram, according to the platform's parent company Meta, suggest that Instagram's ad reach is equivalent to 14.9 percent of the total population. Notably, roughly 22% of the population is inelligible due to the fact that Meta only allows those aged 13 years and above to use the platform. Meta's ad tools reflect that 24.8% of Namibian adults aged 18 and above are users of Instagram. The platform's ad reach is equivalent to 23.1% of the internet user base in Namibia, not accounting for age. The user base for this platform skews slightly female with 51.7% of its users being female and 48.3% being male. LinkedIn experienced the greatest growth at 21.1% with an increase of ~80 000 users from ~380 000 users in 2024 to ~460 000 users in 2025. Researchers at DataReportal however note that LinkedIn's advertising tools that declare usership, provide an overview of memberships instead of monthly active users like other platforms. The company's figures suggest that their audience is equivalent to 15% of the total population or 26.1% of the population aged 18 and above at the beginning of the year. LinkedIn's ad reach was roughly 23.3% of the country's internet user base, not accounting for age. Opposite to Instagram, LinkedIn's usership skews slightly male with 51.6 of its userships being male and 48.4% of its user base being female. The company's planning tools indicate that LinkedIn’s potential ad reach in Namibia increased by 80 000 or 21.1 percent in the year under review.X was the only social media platform on DataReportal's radar that showed a decline over the past year with ~9 600 Namibians leaving the platform representing an 11% decline in usership from ~87 700 users in 2024 to ~78 100 users in 2025. X thus reaches ~2.6% of the total population. These statistics are notably based on advertising reach figures and thus do not accurately reflect monthly active users. X also only allows those aged 13 and above to use its platform, which indicates that the DataReportal statistics represent 3.8% of its elligible audience. The platform's ad tools also indicate that 4.4% of Namibian adults aged 18 and above use X. The clear majority of X users are male with 67.7% of its users being male, compared to 32.3% being female. X, however, differs from other platforms by seemingly inferring its user's gender from the name the user enters and their activity on the platform. This differs from user-reported gender on other platforms. An analysis by DataReportal also showed that X inferences are also less accurate in countries where English is not the dominant language. The gender statistics for X may also be skewed by the number of legitimate but non-human accounts on the platform, such as those created for businesses, brands and groups of public interest. X does not at present distinguish between account created to represent individuals and accounts created for other purposes like other platforms do. Data from X's ad planning tools showed that the number of users that were reachable through ads decreased by more than 6 000, indicating a drop of 7.4% in the last quarter of last year. Researchers at DataReportal, however, recommend serious caution in the interpretation of these statistics due to varying numbers for a variety of reasons. – irene-mari@nmh-hub.com.na

Mobile connections decrease as population grows

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Namibian Sun 2025-12-08

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Mobile connections decrease as population grows

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Namibian Sun 2025-12-08

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