Namibia is located in sub-Saharan Africa, a region that has some of the highest crime rates in the world. Contributing factors are for instance poverty, a low level of development, and huge social and economic disadvantages.[1] For example, according to government statistics, the unemployment rate reached 28.1% in 2014; in 2008, it was 51.2%.[2]
Crimes reported in Namibia amounted to 96,200 in the financial year March 2008–February 2009, in 2009/10 to 98,671, and in 2010/11 to 90,675. More than two fifths of all stated crimes occur in the capital Windhoek, where the majority of reported crimes are burglaries, robberies, and assaults.[3] According to a US State Department report in 2015, the most common type of crime in Windhoek, Namibia's capital, is petty street crime, with most incidents occurring after dark, and criminals using knives and occasionally firearms.[4]
Organised crime across all of Southern Africa probably only developed in the 1980s. While the thousands of kilometers of unsecured borders are often believed to be responsible for enabling cross-border crime, "research has shown that criminals prefer legal border points".[5] Organised crime in Namibia is active mainly in the transporting of drugs and the hiring of drug mules, as well in laundering of money through investments in real estate and luxury assets.[5]