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Move & retire

Namibia

Empty, safe, cheap and English-speaking. Getting a permit is the hard part.

4/4
ingredients confirmed
Every ingredient this page asks for has a figure and a source.
Living
~$1,500/mo
Couple, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.
Safety
Mid
Sixth in sub-Saharan Africa and sixty-third globally — well above South Africa, its neighbour and the country it is usually compared with
Residency
Work, invest, or wait on a board
Healthcare
Private in Windhoek, South Africa for the rest
Out-of-pocket spending is 7.5% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2023, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site.

More is being checked.

Where these figures came from

One row per ingredient. Open any of them for the source, how far we trust it, and when we last checked.

Living~$1,500/mo

Pathoff judgement directed by evidence, not computed from it: the country’s position comes from the World Bank household consumption price level for 2024 (0.399 of the United States, CC BY 4.0 — the ICP benchmark carried forward annually by the World Bank’s own method); the US reference budget is ours. See the Pathoff method, section 12.

Couple, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.

Confidence
made by us from the source
SafetyMid

Global Peace Index 2026: rank 63 of 163, score 1.872. Converted by the Pathoff GPI formula (GPI in lib/scoring.ts)

Sixth in sub-Saharan Africa and sixty-third globally — well above South Africa, its neighbour and the country it is usually compared with

Confidence
made by us from the source
ResidencyWork, invest, or wait on a board

Pathoff outcome rubric (the Pathoff method, section 10-4), residency band "Work, family or business only": Employment and investor permits work and lead to permanent residence, and family routes exist. At the foot of the band because there is no income or retirement category at all — the digital nomad visa introduced in 2022 runs six months and requires $2,000 a month — and permanent residence is granted at the discretion of the Immigration Selection Board.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09
HealthcarePrivate in Windhoek, South Africa for the rest

Pathoff healthcare rubric (the Pathoff method, section 13-2), band "You buy your own, and it is affordable": The public system is thin outside the capital and a foreign resident joins a private medical aid scheme, which is affordable and quick in Windhoek. Mid-band because this is the band’s defining case: complex and specialist treatment is routinely referred across the border to South Africa.

Out-of-pocket spending is 7.5% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2023, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09

What it is like here

Namibia is the size of France with three million people in it, costs 40% of the United States, runs on English, and sits sixty-third on the peace index. What it does not have is a way in for someone arriving on savings: there is no retirement or income category, the digital nomad visa lasts six months, and permanent residence is decided by a board with a long backlog.

How the process works

1

Find the category that actually fits

Employment, investment or family. Savings alone do not open a route here.

⏱ 6–18 months
2

Join a medical aid scheme

The public system is not a realistic option for a foreign resident.

⏱ 1 month
3

Plan for the referral

Serious treatment usually means Cape Town or Johannesburg.

Timing not confirmed

Where people settle

Windhoek
The hospitals, the airport and the mild highland climate
Swakopmund
Cool Atlantic coast, German-speaking, the established retiree town
Lüderitz / Henties Bay
Cheaper, emptier, and a long way from a specialist

Open any ingredient above to see where its figure came from, how far we trust it and when we last checked. Nothing here is a substitute for the official source. Last reviewed 2026-09-04.

Photograph of Namibia by Daniel Kraft, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.