Otjiwarongo: The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) on Friday officially launched its 2025 Namibia Financial Inclusion Survey (NFIS), which starts Monday morning for those selected at the constituency levels. Statistician General, Alex Shimuafeni, in a statement delivered on his behalf, said the 2025 NFIS is supported by the Bank of Namibia.

According to Namibia Press Agency, the survey will run from 06 October 2025 to 04 November 2025 across all 14 regions, targeting sampled households as determined by the survey methodology. The NFIS is a national exercise aimed at collecting data on how individuals and households are accessing and using financial services of banks, insurances, mobile money, savings, credit, and informal financial services, Shimuafeni stated.

The NFIS aims to measure and profile levels of access to and use of financial services by all adults across various income ranges and demographics. The collected information will be useful to policymakers, financial regulators, and financial service providers. The survey involves a drafted questionnaire that will gather personal and household information, banking services, savings, credit and loans, insurance, mobile money, and digital services information, as well as financial literacy.

Shimuafeni outlined that there are 196 primary sampled units selected across the regions, narrowed down to constituency areas where 10 households will be selected for actual interviews. In total, 1,960 households will be visited, with the information obtained being strictly confidential and protected under the Statistics Act, 2011.

The survey will deploy about 198 field officers and 42 reserve field members, supported by 52 supervisors and 104 interviewers. Simultaneously, the NSA is conducting the Namibia Household Income and Expenditure Survey (NHIES), ongoing since 28 April 2025 and continuing to 22 April 2026, while the NFIS focuses exclusively on financial and banking services access, use, and understanding.

Both surveys complement each other and provide necessary information for development planning purposes, Shimuafeni highlighted. Field officials have undergone training and took an oath of confidentiality on Friday at Otjiwarongo for their participation in the NFIS.