By Kaundjire Humbu
Oshana is emerging as Namibia’s marriage hotspot, recording more court-sanctioned marriages than any other region in both 2024 and 2025, according to new figures from the Office of the Judiciary.
The region recorded 260 marriages in 2024, rising to 271 in 2025, maintaining its position at the top of the country’s court marriage statistics.
The figures put Oshana ahead of other regions and offer a striking glimpse into where formal marriages are being solemnised through Namibia’s Magistrates’ Courts.
But while Oshana is leading the pack, the latest figures also expose major gaps in Namibia’s marriage data, with the Judiciary unable to provide a 2026 regional breakdown because marriage records are still collected and processed manually.
The judiciary said accurate 2026 figures are expected to be available later this month.
The latest available figures for the northern regions further underline the dominance of Oshana.
In August 2025 alone, Oshana recorded 41 marriages, far ahead of Kunene with 18, Ohangwena with 15, Omusati with 12 and Oshikoto with just two.
Together, the five regions recorded 88 marriages during the month, with Oshana accounting for almost half of the total.
The figures raise an intriguing question about what is driving Oshana’s consistently high number of court marriages compared with neighbouring regions?
The judiciary does not provide an explanation for the regional differences, but its figures show that the pattern is not confined to a single month.
Oshana led the regional statistics in both 2024 and 2025, suggesting that the region has maintained a strong position in formal marriages solemnised through the courts.
The regional figures come against a broader national picture that has seen dramatic swings in court marriages.
The judiciary recorded 4,882 marriages in 2023, before the figure dropped sharply to 2,744 in 2024.
There was then a major recovery in 2025, when 4,752 marriages were recorded, just 130 short of the 2023 figure.
However, these numbers should not be interpreted as representing every marriage taking place in Namibia.
The judiciary said its records cover only marriages solemnised at Magistrates’ Offices.
It does not keep records of marriages conducted through churches or at traditional level.
This means the official court figures provide only a partial picture of Namibia’s marriage landscape.
The absence of current figures is particularly notable as the country moves deeper into 2026.
The Judiciary said it keeps raw marriage data submitted by courts countrywide, but the information has to be manually processed before regional comparisons can be made.
As a result, figures for August 2026, including the number of couples married in the northern part of the country, are not yet available.
The office also warned that the number of wedding celebrations taking place in a particular region cannot necessarily be equated with
marriages recorded by the courts, as couples may celebrate their weddings in one region while having their marriages solemnised and recorded in another.
For now, however, one trend stands out from the available data: Oshana is firmly at the top of Namibia’s court marriage table.
And with 271 marriages recorded in 2025, the region is not only leading its northern neighbours, but appears to be strengthening its position as one of the country’s key centres for formal marriage.
Oshana may have more to say about Namibia’s marriage habits than any other region but the full 2026 picture is still waiting to be counted.
