| Geography |
|
| Location |
Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and Tanzania |
| Geographic coordinates |
1 00 N, 38 00 E |
| Area: |
total: 582,650 sq km
land: 569,250 sq km
water: 13,400 sq km |
| Area - comparative |
slightly more than twice the size of Nevada |
| Land boundaries: |
total: 3,477 km
border countries: Ethiopia 861 km, Somalia 682 km, Sudan 232 km, Tanzania 769 km, Uganda 933 km |
| Coastline: |
536 km |
| Maritime claims: |
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation |
| Climate: |
varies from tropical along coast to arid in interior |
| Terrain: |
low plains rise to central highlands bisected by Great Rift Valley; fertile plateau in west |
| Elevation extremes: |
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Kenya 5,199 m |
| Natural resources: |
gold, limestone, soda ash, salt, rubies, fluorspar, garnets, wildlife, hydropower |
| Land use: |
arable land: 8.08%
permanent crops: 0.98%
other: 90.94% (2001) |
| Irrigated land: |
670 sq km (1998 est.) |
| Natural hazards: |
recurring drought; flooding during rainy seasons |
| Environment - current issues: |
water pollution from urban and industrial wastes; degradation of water quality from increased use of pesticides and fertilizers; water hyacinth infestation in Lake Victoria; deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; poaching |
| Environment - international agreements: |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
| Geography - note: |
the Kenyan Highlands comprise one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa; glaciers are found on Mount Kenya, Africa's second highest peak; unique physiography supports abundant and varied wildlife of scientific and economic value |
| People |
|
| Population: |
32,021,856
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2004 est.) |
| Age structure: |
0-14 years: 40.6% (male 6,575,409; female 6,430,218)
15-64 years: 56.5% (male 9,126,847; female 8,962,905)
65 years and over: 2.9% (male 399,050; female 527,427) (2004 est.) |
| Median age: |
total: 18.6 years
male: 18.5 years
female: 18.7 years (2004 est.) |
| Population growth rate: |
1.14% (2004 est.) |
| Birth rate: |
27.82 births/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
| Death rate: |
6.31 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
| Net migration rate: |
-0.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: according to UNHCR, by the end of 2001 Kenya was host to 220,000 refugees from neighboring countries, including: Somalia 145,000 and Sudan 68,000 (2004 est.) |
| Sex ratio: |
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2004 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate: |
total: 62.62 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 65.55 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 59.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth: |
total population: 44.94 years
male: 44.79 years
female: 45.1 years (2004 est.) |
| Total fertility rate: |
3.31 children born/woman (2004 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: |
6.7% (2003 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: |
1.2 million (2003 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths: |
150,000 (2003 est.) |
| Nationality: |
noun: Kenyan(s)
adjective: Kenyan |
| Ethnic groups: |
Kikuyu 22%, Luhya 14%, Luo 13%, Kalenjin 12%, Kamba 11%, Kisii 6%, Meru 6%, other African 15%, non-African (Asian, European, and Arab) 1% |
| Religions: |
Protestant 45%, Roman Catholic 33%, indigenous beliefs 10%, Muslim 10%, other 2%
note: a large majority of Kenyans are Christian, but estimates for the percentage of the population that adheres to Islam or indigenous beliefs vary widely |
| Languages: |
English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages |
| Literacy: |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 85.1%
male: 90.6%
female: 79.7% (2003 est.) |
| Economy |
|
| Economy - overview: |
The regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa, Kenya has been hampered by corruption, notably in the judicial system, and by reliance upon several primary goods whose prices have remained low. In 1997, the IMF suspended Kenya's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program due to the government's failure to maintain reforms and curb corruption. A severe drought from 1999 to 2000 compounded Kenya's problems, causing water and energy rationing and reducing agricultural output. As a result, GDP contracted by 0.2% in 2000. The IMF, which had resumed loans in 2000 to help Kenya through the drought, again halted lending in 2001 when the government failed to institute several anticorruption measures. Despite the return of strong rains in 2001, weak commodity prices, endemic corruption, and low investment limited Kenya's economic growth to 1.2%. Growth lagged at 1.1% in 2002 because of erratic rains, low investor confidence, meager donor support, and political infighting up to the elections. In the key 27 December 2002 elections, Daniel Arap MOI's 24-year-old reign ended, and a new opposition government took on the formidable economic problems facing the nation. In 2003, progress was made in rooting out corruption, and encouraging donor support, with GDP growth edging up to 1.7%. |
| GDP: |
purchasing power parity - $33.03 billion (2003 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate: |
4.3% (2004.) |
| GDP - per capita: |
purchasing power parity - $1,000 (2003 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector: |
agriculture: 19.7%
industry: 18.6%
services: 61.8% (2003 est.) |
| Investment (gross fixed): |
14.3% of GDP (2003) |
| Population below poverty line: |
50% (2000 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 37.2% (2000) |
| Distribution of family income - Gini index: |
44.9 (1997) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices): |
9.8% (2003 est.) |
| Labor force: |
11.45 million (2003 est.) |
| Labor force - by occupation: |
agriculture 75% (2003 est.) |
| Unemployment rate: |
40% (2001 est.) |
| Budget: |
revenues: $2.761 billion
expenditures: $3.406 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2003 est.) |
| Public debt: |
62.9% of GDP (2003) |
| Agriculture - products: |
tea, coffee, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, pork, poultry, eggs |
| Industries: |
small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural products processing; oil refining, cement; tourism |
| Industrial production growth rate: |
2% (2003 est.) |
| Electricity - production: |
4.033 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - consumption: |
3.981 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - exports: |
0 kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - imports: |
230 million kWh (2001) |
| Oil - production: |
0 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil - consumption: |
57,000 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil - exports: |
NA (2001) |
| Oil - imports: |
NA (2001) |
| Current account balance: |
$-306 million (2003) |
| Exports: |
$2.514 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
| Exports - commodities: |
tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, fish, cement |
| Exports - partners: |
Uganda 12.7%, UK 12.5%, US 9.4%, Netherlands 8.5%, Pakistan 5%, Egypt 4.6%, Tanzania 4.3% (2003) |
| Imports: |
$3.705 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
| Imports - commodities: |
machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel, resins and plastics |
| Imports - partners: |
UAE 13.2%, Saudi Arabia 9.6%, South Africa 8.6%, UK 7.4%, China 6.3%, US 5.1%, India 5.1%, Japan 4.9%, Germany 4.2% (2003) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange & gold: |
$1.455 billion (2003) |
| Debt - external: |
$5.916 billion (2003 est.) |
| Economic aid - recipient: |
$453 million (1997) |
Currency:
|
Kenyan shilling (KES) |
| Currency code: |
KES |
| Exchange rates: |
Kenyan shillings per US dollar - 75.9356 (2003), 78.7491 (2002), 78.5632 (2001), 76.1755 (2000), 70.3262 (1999) |
| Fiscal year: |
1 July - 30 June |
