Current Environmental 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

Geography

Source: CIA

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

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

Natural Hazards: recurring drought; flooding during rainy seasons

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

Climate

Varies from tropical along coast to arid in interior

Government

Government Type: Republic

Capital: Nairobi

Independence Date: 12 December 1963 (from UK)

Legal System: based on Kenyan statutory law, Kenyan and English common law, tribal law, and Islamic law; judicial review in High Court; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; constitutional amendment of 1982 making Kenya a de jure one-party state repealed in 1991

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

International Agreement

Environmental-international Agreement:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, 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

People and Society

Population: 37,953,838

Age Structure:

0-14 years: 42.2% (male 8,065,789/female 7,953,077)
15-64 years: 55.2% (male 10,498,468/female 10,434,764)
65 years and over: 2.6% (male 457,886/female 543,854) (2008 est.)

Population Growth Rate: 2.758% (2008 est.)

Birth Rate: 37.89 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death Rate: 10.3 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net Migration Rate: -1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Life Expectancy at Birth:

total population: 56.64 years
male: 56.42 years
female: 56.87 years (2008 est.)

Total Fertility Rate: 4.7 children born/woman (2008 est.)

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.)

Water

Total Renewable Water Resources: 30.2 cu km (1990)

Freshwater Withdrawal (domestic, industrial, agricultural):

total: 1.58 cu km/yr (30%/6%/64%)
per capita: 46 cu m/yr (2000)

Agriculture

Agricultural Products: tea, coffee, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, pork, poultry, eggs

Irrigated Land: 1,030 sq km (2003)

Resources

Natural Resources: limestone, soda ash, salt, gemstones, fluorspar, zinc, diatomite, gypsum, wildlife, hydropower

Lane Use:

arable land: 8.01%
permanent crops: 0.97%
other: 91.02% (2005)

Energy

Health

Prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Adults: 6.7% (2003 est.)

Major Infectious Diseases:

degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne disease: malaria
water contact disease: schistosomiasis (2008)

Conflict

International Disputes:

Kenya served as an important mediator in brokering Sudan's north-south separation in February 2005; Kenya provides shelter to almost a quarter of a million refugees, including Ugandans who flee across the border periodically to seek protection from Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels; Kenya works hard to prevent the clan and militia fighting in Somalia from spreading across the border, which has long been open to nomadic pastoralists; the boundary that separates Kenya's and Sudan's sovereignty is unclear in the "Ilemi Triangle," which Kenya has administered since colonial times

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: refugees (country of origin): 173,702 (Somalia); 73,004 (Sudan); 16,428 (Ethiopia)
IDPs: 250,000-400,000 (2007 post-election violence; KANU attacks on opposition tribal groups in 1990s) (2007)

Economy

The regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa, Kenya has been hampered by corruption 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 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. After some early progress in rooting out corruption and encouraging donor support, the KIBAKI government was rocked by high-level graft scandals in 2005 and 2006. In 2006 the World Bank and IMF delayed loans pending action by the government on corruption. The international financial institutions and donors have since resumed lending, despite little action on the government's part to deal with corruption. The scandals have not weighed down growth, with estimated real GDP growth at more than 6 percent in 2007.

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $58.88 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (Official Exchange Rate): $29.3 billion (2007 est.)

GDP- real growth rate: 7% (2007 est.)

GDP- per capita (PPP): $1,700 (2007 est.)

GDP- composition by sector:

agriculture: 23.8%
industry: 16.7%
services: 59.5% (2007 est.)

Population Below Poverty Line: 50% (2000 est.)

Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share:

lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 37.2% (2000)

Industries: small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, clothing, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural products, horticulture, oil refining; aluminum, steel, lead; cement, commercial ship repair, tourism

Exports: tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, fish, cement

Export Partners: Uganda 16.9%, UK 7%, Tanzania 8.2%, Netherlands 8.1%, US 6.4%, Pakistan 5.2% (2006)

Imports: machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel, resins and plastics

Import Partners: UAE 11.4%, China 9.9%, India 8.7%, Saudi Arabia 8%, South Africa 6.3%, US 6.2%, Japan 5.9%, UK 4.7% (2006)

Economic Aid Recipient: $768.3 million (2005)

Currency: Kenyan shilling (KES)

Communications

Telephones- main line in use: 293,400 (2006)

Telephones- mobile/cellular: 11.44 million (2007)

Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 24, FM 18, shortwave 6 (2001)

Television Broadcast Stations: 8 (2001)

Internet Hosts: 2,120 (2007)

Internet Users: 2.77 million (2006)

Transportation

Airports: 225 (2007)

Pipelines: efined products 900 km (2007)

Railways:

total: 2,778 km
narrow gauge: 2,778 km 1.000-m gauge (2006)

Roadways:

total: 63,265 km (interurban roads)
paved: 8,933 km
unpaved: 54,332 km
note: there also are 100,000 km of rural roads and 14,500 km of urban roads for a national total of 177,765 km (2004)

Ports and Terminals: Mombasa