Map of Kenya | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: Revered president and liberation struggle icon Jomo KENYATTA led Kenya from independence until his death in 1978 when current President Daniel Toroitich arap MOI took power in a constitutional succession. The country was a de facto one-party state from 1969 until 1982 when the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) made itself the sole legal party in Kenya. MOI acceded to internal and external pressure for political liberalization in late 1991. The ethnically fractured opposition failed to dislodge KANU from power in elections in 1992 which were marred by violence and fraud but are viewed as having generally reflected the will of the Kenyan people.


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Location:

Geographic coordinates

Map reference: Africa, Standard Time Zones of the World

Area
Total: 582,650 km²
Land: 569,250 km²

Land boundaries: total 3,446 km, Ethiopia 830 km, Somalia 682 km, Sudan 232 km, Tanzania 769 km, Uganda 933 km

Coastline: 536 km
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Maritime claims

Climate:

Terrain

Elevation

Natural resources: gold, limestone, soda ash, salt barytes, rubies, fluorspar, garnets, wildlife

Land use
Arable land: 3%
Permanent crops: 1%
Meadows and pastures: 7%
Forest and woodland: 4%
Other: 85%

Irrigated land: 520 km² (1989)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 27,372,266 (July 1993 est.)
Growth rate: 3.18% (1993 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Kenyan(s)
Adjective: Kenyan

Ethnic groups:

Languages: English (official), Swahili (official), numerous indigenous languages

Religions

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 3.18% (1993 est.)

Birth rate: 43.18 births/1000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate: 11.41 deaths/1000 population (1993 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1000 population (1993 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: unique physiography supports abundant and varied wildlife of scientific and economic value; deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; glaciers on Mt. Kenya
Current issues note: the Kenyan Highlands comprise one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 74.7 deaths/1000 live births (1993 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 54.07 years
Male: 52.27 years
Female: 55.92 years (1993 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.06 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
Total population: 69%
Male: 80%
Female: 58%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Kenya
Conventional short form: Kenya
Former: British East Africa

Government type: republic

Capital: Nairobi

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

Independence: 12 December 1963 (from UK)

National holiday: Independence Day, 12 December (1963)

Constitution: 12 December 1963, amended as a republic 1964; reissued with amendments 1979, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1991, and 1992

Legal system: based on 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

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage

Executive branch: president, vice president, Cabinet

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Bunge)

Judicial branch: Court of Appeal, High Court

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Denis Daudi AFANDE
In the us chancery: 2,249 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: (202) 387-6,101
In the us consulates general: Los Angeles and New York
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Smith HEMPSTONE, Jr.
From the us embassy: corner of Moi Avenue and Haile Selassie Avenue, Nairobi
From the us mailing address: P. O. Box 30,137, Nairobi or APO AE 9,831
From the us telephone: 254 (2) 334,141
From the us fax: 254 (2) 340,838
From the us consulate: Mombasa

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and green; the red band is edged in white; a large warrior's shield covering crossed spears is superimposed at the center

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: Kenya's 3.6% annual population growth rate - one of the highest annually averaging 4.9% in the 1986-90 period. Undependable weather conditions and a shortage of arable land: hamper long-term growth in agriculture, the leading economic sector. In 1991, deficient rainfall, stagnant export volume, and sagging export prices held economic growth below the all-important population growth figure, and in 1992 output fell.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: -1% (1992 est.)

Real gdp per capita: $320 (1992 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: most important sector, accounting for 25% of GDP and 65% of exports; cash crops - coffee, tea, sisal, pineapple; food products - corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables, dairy products, beef, pork, poultry, eggs; food output not keeping pace with population growth, and crop production has been extended into marginal land

Industries: small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural processing, oil refining, cement, tourism

Industrial production growth rate:

Labor force: 9.2 million (includes unemployed); the total employed is 1,370,000 (14.8% of the labor force)
By occupation services: 54.8%
By occupation industry: 26.2%
By occupation agriculture: 19.0% (1989)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $2.4 billion; expenditures $2.8 billion, including capital expenditures of $0.74 billion (FY90)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $1.0 billion (f.o.b., 1992 est.)
Commodoties: tea 25%, coffee 18%, petroleum products 11% (1990)
Partners: EC 44%, Africa 25%, Asia 5%, US 5%, Middle East 4% (1990)

Imports: $2.05 billion (f.o.b., 1992 est.)
Commodoties: machinery and transportation equipment 29%, petroleum and petroleum products 15%, iron and steel 7%, raw materials, food and consumer goods (1989)
Partners: EC 45%, Asia 11%, Middle East 12%, US 5% (1988)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Kenyan shillings (KSh) per US$1 -36.227 (January 1993), 32.217 (1992), 27.508 (1991), 22.915 (1990), 20.572 (1989), 17.747 (1988)


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Electricity
Production: 730,000 kW capacity; 2,540 million kWh produced, 100 kWh per capita (1990)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: exchange rate conversion - $294 million, 4.9% of GDP (FY88/89 est.)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 247
Usable: 208
With permanentsurface runways: 18
With runways over 3659 m: 2
With runways 2440-3659 m: 3
With runways 1220-2439 m: 43

Heliports

Pipelines: petroleum products 483 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways:

Merchant marine:

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: administrative boundary with Sudan does not coincide with international boundary; possible claim by Somalia based on unification of ethnic Somalis

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: widespread wild, small-plot cultivation of marijuana and gat; most locally consumed; transit country for Southwest Asian heroin moving to West Africa and onward to Europe and North America; Indian methaqualone also transits on way to South Africa