The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the northeast, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, and Sudan to the northwest, with the Indian Ocean running along the southeast border.
Founding president and liberation struggle icon Jomo Kenyatta led Kenya
from independence in 1963 until his death in 1978, when President Daniel
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 and 1997, which were marred by
violence and fraud, but were viewed as having generally reflected the
will of the Kenyan people. President Moi stepped down in December 2002
following fair and peaceful elections. Mwai Kibaki, running as the
candidate of the multiethnic, united opposition group, the National
Rainbow Coalition (NARC), defeated KANU candidate Uhuru Kenyatta and
assumed the presidency following a campaign centered on an
anticorruption platform. Kibaki's NARC coalition splintered in 2005 over
a constitutional review process. Government defectors joined with KANU
to form a new opposition coalition, the Orange Democratic Movement
(ODM), which defeated the government's draft constitution in a popular
referendum in November 2005. Kibaki's reelection in December 2007
brought charges of vote rigging from ODM candidate Raila Odinga and
unleashed two months of violence in which as many as 1,500 people died.
African Union-sponsored mediation led by former UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan in late February 2008 resulted in a power-sharing accord
bringing Odinga into the government in the restored position of prime
minister. The power sharing accord included a broad reform agenda, the
centerpiece of which was constitutional reform. In August 2010, Kenyans
overwhelmingly adopted a new constitution in a national referendum. The
new constitution introduced additional checks and balances to executive
power and significant devolution of power and resources to 47 newly
created counties. It also eliminated the position of prime minister
following the first presidential election under the new constitution,
which occurred on 4 March 2013. Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of founding
president Jomo Kenyatta, won the March elections in the first round by a
close margin and was sworn into office on 9 April 2013.
Country Name:
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conventional long form: Republic of Kenya
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conventional short form: Kenya
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former: British East Africa
Capital:
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name: Nairobi
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geographic coordinates: 1 17 S, 36 49 E
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time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Independence:
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1 July 1962 (from UN trusteeship under Belgian administration)
Government Type:
Executive Branch:
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chief of state: President Uhuru Kenyatta (since 9 April 2013); Deputy President William Ruto (since 9 April 2013)
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head of government: President Uhuru Kenyatta (since 9 April 2013); Deputy President William Ruto (since 9 April 2013)
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elections: president
and deputy president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for a
five-year term (eligible for a second term); in addition to receiving a
simple majority of votes, the presidential candidate must also win 25%
or more of the votes cast in each of more than half of the 47 counties
to avoid a runoff; election last held on 4 March 2013 (next to be held
in 2017 or 2018)
Legislative Branch:
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structure: bicameral parliament and National Assembly
Judicial Branch:
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structure: Supreme Court; Court of Appeal; High Court
Population:
Nationality:
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noun: Kenyan(s)
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adjective: Kenyan
Major Cities:
Ethnic Groups:
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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:
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Christian 82.5% (Protestant 47.4%, Catholic
23.3%, other 11.8%), Muslim 11.1%, Traditionalists 1.6%, other 1.7%,
none 2.4%, unspecified 0.7%
Languages:
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English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages
Life Expectancy at Birth:
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total population: 63.52 years (global rank: 180)
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male: 62.06 years
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female: 65.01 years
Infant Mortality:
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total population: 40.71 deaths/1,000 live births (global rank: 52)
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male: 45.33 deaths/1,000 live births
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female: 35.99 deaths/1,000 live births
HIV/AIDS:
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adult prevalence rate: 6.1% (2012 est.) (global rank: 12)
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people living with AIDS: 1.646 million (global rank: 4)
Literacy:
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definition: age 15 and over can read and write
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total population: 87.4%
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male: 90.6%
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female: 84.2%
Overview: Kenya has been hampered by corruption and by reliance upon
several primary goods whose prices have remained low. Low infrastructure
investment threatens Kenya's long-term position as the largest East
African economy, although the Kenyatta administration has prioritized
infrastructure development. International financial lenders and donors
remain important to Kenya's economic growth and development.
Unemployment is high at around 40%. The country has chronic budget
deficits. Inflationary pressures and sharp currency depreciation peaked
in early 2012 but have since abated following low global food and fuel
prices and monetary interventions by the Central Bank. Recent terrorism
in Kenya and the surrounding region threatens Kenya's important tourism
industry. Kenya, in conjunction with neighboring Ethiopia and South
Sudan, intends to begin construction on a transport corridor and oil
pipeline into the port of Lamu in 2014.
Gross Domestic Product:
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GDP (PPP): $79.9 billion (global rank: 82)
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GDP per capita (PPP): $1,800 (global rank: 197)
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real growth rate: 5.1% (global rank: 56)
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composition by sector: agriculture: 29.3%, industry: 17.4%, services: 53.3%
Currency:
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currency: Kenyan Shillings (KES)
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exchange rate (per US Dollar): 86.73
Poverty:
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population below poverty line: 43.4%
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unemployment rate: 40%
Agricultural Products:
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tea, coffee, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, fish, pork, poultry, eggs
Industries:
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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
Export Commodities:
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tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, fish, cement
Import Commodities:
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machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel, resins and plastics
Location:
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Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and Tanzania
Area:
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total: 580,367 sq km (global rank: 49)
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land: 569,140 sq km
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water: 11,227 sq km
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comparative: slightly more than twice the size of Nevada
Climate:
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varies from tropical along coast to arid in interior
Land Use:
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arable land: 9.48%
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permanent crops: 1.12%
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other: 89.4%
Natural Resources:
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limestone, soda ash, salt, gemstones, fluorspar, zinc, diatomite, gypsum, wildlife, hydropower
Current Environmental Issues:
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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
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international disputes: Kenya served as an important mediator in
brokering Sudan's north-south separation in February 2005; Kenya
provides shelter to an estimated 550 million refugees, including
Ugandans who flee across the border periodically to seek protection from
Lord's Resistance Army 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
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refugees (country of origin): 425,879
(Somalia); 84,045 (South Sudan); 29,723 (Ethiopia); 15,290 (Democratic
Republic of Congo - includes registered asylum seekers); 8,769 (Sudan -
includes registered asylum seekers); 5,825 (Burundi - includes
registered asylum seekers)
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internally displaced peoples: 412,000
(represents people displaced since the 1990s by ethnic and political
violence and land disputes and who sought refuge mostly in camps;
persons who took refuge in host communities or were evicted in urban
areas are not included in the data; data is not available on
pastoralists displaced by cattle rustling, violence, natural disasters,
and development projects; the largest displacement resulted from 2007-08
post-election violence
- stateless persons: 20,000
- human trafficking: Kenya
is a source, transit, and destination country for adults and children
subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; Kenyan children are
forced to work in domestic service, agriculture, fishing, cattle
herding, street vending, begging, and prostitution; Kenyan economic
migrants to other East African countries, South Sudan, Europe, the US,
and the Middle East are at times exploited in domestic servitude,
massage parlors or brothels, or forced manual labor; children from
Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda are
subjected to forced labor and prostitution in Kenya; Somali refugees
living in the Dadaab complex may be forced into prostitution or work on
tobacco farms
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illicit drugs: widespread harvesting of small plots of
marijuana; transit country for South Asian heroin destined for Europe
and North America; Indian methaqualone also transits on way to South
Africa; significant potential for money-laundering activity given the
country's status as a regional financial center; massive corruption, and
relatively high levels of narcotics-associated activities
Published: Friday, March 13, 2015