Country Facts - Kenya

The People

Nationality Kenyan(s)
Ethnic Composition

Kikuyu	22%
Luhya	14%
Luo	13%
Kalenjin	12%
Kamba	11%
Kisii	6%
Meru	6%
Other African	15%
Non-African (Asian, European, Arab)	1%

Religious Composition

Protestant	45%
Roman Catholic	33%
Indigenous beliefs	10%
Muslim	10%
Other and nonaffiliated	2%

Languages Spoken

English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages

Education and Literacy

The government finances eight years of primary school. Literacy stands at 78.1 percent of the adult population.

Labor Force

Total: 10 million (2001)
By occupation:

Services	15%
Industry	10%
Agriculture	75-80%

Geography

Land Mass Total

224,962 sq mi (582,650 sq km)

Land

219,788 sq mi (569,250 sq km)

Water

5,173 sq mi (13,400 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 2,160 mi (3,477 km)
Border countries: Ethiopia 535 mi (861 km), Somalia 423 mi (682 km), Sudan
144 mi (232 km), Tanzania 477 mi (769 km), Uganda 579 mi (933 km)

Coastline

333 mi (536 km)

Maritime claim

Continental shelf: 656 ft (200 m) depth or to the depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate/Weather

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: Indian Ocean 0 ft (0 m)
Highest: Mount Kenya 17,057 ft (5,199 m)

Natural Resources

Gold, limestone, soda ash, salt barites, rubies, fluorspar, garnets, wildlife, hydropower.

Land use

Arable land	7%
Permanent crops	1%
Permanent pastures	37%
Forests and woodland	30%
Other	25%

(1993)

Natural hazards

Recurring drought in northern and eastern regions; 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; deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; poaching.

Geography Note

The Kenyan Highlands comprise one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa; glaciers on Mt. Kenya; unique physiography supports abundant and varied wildlife of scientific and economic value.

Demographics

Population

31,138,735 (July 2002)
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.

Age structure

0-14 years:	41.1%	Male: 6,462,430	Female: 6,327,457
15-64 years:	56.1%	Male: 8,769,546	Female: 8,694,329
65 years and over:	2.8%	Male: 385,361	Female: 499,612

Growth Rate

1.15% (2002)

Life Expectancy

47.02 years (2002)
Female: 47.85 years
Male: 46.2 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$1,000 (2001)

Infant Mortality

67.24 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.77 male(s)/female
Total population:	1.01 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

-1.48 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. (2002)

Economy & Trade

Kenya, the regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa, is hampered by corruption and reliance upon several primary goods whose prices continue to decline. Following strong economic growth in 1995 and 1996, Kenya's economy has stagnated, with GDP growth failing to keep up with the rate of population growth. 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 0.3% 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 percent, and Kenya is unlikely to see growth above 2 percent in 2002.
New analysis of growth for 2003 is predicted at 2.5 percent, which is certainly an improvement over 2002 but still substantially short of the original target of 3.9 percent. Consumer price inflation is expected to also average 2.5 percent in 2003, almost a full percentage point higher than 2002. Kenya is still burdened by a large number (39 percent) of non-performing loans with the bulk of this bad debt being shouldered by state banks. These loan problems act as a long-term curb on future aid grants, but all observers note that substantial IMF and other foreign support is essential to prevent a further decline in real per capita output. A two-year moratorium on such loans began to show signs of thawing in early 2003, as the new leader Emilio Mwai Kibaki made quick progress in the realm of anti-corruption and reform.

Unemployment

40% (2001)

Inflation Rate

3.3% (2001)

Industries

Small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural products processing; oil refining, cement; tourism.

Exports

US$1.8 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports

US$3.1 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$31 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

UK 12%, UAE 9.8%, Japan 6.5%, India 4.4% (2000)

Top Import Partners

UK 12%, UAE 9.8%, Japan 6.5%, India 4.4% (2000)

Top Exports

Tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, fish, cement

Top Imports

Machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel, resins and plastics

Debt - external

US$8 billion (2001)

Economic aid

US$457 million (1997)

Fiscal Year:

July 1 to June 31

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8a.m. to 1p.m., 2p.m. to 5p.m.	Closed
Retail	10a.m. to 8p.m.	Slightly shorter hours on Saturday and Sunday.
Banks	9:30a.m. to 5:30p.m.	First and last Saturday of every month 9a.m. to 11a.m.
Government	8a.m. to 1p.m., and 2p.m. to 5p.m.	Closed

Note: Business hours in rural areas are attuned to local custom and seasonal needs.

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Festival of Sacrifice (Eid Al Adha)¹	February 12	February 2	January 21
Good Friday	April 18	April 9	March 25
Easter²	April 20	April 11	March 27
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Madaraka Day	June 1	June 1	June 1
Moi Day	October 10	October 10	October 10
Kenyatta Day	October 20	October 20	October 20
Start of Ramadan³	October 27	October 15	October 4
End of Ramadan (Eid Al Fitr)*¹	November 26	November 14	November 3
Independence Day (Jamhuri)	December 12	December 12	December 12
Christmas Day*²	December 25	December 25	December 25
Public Holiday	December 26	December 26	December 26

¹	Culmination of the Haj or Holy Pilgrimage.
²	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
³	Ramadan (the month of fasting) begins with the first appearance of the new moon in the ninth month of the lunar Islamic Hijra calendar, and lasts 30 days. Dates for the start of Ramadan will vary from country to country, depending on the first appearance of the moon.
*¹	Feasting that officially marks the end of Ramadan, and commonly lasts for three days.
*²	Christmas, a Christian observance, celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D. 320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox Church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press