Kenya population

Republic of Kenya This country can be called a real diamond of East Africa because of its versatility in terms of both geography and ethnic composition.

The country covers an area of ​​580,367 square meters. km, famous for its picturesque landscapes and huge reserves. The Republic of Kenya is located in East Africa at the equator with extensive access to the Indian Ocean and borders on Uganda in the west, Tanzania in the south, Ethiopia and South Sudan in the north, Somalia in the east. Thanks to access to the ocean, Kenya has long been a strategically important territory through which goods from Asian and Arab states fell onto the continent.

The political and internal structure of Kenya as a state

Kenya is a republic with a presidential form of government, and the parliament consists of two chambers - the National Assembly (Assembly) and the Senate, as the legislative body. Prior to the 2010 referendum, parliament was unicameral. Two official languages ​​are officially adopted - Swahili and English. However, many Kenyans speak Bantu and use about forty more local dialects.

As for religious preferences, according to official figures, the vast majority of Christians are 83% (Protestants 47.7%, Catholics 23.4%, other Christian denominations 11.9%), Muslims 11.2%, but in fact about half of the country's inhabitants local religious beliefs. The means of calculation within the country is Kenyan shilling, a small change is a cent. The capital of the country is the city of Nairobi.

A Brief History of Kenya

Some scientists, not without reason, believe that Kenya could be the cradle of human civilization. Here were discovered human remains, which are about 2.6 million years old. The nomadic lifestyle of local tribes for a long time interfered with the formation of statehood. The first cities (they are also states) appeared in coastal areas to the ocean only in the 11th century thanks to the warlike Arabs who brought Islam here. From the 15th to the 18th centuries, the Portuguese, displacing the Arabs, reigned supreme in this part of the African continent.

Between the 18th and mid-19th centuries, many Arab sultanates reappeared here. Then two new strong players appeared on the local “arena” - Great Britain and Germany. Britain emerged victorious from this battle and in 1890 made Kenya its colony, severely suppressing the Kenyan liberation movement in 1895-1905. Only in 1963, after many years of confrontation, the country received the right to self-determination. On December 12, 1964, Kenya was proclaimed a republic.

Kenya population

The last official census was carried out in Kenya back in 2009, then it was confirmed that 38,610,097 people live in the country. Information on the country's population is published on a regular basis, and in 2011 it was announced that these numbers rose to 41 million. In 2017, according to the latest data, the population of Kenya has increased to 49.70 million people.

As for the population density of Kenya, it is the 47th largest in the world in terms of net land area, which is relatively sparsely populated. On average, this is 79.2 people per square kilometer of land. Accordingly, Kenya is the 140th country on Earth in terms of population density.

The capital and largest city in Kenya is Nairobi, which is famous for having the only game reserve in the world in a big city. Nairobi is Africa's second largest city in the Great Lakes region with 3.5 million inhabitants. Including the suburbs, Nairobi is Africa's 14th largest city with 6.54 million people.

Other major cities in Kenya are Mombasa with a population of 1.2 million people, Kisumu - 400 thousand people, and Nakuru - 300 thousand people.

Slums of Kibera

Like many African cities, the capital of Kenya is characterized by the presence of modern skyscrapers, from the windows of which you can see huge slums. Among the old quarters, there are prosperous, often ethnically mixed, and quite well served by communal and other services. But this is far from everywhere.

In the world-famous slums of Kibera (a suburb of Nairobi, located 5 km south-west of the center), about 250 thousand people live. There are many refugees fleeing from the endless civil wars taking place in neighboring countries.

Most people in Kibera live on less than $ 1 a day, hiding in tents and hastily assembled huts, with a shortage of clean water, lack of education and rampant violence, dying from infectious diseases. The area of ​​slums is so large that sometimes whole villages are formed there, trying to independently solve their domestic and social problems.

Features of the composition of the population

Returning to the question of different ethnicity, it is worth considering the many diverse groups that make up the population of the country of Kenya. Based on data from the World Factbook CIA on 01/12/2017, they can be classified as follows.

The population of Kenya is very diverse, the country is home to a large number of linguistic and ethnic groups in Africa. There are at least 42 communities, most of them Nilotes (30%) and Bantus (67%), followed by Cushite groups, Arabs, Indians and Europeans. This is the peculiarity of the population of Kenya, all nationalities and religions coexist here.

Kenya is a young growing state

The population of Kenya is very young, which led to its rapid growth. Almost three quarters of the population is under 30 years old. Over the years of independence, the type of reproduction of the Kenyan population can be defined as expanded reproduction. It is characterized by an increase in the number of each next generation to the number of inhabitants of previous generations. A growing number of young people are able to give offspring. Given the wider use of the capabilities of modern medicine, especially in the fight against epidemics, this contributes to a significant reduction in mortality with high birth rates. The UN predicts that by 2020, up to 51.7 million people will live in this country.

Current Kenyan population

The last official census was carried out in Kenya in 2009, then it was confirmed that 38,610,097 people live in the country. Information on the country's population is published on a regular basis, and in 2011 it was announced that these numbers rose to 41 million.

A net increase of 1 person every 26 seconds.

Population rates

Kenya supports population growth, but has high rates of both fertility and infant mortality. This is consistent with Africa as a whole.

In 2017, according to the latest data, the population of Kenya has increased to 49.70 million people.

Population history

Kenya is a young growing republic. Over the course of a century, the population of the state grew from 2.9 million to almost 40 million people, with the peak of growth occurring during the period when the country gained independence.

Demographic forecast

Noticeable improvement in life expectancy. If in 2006 the average level was 48.9 years, then already in 2016 this figure rose to 59 years.

Kenya Economy

A separate article can be devoted to acquaintance with what the population of Kenya does. Despite the fact that the country is the largest and most developed economy in East and Central Africa, its indicator (HDI) of human development is only 0.555, ranking 146 out of 186 in the world. Agriculture, with its extremely weak development, provides employment for 75% of the country's working population, being the second largest contribution to Kenya's gross domestic product (GDP) after the services sector. The agricultural sector contributes 24% of GDP, as well as 18% of wages and 50% of export earnings. The main cash crops are tea, horticultural products and coffee. They are the main drivers of growth and the most valuable of all types of goods exported from Kenya.

Kenya's irrigated farmland is divided into three types of owners: smallholders, centrally managed communities, and large commercial structures.

The first group consists of individual private owners (farmers) using irrigation in small areas on average 1–4 thousand square meters. m. In the country there are about 3000, they cover an area of ​​about 47 thousand hectares.

The second group includes seven communities that are managed by the National Irrigation Council and cultivate an area of ​​18,200 hectares, representing 18% of Kenya's total irrigated land.

The third group includes large private commercial farms that occupy 45 thousand hectares, which makes up 40% of irrigated land. They use high technology and produce high-value crops for the export market, especially flowers and vegetables.

Kenya is the world's third-largest exporter of cut flowers. About half of Kenya's 127 flower farms are concentrated around Lake Naivasha, 90 km northwest of Nairobi. To speed up their export, there is a terminal at the airport of the capital serving exclusively suppliers of flowers and vegetables.

In eastern Kenya, on the shores of the Indian Ocean, some of the best beaches in Africa are located. A diverse natural landscape (plateaus and peaks, deserts and savannahs, the Indian Ocean and the Great Lakes), rich fauna (lions, elephants, cheetahs, rhinos and hippos) have become a prerequisite for tourism to become an important factor in Kenya's economy.

The services sector contributes 61% of GDP, with tourism prevailing. Since the beginning of independence, the tourism sector has been showing steady growth for many years, and by the end of the 1980s it became a guaranteed way to get currency for the country, thanks to foreign tourists and travelers.

Most vacationers come from Germany and the UK, they are mainly attracted to coastal beaches and reserves. Currently, it is tourism that is Kenya's largest means of obtaining foreign currency, followed by cut flowers, tea products and coffee.

Despite the pace of economic development, industrial production is still only 14% of GDP and is concentrated around the three largest urban centers - Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. Food industries, such as grain processing, beer production and sugarcane processing, as well as consumer goods, dominate the production of cement.

According to the results of 2016 in Kenya, per capita GDP rose to a record for this country 1,143.10 US dollars, which is 9 percent of the world average. At the same time, GDP has a steady upward trend.

A very favorable geographical location, a rich natural world, enormous human potential - all these factors create compelling prerequisites for the leading position of the Republic of Kenya on the entire African continent in the near future.