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Serving
Students at
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KENYA
Population
|
Nationality:
noun:
Kenyan(s)
adjective:
Kenyan
Ethnic
groups: Kikuyu 22%, Luhya 14%, Luo 13%, Kalenjin 12%, Kamba 11%, Kisii
6%, Meru 6%, other African 15%, non-African (Asian, European, and Arab)
1%
Population:
30,339,770
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 (July 2000 est.)
Age
structure:
0-14
years: 43% (male 6,566,424; female 6,419,034)
15-64
years: 54% (male 8,284,719; female 8,238,121)
65 years
and over: 3% (male 366,200; female 465,272) (2000 est.)
Population
growth rate: 1.53% (2000 est.)
Birth
rate: 29.35 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)
Death
rate: 14.08 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)
Sex
ratio: 1.01 male(s)/female (2000 est.) total population
Infant
mortality rate: 68.74 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
Life
expectancy at birth: 47.98 years total population
male:
46.95 years
female:
49.04 years (2000 est.)
Total
fertility rate: 3.66 children born/woman (2000 est.)
Labor
Force: 9.2 million (includes unemployed)
Total
employed is 1.37 million (14.8% of the labor force)
Services
54.8%
Industry
26.2%
Agriculture
19.0% (1989)
Organized
labor: 390,000 (est.)
People
of African descent make up about 97% of the population; they are divided
into about 40 ethnic groups, of which the Bantu-speaking Kikuyu, Luhya,
Kalenjin, Kamba, and Gusii and the Nilotic-speaking Luo are predominant.
Small numbers of persons of Indian, Pakistani, and European descent live
in the interior, and there are some Arabs along the coast.The official
languages of Kenya are Swahili and English; many indigenous languages are
also spoken. About two thirds of the population is Christian, while
a quarter follows traditional religious beliefs; the remainder are Muslim
or Hindu. There are a number of universities, including the Univ.
of Nairobi, Kenyatta Univ., Egerton Univ., and Moi Univ.
In the
early 1990s it was estimated that Kenya's population was increasing at
the rate of 3.6 percent a year. This growth rate, one of the world's
highest, greatly increases the people's demand for land, housing, food,
jobs, education, medical care, and other services. These conditions
place a severe strain on the economy of Kenya, a country whose resources
are extremely limited. More recent estimates reflect a lowering of
this rate to 1.53% (2000 est.).
The great
majority of Kenyans are engaged in farming, largely of the subsistence
type. Coffee, tea, sisal, pyrethrum, corn, and wheat are grown in
the highlands, mainly on small African-owned farms formed by dividing some
of the large, formerly European-owned estates. Coconuts, pineapples, cashew
nuts, cotton, sugarcane, sisal, and corn are grown in the lower-lying areas.
Much of the country is savanna, where large numbers of cattle are pastured.
Kenya also produces dairy goods, pork, poultry, and eggs. The country's
leading manufactures include consumer goods such as plastic, furniture,
textiles, cigarettes, and leather goods; refined petroleum; processed food;
cement; and metal products. Industrial development has been hampered
by shortages in hydroelectric power and inefficiency and corruption in
the public sector; however, steps have been taken to privatize some state-owned
companies. The chief minerals produced are limestone, soda ash, gold,
salt, and fluorospar. Kenya attracts many tourists, largely lured by its
coastal beaches and varied wildlife, which is protected in the expansive
Tsavo National Park (8,034 sq mi/20,808 sq km) in the southeast.
Links
to More Information
World
Population
CIA
World Factbook: Kenya People The
People of Kenya
.
Sources:
Central
Intelligence Agency |
