What are the Key Facts of Kenya?

Where is Kenya?

Kenya is an Eastern African country that borders the Indian Ocean and is located between Tanzania and Somalia. The country is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south-east, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, Somalia to the east, Ethiopia to the north, and South Sudan to the northwest.

What is the Geography of Kenya?

The total area of Kenya is 580,367 sq. km (224,081 sq. mi), out of which 569,140 sq. km is land area and 11,227 sq. km (4,335 mi) is water area. It has a 3,457 km (2,148 mi) long land boundary and 536 km (333 mi) long coastline. The land boundary is shared with five countries: Ethiopia (867 km or 539 mi), Uganda (814 km or 506 mi), Tanzania (775 km or 482 mi ), Somalia (684 km or 425 mi), and South Sudan (317 km or 197 mi). Here is Kenya Physical Map showing all physical feature of the country.

The landscape includes low plains that are rising to the central highlands, which are bisected by the Great Rift Valley. The western part of the country has a fertile plateau. The mean elevation of the country is 762 m (2,500 ft). While Mount Kenya is the highest elevation point of the country at 5,199 m (17,057 ft), the lowest elevation point is the Indian Ocean at 0 m (0 ft).

The flat land, on the coastline of the Indian Ocean, rises into the highlands in the central part of the country. The highest elevation point of the country is located in these highlands. The Great Rift Valley bisects the highlands and the entire country down the entire length. Some semi-active volcanoes along with many hot springs are also there in the Rift Valley.

A string of alkaline lakes including Lake Turkana (the largest alkaline lake of the world) is situated in Kenya. Some more prominent lakes in the valley include Lake Baringo, Lake Elementaita, Lake Nakuru, Lake Bogoria, Lake Magadi, Lake Naivasha, etc.

The only true desert in Kenya is the Chalbi Desert, which is located in the far north of the country. It is the aridest and hottest region of the country. Tana River is the longest river in Kenya. Other major rivers that flow in Kenya are Nile, Mara, Dawa, Ewaso Ng’iro, etc.

The Kenyan climate varies in accordance with the location. The variation starts from always warm or hot weather to mostly cool weather every day. The coastal area has a tropical climate with higher temperatures and rainfall throughout the year. In some of the major coastal cities such as Mombasa, Malindi, and Lamu, the change of air takes place from cool to hot almost every day.

The climate becomes arider as you move further inside. In arid climates, the temperature swing widely among daytime and nighttime. Almost every day, the temperature during daytime rises around 12 °C (22 °F).

The higher elevation regions have 11 °C (20 °F) cooler temperatures during day or night. The temperature swings around 10 °C (50 °F) to 26 °C (79 °F) in cities that are located more than a kilometre in elevation. In the highlands, the temperature during night time drops to around 10-12 °C (50-54 °F).

While the temperature in Nairobi (located at an elevation of 1,798 m or 5,899 ft) varies from 9 °C (49 °F) to 27 °C (80 °F), it varies from 11 °C (51 °F) to 28 °C (82 °F) in Kitale (located at an elevation of 1,825 m or 5,988 ft). A moderate temperature is found in the locations along the Indian Ocean.

The seasonal variation of temperature is around 4 °C (39.2 4 °F). While December-March is the warmest time period of summer, June-August is the coldest period during the winter. Bitter cold temperatures can be found in the high mountains including Kilimanjaro, Mount Elgon, and Mount Kenya. On the highest tips of the mountains, snowfall also takes place.

What is the Economy of Kenya?

Kenya is the main economic, transport, and financial hub of Eastern Africa. In the last decade, the average yearly growth rate of the Kenyan economy was more than 5%. In 2018, the nominal GDP grew at a rate of 6.32% to reach a figure of US$87.908 billion.

The major exports of the country are refined petroleum, cut flowers, tea, legumes, coffee, etc. The items mainly imported by Kenya are raw sugar, packaged medicaments, cars, palm oil, etc. In 2017, Kenya exported US$6.17 billion value of goods and imported US$17.1 billion value of goods, resulting in a negative balance of trade of US$11 billion.

As per the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’ 2015/2016 Labour Force Basic Report, the unemployment rate of the country was 7.4%. Reports say that the rate of poverty (poverty line calculated in 2011 PPP at US$1.90 per day), dropped from 43.6% in 2005-06 to 35.6% in 2015-16.

What is the Transportation System of Kenya?

Kenya has 177,800 km (110,480 mi) long roadways, out of which 14,420 km (8,960 mi) is paved and 147,032 km (91,361 mi) is unpaved. Out of the total paved roadways, 8,500 km (5,282 mi) is highway, 4,048 km (2,515 mi) is rural roads, and 1,872 km (1,163 mi) is urban roads.

Mombasa and Kisumu are the major seaports of Kenya. Mombasa is the LNG terminal. There are 22 merchant marine vessels, out of which one is general cargo, two are oil tankers, and 19 are other types of vessels. On Lake Victoria, the significant inland waterway is there. Ferry connections can be found from the Kisumu port for navigation to Tanzania and Uganda.

3,819 km (2,373 mi) long railway network is present in Kenya, out of which 485 km (301 mi) is standard-gauge and 3,334 km (2,072 mi) is narrow-gauge. There are 197 airports in the country, out of which 16 have paved runways and 181 have unpaved runways. Kisumu International Airport and Jomo Kenyatta International are the main airports in Kenya.

What International Organizations is Kenya part of?

WTO, UN, WHO, NAM, IMF, ILO, ACP, AfDB, AU, C, CD, COMESA, EAC, EADB, FAO, G-15, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, MIGA, MINUSMA, MONUSCO, OPCW, PCA, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMIL, UNMISS, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WMO, ITUC (NGOs)

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