People

Kenya has a population of over 31 million people. The vast majority of Kenya’s people are Africans from the 42 ethnic groups who are indigenous to the country. The largest ethnic group is the Kikuyu (or Gikuyu) who make up about 20% of the population, followed by the Luhya, Luo, Kalenjin and Kamba peoples, who each make up between 10 to 15% of the population. Other groups of Asiatic, European and Arabic descent are also Kenyan citizens. The majority of Kenya’s people live in the highlands of western Kenya or along the coast.

Most of Kenya’s people live in small rural communities, raising crops and livestock for a living. Many rural families struggle to produce enough food to feed themselves, while others produce enough to bring their crops to market. Many farmers hold part-time jobs as craftsmen and tradesmen to supplement their income, or they work part-time on the larger farms. A small proportion of the population, around 5%, are nomads who raise livestock for a living. In recent years many rural people have moved into the towns to find jobs. Kenya’s cities are growing rapidly. Nairobi, the capital, is the most important commercial center in eastern Africa. Nairobi’s population is usually quoted as being around 2.5 million, and may now be as high as 3 million people.

The major economic activity in Kenya is agriculture. Much of the farming is subsistence agriculture, where the produce is mostly consumed by the farming community itself. There are also ‘cash crops’, which are primarily grown on larger farms. Coffee is the most important of these cash crops. A wide variety of manufacturing industries are centered around Nairobi and Mombasa. These industries are well-established and are growing in importance. Tourism is also a major source of income for the economy.

Hundreds of children line up to go to their class rooms at Buru Buru 1 Primary School in Nairobi on the first day of the school year, Monday, Jan. 6, 2003. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim, caption source, AP Photo.)

Kenya, in common with many African countries, faces some huge challenges. Although Kenya’s economy has made many important strides forward, about 50% of the population is estimated to be living below the poverty line. The average life expectancy of a Kenyan is 47 years (for comparison, US average life expectancy is 77 years). Kenya’s population grew rapidly in the recent past, so young people make up a large proportion of the population. Over 40% of the population is under 15 years old (for comparison, only 21% of the US population is under 15 years old). In addition, the AIDS epidemic is ravaging Kenya, along with most of the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. More than 2.2 million Kenyans are living with HIV/AIDS, or over one in every thirteen Kenyans. Estimates of the increasing and horrifying toll taken by AIDS vary: up to 270,000 people die each year from the disease, or about 750 Kenyans each day. Other diseases such as malaria also pose serious problems. Much of the country’s infrastructure is underdeveloped or in poor condition, including its educational system. There are some hopeful signs in the midst of these tragedies: the rate of population growth, for example, has dropped to around 1.15% per year, down considerably from the 3.6% growth rate of the 1980s (some of this reduction, sadly, is due to the AIDS epidemic). Kenya’s new, democratic government, elected in December 2002, also offers hope for a better future.

12 year-old John Mwaura, a street child, makes toys from clay in the streets of Nairobi. He sells the toys for 10 Kenyan shillings or about 20 U.S. cents, making around one U.S. dollar a day. There are around 150,000 street children in Kenya, many of them surviving by begging, cleaning cars, or collecting recyclable materials from trash. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim, caption source,AP)

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Published in:Ujima News | |on November 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »