Kenya (2007) | Tokelau (2006) | |
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Administrative divisions | 7 provinces and 1 area*; Central, Coast, Eastern, Nairobi Area*, North Eastern, Nyanza, Rift Valley, Western | none (territory of New Zealand) |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 42.1% (male 7,826,804/female 7,720,456)
15-64 years: 55.2% (male 10,219,575/female 10,174,922) 65 years and over: 2.6% (male 446,355/female 525,609) (2007 est.) |
0-14 years: 42%
15-64 years: 53% 65 years and over: 5% (2006 est.) |
Agriculture - products | tea, coffee, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, pork, poultry, eggs | coconuts, copra, breadfruit, papayas, bananas; pigs, poultry, goats; fish |
Airports | 225 (2007) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 15
over 3,047 m: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 5 under 914 m: 1 (2007) |
- |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 210
1,524 to 2,437 m: 12 914 to 1,523 m: 113 under 914 m: 85 (2007) |
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Area | total: 582,650 sq km
land: 569,250 sq km water: 13,400 sq km |
total: 10 sq km
land: 10 sq km water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly more than twice the size of Nevada | about 17 times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC |
Background | Founding president and liberation struggle icon Jomo KENYATTA led Kenya from independence in 1963 until his death in 1978, when President Daniel Toroitich arap MOI took power in a constitutional succession. The country was a de facto one-party state from 1969 until 1982 when the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) made itself the sole legal party in Kenya. MOI acceded to internal and external pressure for political liberalization in late 1991. The ethnically fractured opposition failed to dislodge KANU from power in elections in 1992 and 1997, which were marred by violence and fraud, but were viewed as having generally reflected the will of the Kenyan people. President MOI stepped down in December 2002 following fair and peaceful elections. Mwai KIBAKI, running as the candidate of the multiethnic, united opposition group, the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), defeated KANU candidate Uhuru KENYATTA and assumed the presidency following a campaign centered on an anticorruption platform. KIBAKI's NARC coalition splintered in 2005 over the constitutional review process. Government defectors joined with KANU to form a new opposition coalition, the Orange Democratic Movement, which defeated the government's draft constitution in a popular referendum in November 2005. | Originally settled by Polynesian emigrants from surrounding island groups, the Tokelau Islands were made a British protectorate in 1889. They were transferred to New Zealand administration in 1925. |
Birth rate | 38.94 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) | NA |
Budget | revenues: $4.691 billion
expenditures: $5.137 billion (2006 est.) |
revenues: $430,800
expenditures: $2.8 million; including capital expenditures of NA (1987 est.) |
Capital | name: Nairobi
geographic coordinates: 1 17 S, 36 49 E time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
none; each atoll has its own administrative center
time difference: UTC-11 (6 hours behind Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
Climate | varies from tropical along coast to arid in interior | tropical; moderated by trade winds (April to November) |
Coastline | 536 km | 101 km |
Constitution | 12 December 1963; amended as a republic 1964; reissued with amendments 1979, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2001; note - a new draft constitution was defeated by popular referendum in 2005 | administered under the Tokelau Islands Act of 1948; amended in 1970 |
Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Kenya
conventional short form: Kenya local long form: Republic of Kenya/Jamhuri y Kenya local short form: Kenya former: British East Africa |
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Tokelau |
Death rate | 10.95 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) | NA deaths/1,000 population |
Debt - external | $6.931 billion (2006 est.) | $0 |
Dependency status | - | self-administering territory of New Zealand; note - Tokelau and New Zealand have agreed to a draft constitution as Tokelau moves toward free association with New Zealand; a UN sponsored referendum on self-governance, in February 2006, did not produce the two thirds majority vote necessary for changing the current political status |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Michael RANNEBERGER
embassy: US Embassy, United Nations Avenue, Gigiri; P. O. Box 606 Village Market Nairobi mailing address: Box 21A, Unit 64100, APO AE 09831 telephone: [254] (20) 537-800 FAX: [254] (20) 537-810 |
none (territory of New Zealand) |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Peter Rateng Oginga OGEGO
chancery: 2249 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 387-6101 FAX: [1] (202) 462-3829 consulate(s) general: Los Angeles |
none (territory of New Zealand) |
Disputes - international | Kenya served as an important mediator in brokering Sudan's north-south separation in February 2005; Kenya provides shelter to almost a quarter of a million refugees, including Ugandans who flee across the border periodically to seek protection from Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels; Kenya works hard to prevent the clan and militia fighting in Somalia from spreading across the border, which has long been open to nomadic pastoralists; the boundary that separates Kenya's and Sudan's sovereignty is unclear in the "Ilemi Triangle," which Kenya has administered since colonial times | none |
Economic aid - recipient | $768.3 million (2005) | about $4 million annually from New Zealand |
Economy - overview | The regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa, Kenya has been hampered by corruption and by reliance upon several primary goods whose prices have remained low. 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 0.2% 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 1.2%. Growth lagged at 1.1% in 2002 because of erratic rains, low investor confidence, meager donor support, and political infighting up to the elections. In the key December 2002 elections, Daniel Arap MOI's 24-year-old reign ended, and a new opposition government took on the formidable economic problems facing the nation. In 2003, progress was made in rooting out corruption and encouraging donor support. Since then, however, the KIBAKI government has been rocked by high-level graft scandals. The World Bank suspended aid for most of 2006, and the IMF has delayed loans pending further action by the government on corruption. The scandals have not seemed to affect growth, with GDP growing more than 5% in 2006. | Tokelau's small size (three villages), isolation, and lack of resources greatly restrain economic development and confine agriculture to the subsistence level. The people rely heavily on aid from New Zealand - about $4 million annually - to maintain public services, with annual aid being substantially greater than GDP. The principal sources of revenue come from sales of copra, postage stamps, souvenir coins, and handicrafts. Money is also remitted to families from relatives in New Zealand. |
Electricity - consumption | 4.464 billion kWh (2005) | NA kWh |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2005) | - |
Electricity - imports | 28 million kWh (2005) | - |
Electricity - production | 5.502 billion kWh (2005) | NA kWh |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Kenya 5,199 m |
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location 5 m |
Environment - current issues | water pollution from urban and industrial wastes; degradation of water quality from increased use of pesticides and fertilizers; water hyacinth infestation in Lake Victoria; deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; poaching | very limited natural resources and overcrowding are contributing to emigration to New Zealand |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
- |
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% | Polynesian |
Exchange rates | Kenyan shillings per US dollar - 72.101 (2006), 75.554 (2005), 79.174 (2004), 75.936 (2003), 78.749 (2002) | New Zealand dollars per US dollar - 1.4203 (2005), 1.5087 (2004), 1.7221 (2003), 2.1622 (2002), 2.3788 (2001) |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Mwai KIBAKI (since 30 December 2002); Vice President Moody AWORI (since 25 September 2003); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Mwai KIBAKI (since 30 December 2002); Vice President Moody AWORI (since 25 September 2003) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); in addition to receiving the largest number of votes in absolute terms, the presidential candidate must also win 25% or more of the vote in at least five of Kenya's seven provinces and one area to avoid a runoff; election last held 27 December 2002 (next to be held in December 2007); vice president appointed by the president election results: President Mwai KIBAKI elected; percent of vote - Mwai KIBAKI 63%, Uhuru KENYATTA 30% |
chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented by Governor General of New Zealand Anand SATYANAND (since 23 August 2006); New Zealand is represented by Administrator David PAYTON (since 17 October 2006)
head of government: Kolouei O'BRIEN (2006); note - position rotates annually among the three Faipule (village leaders) cabinet: the Council for the Ongoing Government of Tokelau, consisting of three Faipule (village leaders) and three Pulenuku (village mayors), functions as a cabinet elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; administrator appointed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in New Zealand; the head of government is chosen from the Council of Faipule and serves a one-year term |
Exports | NA bbl/day | $0 f.o.b. (2002) |
Exports - commodities | tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, fish, cement | stamps, copra, handicrafts |
Exports - partners | Uganda 15.9%, UK 10.3%, US 8.2%, Netherlands 7.9%, Tanzania 7.7%, Pakistan 4.9% (2006) | New Zealand (2004) |
Fiscal year | 1 July - 30 June | 1 April - 31 March |
Flag description | three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and green; the red band is edged in white; a large warrior's shield covering crossed spears is superimposed at the center | the flag of New Zealand is used |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 24%
industry: 16.7% services: 59.2% (2004 est.) |
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA% services: NA% |
GDP - real growth rate | 6.1% (2006 est.) | NA% |
Geographic coordinates | 1 00 N, 38 00 E | 9 00 S, 172 00 W |
Geography - note | the Kenyan Highlands comprise one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa; glaciers are found on Mount Kenya, Africa's second highest peak; unique physiography supports abundant and varied wildlife of scientific and economic value | consists of three atolls, each with a lagoon surrounded by a number of reef-bound islets of varying length and rising to over three meters above sea level |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 37.2% (2000) |
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Illicit drugs | widespread harvesting of small plots of marijuana; transit country for South Asian heroin destined for Europe and North America; Indian methaqualone also transits on way to South Africa; significant potential for money-laundering activity given the country's status as a regional financial center; massive corruption, and relatively high levels of narcotics-associated activities | - |
Imports | NA bbl/day | $969,200 c.i.f. (2002) |
Imports - commodities | machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel, resins and plastics | foodstuffs, building materials, fuel |
Imports - partners | UAE 11.8%, India 8.8%, China 8.3%, Saudi Arabia 8.3%, US 7%, South Africa 6.4%, UK 5.3%, Japan 4.7% (2006) | New Zealand (2004) |
Independence | 12 December 1963 (from UK) | none (territory of New Zealand) |
Industrial production growth rate | 6.3% (2006 est.) | - |
Industries | small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, clothing, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural products, horticulture, oil refining; aluminum, steel, lead; cement, commercial ship repair, tourism | small-scale enterprises for copra production, woodworking, plaited craft goods; stamps, coins; fishing |
Infant mortality rate | total: 57.44 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 60.44 deaths/1,000 live births female: 54.38 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
total: NA
male: NA female: NA |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 14.5% (2006 est.) | NA% |
International organization participation | ACP, AfDB, AU, C, COMESA, EAC, EADB, FAO, G-15, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM, ONUB, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO | PIF (observer), SPC, UNESCO (associate), UPU |
Irrigated land | 1,030 sq km (2003) | NA |
Judicial branch | Court of Appeal (chief justice is appointed by the president); High Court | Supreme Court in New Zealand exercises civil and criminal jurisdiction in Tokelau |
Labor force | 1.963 million (2006 est.) | 440 |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 75%
industry and services: 25% (2003 est.) |
- |
Land boundaries | total: 3,477 km
border countries: Ethiopia 861 km, Somalia 682 km, Sudan 232 km, Tanzania 769 km, Uganda 933 km |
0 km |
Land use | arable land: 8.01%
permanent crops: 0.97% other: 91.02% (2005) |
arable land: 0% (soil is thin and infertile)
permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (2005) |
Languages | English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages | Tokelauan (a Polynesian language), English |
Legal system | based on Kenyan statutory law, Kenyan and English common law, tribal law, and Islamic law; judicial review in High Court; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; constitutional amendment of 1982 making Kenya a de jure one-party state repealed in 1991 | New Zealand and local statutes |
Legislative branch | unicameral National Assembly or Bunge (224 seats; 210 members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms, 12 so-called "nominated" members who are appointed by the president but selected by the parties in proportion to their parliamentary vote totals, 2 ex-officio members)
elections: last held 27 December 2002 (next to be held in December 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NARC 125, KANU 64, FORD-P 14, other 7; ex-officio 2; seats appointed by the president - NARC 7, KANU 4, FORD-P 1 |
unicameral General Fono (21 seats; based upon proportional representation from the three islands elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms; Nukunonu has 6 seats, Fakaofo has 7 seats, Atafu has 8 seats); note - the Tokelau Amendment Act of 1996 confers limited legislative power on the General Fono
elections: last held January 2005 (next to be held January 2008) |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 55.31 years
male: 55.24 years female: 55.37 years (2007 est.) |
total population: NA
male: NA female: NA |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 85.1% male: 90.6% female: 79.7% (2003 est.) |
NA |
Location | Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and Tanzania | Oceania, group of three atolls in the South Pacific Ocean, about one-half of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand |
Map references | Africa | Oceania |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation |
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm |
Merchant marine | total: 1 ship (1000 GRT or over) 3,737 GRT/5,558 DWT
by type: petroleum tanker 1 registered in other countries: 5 (Bahamas 1, Comoros 1, St Vincent and The Grenadines 2, Tuvalu 1, unknown 1) (2007) |
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Military - note | - | defense is the responsibility of New Zealand |
Military branches | Kenyan Army, Kenyan Navy, Kenyan Air Force (2007) | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | $66.72 million |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.8% (2006) | - |
National holiday | Independence Day, 12 December (1963) | Waitangi Day (Treaty of Waitangi established British sovereignty over New Zealand), 6 February (1840) |
Nationality | noun: Kenyan(s)
adjective: Kenyan |
noun: Tokelauan(s)
adjective: Tokelauan |
Natural hazards | recurring drought; flooding during rainy seasons | lies in Pacific typhoon belt |
Natural resources | limestone, soda ash, salt, gemstones, fluorspar, zinc, diatomite, gypsum, wildlife, hydropower | NEGL |
Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) | NA |
Pipelines | refined products 894 km (2006) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-Kenya or FORD-Kenya [Musikari KOMBO or Soita SHITANDA, disputed]; Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-People or FORD-People [Simeon NYACHAE]; Kenya African National Union or KANU [Nicholas BIWOTT or Uhuru KENYATTA, disputed]; National Rainbow Coalition-Kenya or NARC-K [Mwai KIBAKI, unofficially, since the break-up of KIBAKI's original coalition]; Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya or ODM-Kenya [Raila ODINGA, unofficially] | none |
Political pressure groups and leaders | human rights groups; labor unions; Muslim organizations; National Convention Executive Council or NCEC, a proreform coalition of political parties and nongovernment organizations [Ndung'u WAINANA]; Protestant National Council of Churches of Kenya or NCCK [Mutava MUSYIMI]; Roman Catholic and other Christian churches; Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims or SUPKEM [Shaykh Abdul Gafur al-BUSAIDY] | none |
Population | 36,913,721
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 2007 est.) |
1,392 (July 2006 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 50% (2000 est.) | NA% |
Population growth rate | 2.799% (2007 est.) | -0.01% (2006 est.) |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 24, FM 18, shortwave 6 (2001) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA
note: 1 radio station provides service to all islands (2002) |
Railways | total: 2,778 km
narrow gauge: 2,778 km 1.000-m gauge (2006) |
- |
Religions | Protestant 45%, Roman Catholic 33%, Muslim 10%, indigenous beliefs 10%, other 2%
note: a large majority of Kenyans are Christian, but estimates for the percentage of the population that adheres to Islam or indigenous beliefs vary widely |
Congregational Christian Church 70%, Roman Catholic 28%, other 2%
note: on Atafu, all Congregational Christian Church of Samoa; on Nukunonu, all Roman Catholic; on Fakaofo, both denominations, with the Congregational Christian Church predominant |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.02 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.014 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.004 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.849 male(s)/female total population: 1.004 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
NA |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 21 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: inadequate; fixed-line telephone system is small and inefficient; trunks are primarily microwave radio relay; business data commonly transferred by a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) system
domestic: no recent growth in fixed-line infrastructure and the sole provider, Telkom Kenya, is slated for privatization; multiple providers in the mobile-cellular segment of the market fostering a boom in mobile-cellular telephone usage international: country code - 254; satellite earth stations - 4 Intelsat |
general assessment: modern satellite-based communications system;
domestic: radiotelephone service between islands international: country code - 690; radiotelephone service to Samoa; government-regulated telephone service (TeleTok), with 3 satellite earth stations |
Telephones - main lines in use | 293,400 (2006) | 300 (2002) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 6.485 million (2006) | 0 (2001) |
Television broadcast stations | 8 (2001) | - |
Terrain | low plains rise to central highlands bisected by Great Rift Valley; fertile plateau in west | low-lying coral atolls enclosing large lagoons |
Total fertility rate | 4.82 children born/woman (2007 est.) | NA |
Unemployment rate | 40% (2001 est.) | NA% |
Waterways | part of Lake Victoria system is within boundaries of Kenya (2006) | - |