According to a recent government survey, 16.5 million Kenyans - over half the entire population - live below the poverty line. There is falling life expectancy due to AIDS and inadequate social services. To compound the country's problems, the majority of the land in Kenya is arid; this contributed to severe droughts in recent years.
In 2008 the United Nations Development Programme ranked Kenya 144th out of 177 countries in its Poverty Ranking exercise (a ranking based on each countries statistics for life expectancy, literacy and gross domestic product). Approximately 60% of Kenya's population is comprised of persons under the age of 30. Most of them are either in school or not gainfully engaged after school since long term unemployment is high. Schools are completely overstretched and there is a serious shortage of teachers, which leads to poor quality education and a low level of literacy among school leavers.
Kenya facts and figures:
- Motto: "Let us pull together"
- Anthem: "O God of all creation"
- Capital: Nairobi
- Official languages: English, Swahili
- Government: Democratic Republic
- President: Mwai Kibaki
- PM: Raila Odinga
- Population: 31,639,091 (Unesco Global Monitoring Report 2008)
- Total area: 582,646 sq km/224,961 sq miles
- Main exports: Tea, coffee, horticultural products, petroleum products
- GDP: $48.33 billion (total)/$1,445 (per capita)
- Currency: Kenyan Shilling
- Life expectancy (UN): 48 years (men) 46 years (women)
- Living with HIV & AIDS: 6.1%