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Kenya
Kenya is one of the very few countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa lucky enough to have accumulated a fair number and size of population
data. These were obtained from the regular censuses and numerous surveys it has
conducted in the post-independence years. In addition, both of the
international demographic and health surveys – the World Fertility Survey
(WFS), and the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) - have included Kenya among
countries selected for study. The latter was conducted in 1989, and produced a
wealth of data on the demographic and health status of Kenya. Among the
findings of the survey are the fast decline in both fertility and mortality levels
throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The
fertility decline continues still. Kenya has a population of 30 million (year
2000), the seventh largest in Africa after Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, and Tanzania.
To view the population density map of Kenya, please
visit:
Source: http://www.fao.org/giews/english/basedocs/ken/kenpop1e.stm
The average density of (135 persons per square mile) is lower than that of Nigeria
(346), and Ethiopia (150), but higher than that of the other four. Internationally,
there are countries with much higher population densities of over a thousand
persons per square mile, including the high-density countries of Singapore
(16714 per square mile), Slovenia (1166), and the Netherlands (1010). Kenya’s
natural growth rate of 2.1 percent is far lower than the rate under the high
fertility regime of the earlier years, and results from a relatively low crude
birth rate of 35 per thousand, and a crude death rate of 14 per thousand.
The recent fertility decline in Kenya is very dramatic. The total fertility rate of 4.7 compares very favorably with the life-time completed family size of 7.3 children reported for women in the 40-49 age group in the DHS survey. This shows that the generations of women now completing their reproductive periods have a much higher fertility than those that are just starting the reproductive process. This would not have occurred without change in attitude regarding the desired family size and the value of children. Nearly half of Kenyan women now in their reproductive years said they do not want any more children. About a quarter expressed a desire to delay their next birth at least 2 years. The mean ideal number of number of children is 3.7. Half of the women who gave birth in the last five years prior to the 1989 DHS survey stated that the pregnancies were either unwanted, or mistimed. Attitude changes are also being observed in a number of other African nations prompting some to declare that a broad-based fertility decline may have began in Sub-Saharan Africa. The main catalysts are revolutionary changes in the attitude towards family size, as well as the wider acceptance of modern birth control methods. In Kenya the use of contraception rose from 7 percent of couples using in 1983 to 33 percent in 1992, in Zimbabwe from 38 percent to 54 percent in year 2000, and in South Africa from 37 percent in 1975 to 56 percent in the year 2000. Mortality levels are also changing in Kenya. The infant mortality rate of 74 and under five mortality of 119 deaths per 1000 births are among the lowest in the East African region.
Only
a fifth of Kenya’s population lives in urban areas. Under the British, Kenya
developed an economy based on the export of agricultural products. Three
quarters of Kenyans in the labor force earned their living by farming, the
majority by subsistence farming. There are more than 40 ethnic groups belonging
to three linguistic families; the Bantu, the Cushitic, and the Nilotic. The
Kikuyu, who make up 21 percent of the population, are Kenya’s largest ethnic
group. Other major groups include the Luhya (14%), the Luo (12 %), the Kamba
(11%), and the Kalenjin (11%).
Kenya:
Summary Statistics.
Source: http://www.unicef.org/statis/Country_1Page90.html
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