Kenya by Emma Chang

Kenya is a country in Eastern Africa that shares borders with Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, is situated in the Southwest part of the country. Kenya also has an Indian Ocean coastal section that helps with trades from Asian and Arabian countries. Kenya is a little larger than California in terms of sq miles, population wise Kenya is almost at 65 million people in the country. Most people live in the city, Nairobi, while the next most populated city is Mombasa, a city on the coast in Southern Kenya. The population has been slowly rising in the last 20 years and is projected to have a steady rise for the next 20 years. As of 2020, there are slightly more women over men in Kenya.

The demographic in Kenya is mostly tribes native to the land, including Kikuyu (17%) and Luhya (14%) the two highest population groups in Kenya. There are also other Africans (13%) and Non-Africans (1%) that live in Kenya. The most spoken language is Bantus (67%) and Nilotes (30%) but the official languages of Kenya are English and Swahili and there are still many other languages that are spoken in Kenya. English is an official language because of the British Empire that established a colony in Kenya in 1920 and Kenya declared independence in 1963.

Climate change is one of the main concerns for Kenya since most of their economy is based on agriculture and tourism. Once the climate change crisis gets worse the Kenya economy will take a hit since those 2 things will be widely impacted. The increasing heat will cause droughts and losses of livestock and crops which will lead to famines and impacts on the basic human needs, such as water and food. The coastline on the Indian Ocean will be affected by the rise of the ocean and that will impact the scenery and different types of fishing that is done there. The rise in climate change will also lead to more severe storms that will affect every part of Kenya.

Between 2010 and 2018, Kenya’s economy was the fastest growing in Africa with the annual growth at almost 6% and the GDP at $95 billion. However, the COVID-19 pandemic hit Kenya hard as the tourism industry wasn’t able to run and transportation was stopped. The international trade was stopped and continued to be off and on which also affected Kenya’s economic development. However, in 2021 there was a sign that the economy was recovering and most of the trades and agriculture had been brought back which is helping with the economy, the only thing that still has yet to return and help the economy is tourism, as the COVID-19 pandemic is still happening. In Kenya, ⅔ of people are living in poverty and make less than $3.20 USD a day. This inequality shows that women and girls especially have a hard time getting a job and living a life above poverty. There is a large gap between the rich of Kenya and the poor of Kenya, where 70% of Kenyans are still living in poverty and struggle with food insecurity and health access which shows that Kenya still has a hard time achieving the basic human needs of life.

The most important thing to look at is the environment because once that is harmed the economic development will plummet and tourism will be affected putting all the work Kenya has done these last few years in history.

Kenya Environmental Crisis by Emma Chang

Justice Warrior in Kenya by Emma Chang

Kenya Infographic by Emma Chang

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