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.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

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.)

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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.)

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Median age: total: 18.6 years male: 18.5 years female: 18.7 years (2007 est.)

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Population growth rate: 2.799% (2007 est.)

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Birth rate: 38.94 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Death rate: 10.95 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) 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.) 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.)

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Life expectancy at birth: total population: 55.31 years male: 55.24 years female: 55.37 years (2007 est.)

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Total fertility rate: 4.82 children born/woman (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 6.7% (2003 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 1.2 million (2003 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - deaths: 150,000 (2003 est.)

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Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne disease: malaria is a high risk in some locations water contact disease: schistosomiasis (2007)

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Nationality: noun: Kenyan(s) adjective: Kenyan

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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%

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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

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Languages: English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages

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Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 85.1% male: 90.6% female: 79.7% (2003 est.)

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.

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GDP (purchasing power parity): $41.48 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP (official exchange rate): $17.49 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP - real growth rate: 6.1% (2006 est.)

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GDP - per capita (PPP): $1,200 (2006 est.)

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GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 16.3% industry: 18.8% services: 65% (2004 est.)

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Labor force: 1.955 million (2006 est.)

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Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 75% industry and services: 25% (2003 est.)

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Unemployment rate: 40% (2001 est.)

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Population below poverty line: 50% (2000 est.)

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Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2% highest 10%: 37.2% (2000)

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Distribution of family income - Gini index: 44.5 (1997)

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Inflation rate (consumer prices): 10.5% (2006 est.)

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Investment (gross fixed): 19.2% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Budget: revenues: $4.448 billion expenditures: $5.377 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.)

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Public debt: 50.5% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Agriculture - products: tea, coffee, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, pork, poultry, eggs

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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

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Industrial production growth rate: 6.3% (2006 est.)

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Electricity - production: 5.709 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - consumption: 5.459 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2004)

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Electricity - imports: 150 million kWh (2004)

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Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - consumption: 55,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - exports: NA bbl/day

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Oil - imports: NA bbl/day

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Oil - proved reserves: 0 bbl

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Natural gas - production: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - consumption: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Current account balance: -$1.119 billion (2006 est.)

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Exports: $3.614 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Exports - commodities: tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, fish, cement

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Exports - partners: Uganda 15.8%, UK 10.2%, US 8.1%, Netherlands 7.8%, Tanzania 7.6%, Pakistan 4.9% (2006)

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Imports: $6.602 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Imports - commodities: machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel, resins and plastics

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Imports - partners: UAE 12%, India 8.9%, China 8.4%, Saudi Arabia 8.4%, US 7.1%, South Africa 6.4%, UK 5.4%, Japan 4.8% (2006)

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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $2.35 billion (2006 est.)

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Debt - external: $6.675 billion (2006 est.)

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Economic aid - recipient: $453 million (1997)

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Currency (code): Kenyan shilling (KES)

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Exchange rates: Kenyan shillings per US dollar - 72.101 (2006), 75.554 (2005), 79.174 (2004), 75.936 (2003), 78.749 (2002)

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Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June