Kenya is the economic, financial, and transport hub of East Africa. Kenya’s real GDP growth has averaged over 5% for the last eight years. Since 2014, Kenya has been ranked as a lower middle income country because its per capita GDP crossed a World Bank threshold. While Kenya has a growing entrepreneurial middle class and steady growth, its economic and development trajectory could be impaired by weak governance and corruption. Although reliable numbers are hard to find, unemployment and under-employment are extremely high, and could be near 40% of the population.

 

Inadequate infrastructure continues to hamper Kenya’s efforts to improve its annual growth to the 8-10% range so that it can meaningfully address poverty and unemployment.

 

Kenya has experienced dramatic population growth since the mid-20th century as a result of its high birth rate and its declining mortality rate. More than 40% of Kenyans are under the age of 15 because of sustained high fertility, early marriage and childbearing, and an unmet need for family planning. Kenya’s persistent rapid population growth strains the labor market, social services, arable land, and natural resources. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ke.html  

 

In Kenya, the people most vulnerable to food insecurity live in urban informal settlements and in the arid and semi-arid regions that make up 80 percent of the country’s land area. A quarter of the population lives in these regions, which suffer from poverty, structural underdevelopment, conflict and disease. Droughts and unpredictable rain patterns exacerbate the situation, and 47 percent of the country’s overall population lives below the poverty line. http://www1.wfp.org/countries/kenya