Employment vs Population in Kenya

I investigated Kenya’s rural versus urban life. According to the CIA World Factbook about 80% of the population lives in rural areas as of 2008. However, from WHO I was able to obtain that only 58% live in rural areas. Even though these statistics are off, the numbers are still both very large. We can say that less than half of the population live in cities, while the rest live elsewhere. Of the 30 million people in Kenya about 23% are below the poverty line of earning one dollar a day as mentioned in WHO. From the textbook I was able to see that there is a 45% unemployment rate. From all of these facts I was able to derive that less than half lived in the cities, meaning that they were a bit well off in their lifestyles, while the other plus 50% were not doing so well and living in rural areas. Also from the 23% below poverty border percentage I was able to conclude that even the people that are employed (55%) a bit less than half is not earning enough money to maintain themselves. Over all I conclude that there is a little bit of people that are fine in Kenya, but over one half of the population are squalors.

Education in Kenya

Kenya has had a variety of results from the colonialism of European settlers. There is a 45% unemployment rate and 20% of the population is living below the poverty line. Kenya has one of the highest rate of population growth rates in the world. The problems are only worsened by fighting between ethnic groups and fragile political stability. So I was quite surprised when I found the following statistics. The adult literacy rate is 73.6 % compared with the 60.1 of the rest of Africa. And there is a 66% enrollment ration for primary school. Not only was this surprising because both young boys and girls have an equal enrollment rate in school, but how the education seems so prominent in a country with so much poverty and unemployment. However, unlike many other African countries, Kenya welcomed the Europeans, who brought over foreign investment and profit incentives. While many are unemployed and six of the thirty million people are squatters, the strong presence of the West provides a good explanation for the impressive educational statistics in Africa. 

Nigeria and Education

Although recently Nigeria has been split through racial, economic, and other tensions, it is not the classic picture of a chaotic African country that we would picture. Take, for example, education in Nigeria. The adult literacy rate is 66.8%, and the percentage of children enrolled in primary (elementary) school is 74% for males, and 60% for females. This relatively high percentage of education can be attributed partly to Nigeria's extremely vast supplies of oil and the capital gained from its sale, which allow for the infrastructure and networking required for a working education system. The HIV/AIDS infection percentage for Nigeria is around 5%, as opposed to the 7% in the rest of the African Region. The use of condoms in young people is approximately half for men, and a quarter for women. This possibly shows the effects of education regarding sex, STDs, and safe sex in general.

However, looking at the other statistics for Nigeria in the World Health Organization's factsheet, Nigeria's education levels appear contradictory in relation to figures such as the relatively high infant-mortality, high amount of people living below the poverty line, low percentages of access to improved sanitation and water supplies (in relation to the rest of the African Region).

Tanzania

In 1967, the Arusha Declaration was passed making Tanzania a socialist country. Initially this reduced the amount of corruption and stabilized the government. Tanzania seemed to be better off than many other African countries. 

Even though Tanzania shared its wealth, their wasn't much to share. Inadequate soil and rainfall made agriculture a difficult center for their economy. The low resources have stunted the growth of the country and created much poverty both in urban and rural areas. 

Both malaria and AIDS are huge causes of death for Tanzania and this may result from their urban poverty. Their number of adult deaths is much higher than other African countries. Part of this could be attributed to their lack of resources ie. food. 

Kenya: Urban vs. Rural

I looked at Kenya, a country that opted for capitalism. Though Kenya is successful in that it has a strong middle class, this wealth is based mostly in the capital, Nairobi. Elsewhere, unemployment, landlessness, and income inequities are fairly high. From WHO I found that around 42% of the population lives in urban areas. They are probably the successful middle class, flourishing in the capital. However, this leaves over half the population to other areas in the country. According to World History, almost one-fifth of Kenya's thirty million people are squatters, with unemployment estimated at nearly 45%. Combining these statistics with the ones from WHO, you can see that, though just under half of the population is doing well, and equal amount of people are suffering--unworking and possibly homeless. According to WHO, just about 23% of the people in Kenya live below the poverty level (under $1 a day). So basically, half of the population of Kenya is doing fine. Another quarter live in squalor. All of those, plus a quarter more, are unemployed. There is some discrepancy between the WHO data and the data from Wolrd History. In World History 80% of the population is said to remain rural, while only 20% occupies urban areas. Naturally, with these different statistics, the statistics for the percent of the population below the poverty line were also much higher: 40% of Kenyans. In either case, of the people that live in rural areas, about half are moneyless--a very concerning statistic. Is the middle class so focused on "the tradition of aggressive commerce" that they do not see how bad off the majority of the rest of their country is?

Rural Life In Kenya

I decided to look at the quality of life in rural areas in Kenya, a very interesting and recently messed-up country.  According to the WHO website, only 58% of Kenyan citizens live in rural environments, as opposed to a whopping 84% for nearby Ethiopia, but the information given is from 2005.  On the CIA World Factbook, Kenya's urban population is listed at only 22%, and the data is from 2008.  It also lists that the urbanization rate over the last five years has been roughly 4%, so people are continuing to move into the cities.  

Despite this information, Kenya remains a country most recognized for its small tribal villages which have kept the same way of life for centuries.  While culturally stimulating, this system has proven to be unproductive in terms of raising the standard of living for the majority of Kenyans.  The national unemployment rate is around 45%, higher than the average in Africa, which is mildly surprising considering Kenya's relatively strong economy.  Also, 75% of the country's workforce are agricultural workers, mostly using archaic and inefficient methods, again hampering the potential for growth.  

Although the image of men with spears herding cattle is a beautiful defining image, Kenya's rural population is far too great to be efficient in moving the country towards a better future.

Ethiopia+Rural Areas

I researched the facts about Ethiopia and its urban/rural population. Ethiopia has a very low percentage of people living in urban area (16 percent). The other people live on farms and other rural areas. The adult literacy rate is 9.4 percent, which is below the average for Africa. The net primary school enrollment ratio is also below average. This is caused by not a lot of people living in urban areas where education can be provided. Ethiopia also lacks people that work in the health systems. They only have 93 dentists and less than 2000 physicians for the whole country. All of their statistics for health workers are a lot below the average line in Africa.