KENYA

Kenya

Kenya is a country of East Africa, giving on the Indian Ocean.

Relief of Kenya east made up of a broad  arid or semi-arid plate, which covers most of north and is country. In the central zone,  the large volcanic assembly lines  culminate with 5 199 meters of altitude (with the Kenya mount). Lastly, more in the west,  the Valley Rift  is marked by an abrupt cliff succession. Kenya has more than 400 km of coasts bordered of islands. The country has almost the totality of the lake Turkana and a small part of Lake Victoria (the largest Africa Lake). Kenya is famous for its  fauna,  rich in savage animals: antelopes, elephants, rhinocéros, zebras, giraffes, lions and other large cat-like, various birds, reptiles, etc. In order to protect these species, of many  national parks and reserves  were created; these protected surfaces are located in savanna, represent more than 10 % of the territory and attract many tourists.

The population of Kenya is made up many African people (among which Kikuyu and Massaïs) and includes/understands also Indian, European, Arab minorities and somali. The majority of Kenyans are  Christian  (approximately 65 %), but  the animists  constitute a significant minority (more than 25 %).

The majority of Kenyans saw agriculture. The country is self-sufficing in basic foodstuffs (cereals, vegetables, canes with sugar, pineapple, groundnuts, etc), and the principal commercial culture is  the tea. The breeding  (sheep, oxen, goats) is a significant activity.  The hydroelectric production  of the dams Kiambare and Turkwell constitutes the greatest industrial richness of Kenya, which does not need to import in the energy field.  Tourism  became a considerable source of income. However, Kenya remains depend on the international assistance; its foreign debt is very heavy. 

Kenya
Population	36,9 million inhabitants in 2007
Capital	Nairobi (2 143 020 inhabitants in 1999)
Surface	582 646 km²
Official language	English and swahili
Currency	shilling of Kenya

TO GO FURTHER

? Africa

? the capital of Kenya:  Nairobi

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KOWEIT

Koweït

Koweït is a country of  the Middle East, located in the east of the Arabique peninsula and giving on the Arabo-Persique gulf.

Koweït is a primarily desert  country. The temperature can reach nearly 50 °C during the dry season, and precipitations are very weak.

Koweïtiens represent only one third of the population, made up essentially of  immigrant workers, in particular Asian (Indians and Pakistani).

Koweït is one of the richest countries of the world. The hydrocarbons constitute the only natural resources of the country, but they are abundant: the crude oil reserves   allow a one approximately 150 years duration exploitation. Industry koweïtienne rests mainly on the extraction and the refining of oil. However, at the time of the first  war of the Gulf  (started in 1991 after the invasion of the country by Iraq, in August 1990), of the hundreds of oil well were destroyed.

Koweït
Population	2,51 million inhabitants in 2007
Capital	Koweït (agglomeration, 1 222 374 inhabitants in 2003)
Surface	17 818 km²
Official language	Arabic
Currency	dinar koweïtien

TO GO FURTHER

? the Middle East

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DEMOGRAPHY

demography

Demography is  the science which studies the human populations. This study is primarily  quantitative: demography enters the number of inhabitants of a territory at a given time, the number of births and death, the number of displacements, etc. It thus rests above all on  figures and statistics.

WHAT STUDIES THE DEMOGRAPHERS?

The demographers want initially  to describe the populations per quantities: they study for example the number of births, the number of deaths or the number of inhabitants in a delimited geographical area.

They are interested then in  the composition of this population: they thus will divide the population in groups by age, profession, social category, and place place of work of habitat.

The comparison of the statistics makes it possible  to highlight differences by country. Thus, in France, 7 children out of 1000 die before the one year age; to Mali, 159; in China, 44.

The comparison also makes it possible  to identify evolutions: if the birth rate is higher than the death rate, the population increases.

Demography also seeks  to explain the evolutions  of the population which it highlights. The strong fall of the mortality occurred since  the xviii ^E century in Europe is explained by progress of hygiene, medicine, the food. Demography is thus related on the economy, the history, the geography, medicine, sociology, etc.

FOR WHAT IS USED DEMOGRAPHY?

The statistics make it possible  to identify certain problems  and to set up solutions: when the infant mortality is much more significant in a country than in the others, the State knows that this mortality can be reduced, and can thus seek to promote measurements of hygiene, vaccination, information…

Demography does not have only one descriptive or explanatory interest: it is  a significant tool of forecast  for the State. If the number of births strongly increases, of new schools will be necessary three years later, of new universities 18 years later, of new old people's homes 70 years later. In the same way, if the demographers note that the urban population increases, it is necessary to encourage the construction of residences downtown.

Demography also makes it possible at the State to take measures  to rebalance the generations  or  to influence the number of the population. In the Western countries where the population comprises more and more old people and less and less young people, the State encourages the births by proposing family benefits proportional to the number of children. In other countries, the population is too significant for the size of the country or its capacity to produce enough food for all; the action of the State then aims on the contrary at discouraging the birthrate, while encouraging contraception  —this policy of birth-control can go until prohibition to have more than one child by family.

WHO A INVENTED DEMOGRAPHY?

The first censuses date from the Roman time and spread to  the xix ^E century. Demography itself is a rather recent science: one considers that it was born with the work from  Robert Malthus,  Essai on the principle of population,  published in 1798. This English economist underlined the dangers of the increase in population when the production does not make it possible to nourish it. In France, the economist and demographer  Alfred Sauvy  melt in 1945 the national Institute of demographic studies (INED), whose mission is the study of the problems of population, considered under all their aspects.

TO GO FURTHER

? the census
? the birth rate
? the death rate
? the infant mortality rate
? the life expectancy
? the rate of fruitfulness
? the growth rate of the population
? density of population
? working population

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