Kenya
Nairobi · East Africa
Kenya is a country in Africa. Its capital city is Nairobi, the official currency is the Kenyan Shilling, and the main language is Swahili.
With a population of roughly 55.1 million people spread over 580,367 km², Kenya is the 26th most populous country in the world and the 47th largest by area. That works out at about 95 people per square kilometre.
Kenya shares land borders with Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania — 5 neighbours in all. Its largest urban centres are Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. The highest point in the country is Mount Kenya, at 5,199 metres.
For scale, it covers almost exactly the same area as Botswana, while its population is closest to that of Myanmar.
- Capital
- Nairobi
- Region
- East Africa
- Population
- 55,100,000
- Area
- 580,367 km²
- Currency
- Kenyan Shilling
- Main language
- Swahili
- Highest point
- Mount Kenya
5,199 m - Land borders
- 5
Kenya: things worth knowing
- The Great Rift Valley runs the length of Kenya and is dotted with soda lakes drawing millions of flamingos.
- Kenya pioneered mobile money with M-Pesa, which reshaped banking across East Africa.
- Its highland athletes have dominated middle- and long-distance running for decades.
Kenya in context
Africa has 54 sovereign countries in total. Kenya ranks 7th among them by population.
See the full list of Africa countries, or browse all 195 countries.