Kenya Vs. Australia

Kenya Vs. Australia

By Amanda D. 

        Perhaps the most important aspect of living that we sometimes take for granted is the quality of life that we receive by living and working where we do. If you walked around the world, you would witness the amount of poverty, suffrage, and struggles people experience in their lives. Being a part of functional society, we don't really notice these cracks and holes in our changing world. So, in this essay, I will be explaining in detail, the differences and similarities between the two countries, Kenya and Australia.

        To begin, there are many differences that can affect the quality of life between these countries. Kenya has an area of 580,367 sq km with a population of 45,010,056. Whereas, Australia is 7,741,220 sq km with a population of 22,507,617. According to "The Central Intelligence Agency", in Australia, the mean age of mother's at first birth is about 30.5 however, in Kenya the mean age is approximately 19.8 years old. This is the reason why the majority (42.1%) of the population in Kenya are under the age of 14 while in Australia most people (41.8%) are aged between 25-54.  Kenya is situated in Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and Tanzania. Australia is located in Oceania, between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. Where a country is located determines its geographical features like the climate, terrain, and natural resources. This is why Kenya's climate varies from tropical along coast to arid in interior contrary to Australia's which is generally arid to semiarid; temperate in south and east; tropical in north. The terrain of a country depends on its climate. This is why Australia's terrain is mostly low plateau with deserts and fertile plains in the southeast. But Kenya's is low plains that rise to central highlands bisected by the Great Rift Valley with fertile plateaus in the west. Continuing, the agriculture and natural resources depend on the terrain and climate of a country as, some foods and resources can only grow under certain conditions. Kenya can produce many foods such as, tea, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, and poultry. On the other hand Australia provides, wheat, barley, sugarcane, fruits, cattle, and sheep. Same goes for natural resources. Australia has coal, gold, rare earth elements, mineral sands, diamonds, natural gas, and petroleum, unlike Kenya which has limestone, soda ash, salt and gemstones. These are some of the hundreds of differences that separate a developed from a developing country.

        Furthermore, comparing countries who are at different stages in growth will tend to have minimum similarities. Noted in the article by "OECD.org" in both countries the majority speaks English and is an official language. In Kenya and Australia more than half of the country speaks fluent English. Another interesting fact was that Australia and Kenya both have about the same death rate. Both have a death rate of, about 7-7.7/1,000 population. Additionally, both Australia and Kenya are obviously countries, neither is an island or a city. "Pearson School Atlas" states that their geography contains a deserted area with similar attributes. They both import many different commodities but machinery and transport equipment are two things they have in common.