As of 2020, over *** thousand Kenyans were living abroad. The United States was the main destination for those emigrating from Kenya, hosting nearly *** thousand immigrants. The United Kingdom followed closely. Around ***** thousand Kenyans lived in the country that year.

Kikuyu was the largest ethnic group in Kenya, accounting for ** percent of the country's population in 2019. Native to Central Kenya, the Kikuyu constitute a Bantu group with more than eight million people. The groups Luhya and Kalenjin followed, with respective shares of **** percent and **** percent of the population. Overall, Kenya has more than 40 ethnic groups.

As of 2020, over *** thousand Kenyans were estimated to be living abroad, the majority in the United States and the United Kingdom. The number of those emigrating from Kenya progressively increased in the last 20 years. In 2000, around ***** thousand Kenyan immigrants dwelled other countries in the world.

Kenya KE: Population Density: People per Square Km data was reported at 87.324 Person/sq km in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 85.149 Person/sq km for 2016. Kenya KE: Population Density: People per Square Km data is updated yearly, averaging 39.767 Person/sq km from Dec 1961 (Median) to 2017, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 87.324 Person/sq km in 2017 and a record low of 14.691 Person/sq km in 1961. Kenya KE: Population Density: People per Square Km data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Kenya – Table KE.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population density is midyear population divided by land area in square kilometers. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of their country of origin. Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes.; ; Food and Agriculture Organization and World Bank population estimates.; Weighted average;

As of 2043, Nairobi was the most populated city in Kenya, with more than 2.7 million people living in the capital. The city is also the only one in the country with a population exceeding one million. For instance, Mombasa, the second most populated, has nearly 800 thousand inhabitants. As of 2020, Kenya's population was estimated at over 53.7 million people.

Kenya KE: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 31.985 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 32.132 % for 2016. Kenya KE: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 35.120 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 50.731 % in 1962 and a record low of 31.985 % in 2017. Kenya KE: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Kenya – Table KE.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; Weighted average;

Abstract

The World Bank in collaboration with the Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) conducted a cross-sectional survey on refugee and host populations living in Nairobi. The survey was based on the Kenya Continuous Household Survey (KCHS) and targets both host populations and refugees living in Nairobi. Through a participatory training format, enumerators learned how to collect quality data specific for refugees as well as nationals. Daily data quality monitoring dashboards were produced during the data collection periods to provide feedback to the field team and correct possible errors. The data was collected with CAPI technique through the World Bank developed Survey Solutions software; this ensured high standards of data storage, protection and pre-processing.

The sample is representative of refugees and other residents living in Nairobi. The refugee sample was drawn from UNHCR’s database of refugees and asylum seekers (proGres) using implicit stratification by sub-county and country of origin. The host community sampling frame was drawn using a two-stage cluster design. In the first stage, eligible enumeration areas (EAs) based on the 2019 Population and Housing Census were selected. In the second stage 12 households were sampled from each EA. The survey differentiates between two types of host communities: ‘core’ host communities were drawn from EAs located within the three areas with the largest number of refugee families: Kasarani, Eastleigh North and Kayole. At least 10 percent of the Nairobi refugee families reside in each of these areas. ‘Wider’ host communities cover the rest of the Nairobi population and were drawn from EAs which do not cover the three areas in which many refugees live.

For a subset of households, a women empowerment module was administered by a trained female enumerator to one randomly selected woman in each household aged 15 to 49.

The data set contains two files. hh.dta contains household level information. The ‘hhid’ variable uniquely identifies all households. hhm.dta contains data at the level of the individual for all household members. Each household member is uniquely identified by the variable ‘hhm_id’.

This cross-sectional survey was conducted between May 22 to July 27, 2021. It comprises a sample of 4,853 households in total, 2,420 of which are refugees and 2,433 are hosts.

Geographic coverage

Nairobi county, Kenya

Analysis unit

Household, Individual

Sampling procedure

The survey has two primary samples contained in the ‘sample’ variable: the refugee sample and the host community sample. The refugee sample used the UNHCR database of refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya (proGres) as the sampling frame. ProGres holds information on all registered refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya including their contact information and data on nationality and approximate location of living. We considered only refugees living in Nairobi and implicitly stratified by nationality and location. In total, the sample comprises 2,420 refugee families.

The host community sample differentiates between two types of communities. We consider ‘core’ host communities as residents who live in Eastleigh North, Kayole or Kasarani – at least 10 percent of the Nairobi refugee families reside in each of these areas. Nationals living outside these areas are considered part of the ‘wider’ host community in Nairobi. The samples for both host communities were drawn using a 2-stage cluster design. In the first stage, eligible enumeration areas (EA) were drawn from the list of EAs covering Nairobi taken from the 2019 Population and Housing Census. In the second stage a listing of all host community households was established through a household census within all selected EAs, ensuring that refugee households were excluded to prevent overlap with the refugee sampling frame. 12 households and 6 replacements were drawn per EA. Our total sample consists of 2,433 host community households, 1,221 core hosts and 1,212 wider hosts.

The three sub-samples – refugees, core hosts, and wider hosts – are reflected in the ‘strata’ variable. The EAs which form the primary sampling units for the two host samples are anonymized and included in the ‘psu’ variable. Please note that the ‘psu’ variable clusters refugees under one numeric code (888).

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

The Questionnaire is provided as external resources in pdf format. Questionnaires were produced through the World Bank developed Survey Solutions software. The survey was implemented in English,Swahili and Somali.

In 2021, most refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya were men. There were approximately ******* men compared to ******* women. This trend was observed in most of the years under review, except for 2017. The population of refugees and asylum seekers grew by ***** percent in 2021 compared to the previous year, with men constituting ** percent of the total.

Abstract

The 1998 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) is a nationally representative survey of 7,881 wo 881 women age 15-49 and 3,407 men age 15-54. The KDHS was implemented by the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) and the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), with significant technical and logistical support provided by the Ministry of Health and various other governmental and nongovernmental organizations in Kenya. Macro International Inc. of Calverton, Maryland (U.S.A.) provided technical assistance throughout the course of the project in the context of the worldwide Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) programme, while financial assistance was provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID/Nairobi) and the Department for International Development (DFID/U.K.). Data collection for the KDHS was conducted from February to July 1998. Like the previous KDHS surveys conducted in 1989 and 1993, the 1998 KDHS was designed to provide information on levels and trends in fertility, family planning knowledge and use, infant and child mortality, and other maternal and child health indicators. However, the 1998 KDHS went further to collect more in-depth data on knowledge and behaviours related to AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), detailed “calendar” data that allows estimation of contraceptive discontinuation rates, and information related to the practice of female circumcision. Further, unlike earlier surveys, the 1998 KDHS provides a national estimate of the level of maternal mortality (i.e. related to pregnancy and childbearing).The KDHS data are intended for use by programme managers and policymakers to evaluate and improve health and family planning programmes in Kenya. Fertility. The survey results demonstrate a continuation of the fertility transition in Kenya. At current fertility levels, a Kenyan women will bear 4.7 children in her life, down 30 percent from the 1989 KDHS when the total fertility rate (TFR) was 6.7 children, and 42 percent since the 1977/78 Kenya Fertility Survey (KFS) when the TFR was 8.1 children per woman. A rural woman can expect to have 5.2 children, around two children more than an urban women (3.1 children). Fertility differentials by women's education level are even more remarkable; women with no education will bear an average of 5.8 children, compared to 3.5 children for women with secondary school education. Marriage. The age at which women and men first marry has risen slowly over the past 20 years. Currently, women marry for the first time at an average age of 20 years, compared with 25 years for men. Women with a secondary education marry five years later (22) than women with no education (17).The KDHS data indicate that the practice of polygyny continues to decline in Kenya. Sixteen percent of currently married women are in a polygynous union (i.e., their husband has at least one other wife), compared with 19 percent of women in the 1993 KDHS, 23 percent in the 1989 KDHS, and 30 percent in the 1977/78 KFS. While men first marry an average of 5 years later than women, men become sexual active about onehalf of a year earlier than women; in the youngest age cohort for which estimates are available (age 20-24), first sex occurs at age 16.8 for women and 16.2 for men. Fertility Preferences. Fifty-three percent of women and 46 percent of men in Kenya do not want to have any more children. Another 25 percent of women and 27 percent of men would like to delay their next child for two years or longer. Thus, about three-quarters of women and men either want to limit or to space their births. The survey results show that, of all births in the last three years, 1 in 10 was unwanted and 1 in 3 was mistimed. If all unwanted births were avoided, the fertility rate in Kenya would fall from 4.7 to 3.5 children per woman. Family Planning. Knowledge and use of family planning in Kenya has continued to rise over the last several years. The 1998 KDHS shows that virtually all married women (98 percent) and men (99 percent) were able to cite at least one modern method of contraception. The pill, condoms, injectables, and female sterlisation are the most widely known methods. Overall, 39 percent of currently married women are using a method of contraception. Use of modern methods has increased from 27 in the 1993 KDHS to 32 percent in the 1998 KDHS. Currently, the most widely used methods are contraceptive injectables (12 percent of married women), the pill (9 percent), female sterilisation (6 percent), and periodic abstinence (6 percent). Three percent of married women are using the IUD, while over 1 percent report using the condom and 1 percent use of contraceptive implants (Norplant). The rapid increase in use of injectables (from 7 to 12 percent between 1993 and 1998) to become the predominant method, plus small rises in the use of implants, condoms and female sterilisation have more than offset small decreases in pill and IUD use. Thus, both new acceptance of contraception and method switching have characterised the 1993-1998 intersurvey period. Contraceptive use varies widely among geographic and socioeconomic subgroups. More than half of currently married women in Central Province (61 percent) and Nairobi Province (56 percent) are currently using a method, compared with 28 percent in Nyanza Province and 22 percent in Coast Province. Just 23 percent of women with no education use contraception versus 57 percent of women with at least some secondary education. Government facilities provide contraceptives to 58 percent of users, while 33 percent are supplied by private medical sources, 5 percent through other private sources, and 3 percent through community-based distribution (CBD) agents. This represents a significant shift in sourcing away from public outlets, a decline from 68 percent estimated in the 1993 KDHS. While the government continues to provide about two-thirds of IUD insertions and female sterilisations, the percentage of pills and injectables supplied out of government facilities has dropped from over 70 percent in 1993 to 53 percent for pills and 64 percent for injectables in 1998. Supply of condoms through public sector facilities has also declined: from 37 to 21 percent between 1993 and 1998. The survey results indicate that 24 percent of married women have an unmet need for family planning (either for spacing or limiting births). This group comprises married women who are not using a method of family planning but either want to wait two year or more for their next birth (14 percent) or do not want any more children (10 percent). While encouraging that unmet need at the national level has declined (from 34 to 24 percent) since 1993, there are parts of the country where the need for contraception remains high. For example, the level of unmet need is higher in Western Province (32 percent) and Coast Province (30 province) than elsewhere in Kenya. Early Childhood Mortality. One of the main objectives of the KDHS was to document current levels and trends in mortality among children under age 5. Results from the 1998 KDHS data make clear that childhood mortality conditions have worsened in the early-mid 1990s; this after a period of steadily improving child survival prospects through the mid-to-late 1980s. Under-five mortality, the probability of dying before the fifth birthday, stands at 112 deaths per 1000 live births which represents a 24 percent increase over the last decade. Survival chances during age 1-4 years suffered disproportionately: rising 38 percent over the same period. Survey results show that childhood mortality is especially high when associated with two factors: a short preceding birth interval and a low level of maternal education. The risk of dying in the first year of life is more than doubled when the child is born after an interval of less than 24 months. Children of women with no education experience an under-five mortality rate that is two times higher than children of women who attended secondary school or higher. Provincial differentials in childhood mortality are striking; under-five mortality ranges from a low of 34 deaths per 1000 live births in Central Province to a high of 199 per 1000 in Nyanza Province. Maternal Health. Utilisation of antenatal services is high in Kenya; in the three years before the survey, mothers received antenatal care for 92 percent of births (Note: These data do not speak to the quality of those antenatal services). The median number of antenatal visits per pregnancy was 3.7. Most antenatal care is provided by nurses and trained midwives (64 percent), but the percentage provided by doctors (28 percent) has risen in recent years. Still, over one-third of women who do receive care, start during the third trimester of pregnancy-too late to receive the optimum benefits of antenatal care. Mothers reported receiving at least one tetanus toxoid injection during pregnancy for 90 percent of births in the three years before the survey. Tetanus toxoid is a powerful weapon in the fight against neonatal tetanus, a deadly disease that attacks young infants. Forty-two percent of births take place in health facilities; however, this figure varies from around three-quarters of births in Nairobi to around one-quarter of births in Western Province. It is important for the health of both the mother and child that trained medical personnel are available in cases of prolonged labour or obstructed delivery, which are major causes of maternal morbidity and mortality. The 1998 KDHS collected information that allows estimation of mortality related to pregnancy and childbearing. For the 10-year period before the survey, the maternal mortality ratio was estimated to be 590 deaths per 100,000 live births. Bearing on average 4.7 children, a Kenyan woman has a 1 in 36 chance of dying from maternal causes during her lifetime. Childhood Immunisation. The KDHS

Since 1992, Kenya has been a generous host of refugees and asylum seekers, a population which today exceeds 500,000 people. The Kakuma Refugee Camps have long been among the largest hosting sites (about 40% of the total refugees in Kenya), and have become even larger in recent years, with an estimated 67 percent of the current refugee population arriving in the past five years. In 2015, UNHCR, the Government of Kenya, and partners established Kalobeyei Settlement, located 40 kilometers north of Kakuma, to reduce the population burden on the other camps and facilitate a shift towards an area-based development model that addresses the longer term prospects of both refugees and the host community. The refugee population makes up a significant share of the local population (an estimated 40 percent at the district level) and economy, engendering both positive and negative impacts on local Kenyans. While Kenya has emerged as a leader in measuring the impacts of forced displacement, refugees are not systematically included in the national household surveys that serve as the primary tools for measuring and monitoring poverty, labor markets and other welfare indicators at a country-wide level. As a result, comparison of poverty and vulnerability between refugees, host communities and nationals remains difficult. Initiated jointly by UNHCR and the World Bank, this survey replicates the preceding Kalobeyei SES (2018), designed to address these shortcomings and support the wider global vision laid out by the Global Refugee Compact and the Sustainable Development Goals. Data was collected in October 2019 to December 2019, covering about 2,122 households.

Abstract

Since 1992, Kenya has been a generous host of refugees and asylum seekers, a population which today exceeds 470,000 people. The Kakuma Refugee Camps have long been among the largest hosting sites, and have become even larger in recent years, with an estimated 67 percent of the current refugee population arriving in the past five years. In 2015, UNHCR, the Government of Kenya, and partners established Kalobeyei Settlement, located 40 kilometers north of Kakuma, to reduce the population burden on the other camps and facilitate a shift towards an area-based development model that addresses the longer term prospects of both refugees and the host community. The refugee population makes up a significant share of the local population (an estimated 40 percent at the district level) and economy, engendering both positive and negative impacts on local Kenyans. While Kenya has emerged as a leader in measuring the impacts of forced displacement, refugees are not systematically included in the national household surveys that serve as the primary tools for measuring and monitoring poverty, labor markets and other welfare indicators at a country-wide level. As a result, comparison of poverty and vulnerability between refugees, host communities and nationals remains difficult. Initiated jointly by UNHCR and the World Bank, this survey was designed to address these shortcomings and support the settlement's development framework, as well as the wider global vision laid out by the Global Refugee Compact and the Sustainable Development Goals. Data were collected in November 2018 to January 2019, covering about 6004 households.

Geographic coverage

Kalobeyei Settlement, Kenya

Analysis unit

Household and individual

Universe

All refugees living in Kalobeyei Settlement

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The objective of the survey was to cover all refugee households living in Kalobeyei. Data collection occurred concurrently with a UNHCR registration verification exercise. Registration records were updated for all households in the settlement. A systematic random sample was then selected for an extended SEP interview. Those who were not selected for the extended interview were administered a shorter, basic version of the questionnaire. For this survey, a stratified single-stage sample design was applied. The sample was implicitly stratified for the three villages in the settlement. For the Basic SEP, all households in the settlement are selected and the selection probability is 1. For the Extended SEP, a targeted sample size of 1500 households was required to obtain a 15 percent difference in the poverty rates of 2 groups in the sample at a confidence level of 95 percent and a power of 80 percent. To randomly select these households, a straight forward approach was used to select these households from registered proGres families before the exercise. Thus, households that received the extended SEP were randomly determined before the start of the survey using the tablet. The sample of the extended survey alone is representative and therefore sufficient for generating poverty estimates headline indicators for the population as a whole. The total sample size of households was 6,004 of which 1,102 received the extended SEP. The public file includes only those 1,102 sampled for the extended survey.

Sampling deviation

None

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

The following sections are included: household roster, education, employment, household characteristics, assets, access, vulnerabilities, social cohesion, coping mechanism, consumption and expenditure.

Cleaning operations

The dataset presented here has undergone light checking, cleaning and restructuring (data may still contain errors) as well as anonymization (includes removal of direct identifiers and sensitive variables, recoding and local suppression).

Response rate

Both the Basic and the Extended SEP have a household non-response rate of about 2 percent, mainly due to the absence of an adult household member present at the time of the survey.

There were 17 035 400 Facebook users in Kenya in March 2025, which accounted for 28.3% of its entire population. The majority of them were men - 56.5%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (6 500 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 18 to 24, where men lead by 3 700 000.

There were 2 184 000 Instagram users in Kenya in January 2021, which accounted for 3.6% of its entire population. The majority of them were men - 52.6%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (900 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 18 to 24, where men lead by 480 000.

Kenya had a population of over 15.7 million Protestant Christians, according to the last country census conducted in 2019. This was the largest population group among all other religions. Some 9.7 million Kenyans identified as Catholic, while 9.6 million followed Evangelical Churches. The Muslim population amounted to roughly 5.2 million people. Overall, around 85 percent of Kenya's population adhered to Christianity.

This horizontal bar chart displays population (people) by currency using the aggregation sum in Kenya. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

This horizontal bar chart displays rural population (people) by date using the aggregation sum in Kenya. The data is about countries per year.

There were approximately 15 thousand Kenyan nationals residing in the United Kingdom in 2020, a decrease from the 23 thousand Kenyan nationals residing in the United Kingdom in 2008. The highest number of Kenyan nationals residing in the United Kingdom was in 2008 with 23 thousand nationals.

Kenya had a Muslim population of roughly 5.6 million people, according to the last country census conducted in 2019. Nearly 50 percent of individuals adhering to Islam lived in the Northern-East counties of Mandera (856.5 thousand people), Garissa (815.8 thousand people), and Wajir (767.3 thousand people). Overall, around 10 percent of Kenya's population identified as Muslim.

According to the most recent census conducted in Kenya in 2019, 3.5 percent of the country's population had tertiary education (university) as the highest level completed. Other seven percent finished a middle level or technical and vocational training (TVET) after the secondary. On the other hand, nearly half of the population reported having primary education as the highest level completed, while 24.5 percent achieved the secondary level.

Nairobi is the most populated county in Kenya. The area formed by the country's capital and its surroundings has a population of over 4.3 million inhabitants. Of the 47 counties in Kenya, 18 have a population of more than one million people.