Overall Poverty Rates in Kenya by County

The overall poverty rate describes the share of the population that cannot meet its basic food and non-food expenditures.

It differs from multidimensional poverty, which measures wellbeing across several indicators such as stunting, nutrition, education, health, sanitation, access to water, housing, and child protection.^{[1] [2]}

We compute the overall poverty rate by bringing together food poverty and a non-food component based on the cost of various essential commodities such as housing and clothing.

Quick Facts

1. Kenya's overall poverty rate was 38.6% in 2021, based on an overall poverty line of Ksh 3,947 in rural areas and Ksh 7,193 in urban areas.
2. Poverty is higher in households headed by individuals with no education.
3. Female-headed households had higher levels of poverty.
4. Households headed by a polygynous head had higher levels of poverty. 

Covid -19 reversed some of the gains made in the eradication of poverty

Kenya had an overall headcount poverty rate of 38.6 percent in 2021, from a high of 42.9 percent in 2020.

However, the 2020 headcount poverty rate was higher than previous years. For instance 2015, the poverty rate was 36.1 percent, which reduced to 33.6 percent in 2019.

The population living in poverty also increased significantly from 15.8 million people in 2019 to 20.9 million people in 2020. In 2021, the population living in poverty decreased slightly to 19.1 million people.^[3]

Poverty was higher in rural areas than in urban areas in 2021, but the pandemic hit urban areas the most.

The overall poverty rate in rural areas increased from 37% in 2019 to 43.5% in 2020 before reducing slightly to 40.7% in 2021. Between 2019 and 2020, the poverty rate in rural areas increased by 6.5%.

In urban areas, the poverty rate increased by 15.7% from 26% in 2019 to 41.7% in 2020, then reduced by 7.6% to 34.1% in 2021.

The population living in poverty in urban areas was 5.4 million in 2021, down from 6.4 million in 2020. In rural areas, the population living in poverty was 13.7 million in 2021, down from 14.5 million in 2020.

The pace of poverty reduction was slowing even before COVID–19.

A 2023 World Bank assessment observed that while poverty had declined before the pandemic, most of the gains were made before 2015/2016.^[4]

Specifically, poverty reduction was robust between 2005/2006 and 2015/2016, with overall poverty reducing by 10.5%. On average, poverty reduced by 1.1% every year.

The World Bank also observes that this sustained poverty reduction between 2005 and 2016 was driven mainly by declining poverty in rural areas. Poverty in rural areas reduced from 49.7% in 2005/06 to 38.8% in 2015/16.^[4]

Poverty reduced at half the rate in urban areas from 34.9 percent in 2005/06 to 29.4 percent in 2015/16.

In rural areas, the consumption of the bottom 40 percent grew at an annualized rate of 2.5 percent per year between 2005/2006 and 2015/16, compared with 1.3 percent per year for the total population and 0.7 percent per year in urban areas. - The World Bank. 

Poverty in Kenya is more pronounced in arid and semi-arid regions

Overall headcount poverty estimates suggest that poverty rates are higher in arid and semi-arid counties. By county, Turkana had the highest overall poverty rate in 2021 at 77.7%.

Other arid counties followed, such as Mandera at 71.9%, Garissa at 68.3%, Tana River at 67.8%, Wajir at 66.3%, and Marsabit at 65.9%.

The counties with the lowest poverty rates were non-ASALs, with Nairobi having the lowest poverty rate of 16.5%. It was followed by Kirinyaga at 19.3%, Kiambu at 20.5%, Narok at 21.9%, Nyeri at 26.4%, and Homa Bay at 26.6%.^[3]

The depth of poverty is largely the same in urban and rural areas.

Rural areas have higher poverty levels than urban areas. However, the poverty gap – measuring the average distance of the poor to the poverty line, was almost the same in rural and urban areas.

Ideally, a poverty gap of 0% implies no one is below the poverty line. In rural areas, the poverty gap in 2021 was 10.3%, while the poverty gap in urban areas was 9%, suggesting that the share of people who did not meet the poverty line in rural and urban areas was almost the same.^[3]

Overall, Kenya had a poverty gap of 9.8% in 2021.

Female-headed households have a higher headcount poverty rate

The national headcount poverty rate of male-headed households in 2021 was 32.7% compared to female-headed households, with a headcount rate of 38.8%.

Female-headed households in rural areas had the highest level of poverty at 42.5%, compared to female-headed households in urban areas with headcount poverty of 31.9%.

Male-headed households in rural and urban areas had a headcount poverty rate of 35.5% and 28.7%, respectively.^[3]

Poverty is associated with lower education attainment of the household head.

The poverty headcount rate was highest in households headed by individuals with no education at 62.3%. Those headed by individuals with a primary education had a slightly lower poverty rate of 42.2%, followed by those with a secondary education at 22%.

Households headed by individuals with a tertiary education had the lowest headcount poverty rate of 3.2%.^[3]

Poverty is prevalent in households headed by a polygamous head

The share of married women aged 15 – 49 who were in polygynous unions in 2022 was 9.2%. Furthermore, 4.5% of married men in that age group reported having more than two wives.

However, poverty is more prevalent in polygynous unions, with households headed by a polygamous head having a headcount poverty rate of 46.9% in 2021. By comparison, households headed by a monogamous head had a headcount poverty rate of 33.1%.

The poverty rate was also higher if the polygynous head was female (49.4%) than male (45.5%). In households headed by a monogamous female, the poverty rate was 36.2%, compared to 32.5% in households headed by monogamous males.

Households headed by a never-married head had a headcount poverty rate of 22.1% in 2021^.[3]

Households with children have a slightly higher poverty rate than those without.

In 2021, the headcount poverty rate of households with children was 36.3% compared to 31.3% in those without.

The effect of children is more pronounced in urban areas where households without children had a headcount poverty rate of 24.2%, while those with children had a poverty rate of 33.1%.

In rural areas, there was no difference in poverty between households with children (38%) and those without (38.1%).^[3]

Large households have higher poverty than smaller households.

Households with more than seven members had the highest poverty rate of 49%, followed by those with 4 – 6 members with a poverty rate of 35.2%.

Households with 1 – 3 members had a poverty rate of 31.3% in 2021.

Poverty is higher in households headed by older individuals

Households headed by individuals over seventy years old had the highest poverty rate of 50.3%, followed by individuals between the age of 60 – 69 at 41%.

Poverty was lowest in households headed by individuals aged 20 – 29, with a rate of 26.8%. It was followed by households headed by individuals aged 30 – 39, with a rate of 28.1%.^[3]

Child poverty is highly prevalent in Kenya.

In 2021, the overall poverty rate of children aged 0 – 17 years was 40.3%, higher than the national poverty rate of 38.6%.

Children aged 14 – 17 had the highest overall poverty rate of 44.9%, followed by children aged 6 – 13 with a poverty rate of 42.3%. Children aged 0 – 5 had the lowest poverty rate of 34.4% in 2021.

Child poverty was higher in rural areas, with an overall poverty rate of 41.7% than in urban areas, with a poverty rate of 36.8%.

Poverty is higher in the elderly population than in the youth

Poverty in Kenya is lowest among the youth aged 18 – 35 years, who had a poverty headcount rate of 34.2%. It is highest among those aged seventy years and above, with a headcount rate of 50.4%.

The headcount poverty rate among individuals aged 36 – 59 and 60 – 69 years was 36.5% and 40.5%, respectively.^[3]

Conclusion

Kenya has made tremendous progress in reducing poverty. However, most of these gains were made before 2015, and the pace of poverty reduction has slowed in the last half-decade.

In 2021, Kenya had a headcount overall poverty rate of 38.6%, driven mainly by higher poverty levels in arid and semi-arid areas.

Poverty in Kenya is higher in households where the head is uneducated, polygynous, or female. Furthermore, larger households have higher poverty than smaller ones, and households with children have more poverty than those without.

Poverty is less prevalent among the youth and manifests among older adults and children. Among children, poverty is highest among those aged 13 – 17 years. In adults, poverty was highest among individuals aged seventy years and above.

See Also

1. Multidimensional poverty by county
2. Monetary poverty by county
3. Food poverty in Kenya by county
4. Extreme poverty by county
5. Wealth inequality in Kenya
6. Wealth and economic wellbeing in Kenya

References