Bomet County

Introduction

Bomet County is located in Rift Valley and had a total population of 953,000 in 2024. The county had a total population of 875,689, according to the 2019 census. The total number of households in Bomet was 187,641, with the average household in the county having 4.7 people.

Bomet County has a total land area of 2,530.9 square kilometers and had a population density of 346 people per square kilometer in 2019. 

Bomet County is bordered to the North by Kericho County, the North East by Nakuru County, the South and East by Narok County, and the West by Nyamira County.

Bomet has five sub-counties: Bomet East, Chepalungu, Konoin, Sotik, and Bomet Central.

Bomet County Economy

Bomet County had an average Gross County Product at current prices of Ksh 194.8 billion between 2018 and 2022, representing an average country contribution to Gross Value Added of 1.5%.

The county's average contribution to agriculture, forestry, and fishing between 2018 and 2022 was 3.6%, while its average contribution to manufacturing activities within the same period was 1.4%. Bomet contributed, on average, 0.8% to service activities.

Bomet County had a Gross County Product per Capita of Ksh 210,134.

Poverty Rates

Bomet County's overall poverty rate was 45.4% in 2021, representing an estimated 400,000 people living in poverty. Kenya's overall headcount poverty rate during the same period was 38.6%.

Bomet also had a hardcore poverty rate of 5.4%, representing an estimated 48,000 people who live in poverty. Nationally, the hardcore poverty rate in 2021 was 5.8%.

The food poverty rate of Bomet County in 2021 was 30.5%, with an estimated 269,000 people living in food poverty. Kenya had a food poverty rate of 30.5% in that year.

The map below shows the overall poverty rate by constituency in Bomet County in 2019. Bomet Central had a poverty rate of 37.2%, Bomet East 40.6%, Chepalungu 42%, Konoin 23.3%, and Sotik 10.2%. 

The mean monthly expenditure on food and non-food items in Bomet County was Ksh 3,112 and Ksh 1,576 in 2021. The county's share of spending on food was 68.6%, with 31.4% going toward non-food expenditure. 

The distribution of household food expenditure by source showed that 69.4% was from purchase or stock, 25.9% was from own production, and 4.7% from gifts.

The mean and median per adult equivalent consumption expenditure in Bomet County in 2021 was Ksh 4,689 and 4,203, respectively.

Bomet County Demographics

The total population of Bomet County in 2019 was 875,689, consisting of 434,287 males, 441,379 females, and 23 intersex people. Bomet had a median age of 17 years in 2019. The table below shows the distribution of the population by subcounty and sex. 

Marital Status

The percentage distribution of women aged 12 and above in Bomet County who were never married in 2019 was 42.7%. Those married monogamously in the county were 49.1%, while those married polygamous were 2.9%. The percentage of widows in Bomet County in the same period was 3.7%. In comparison, those divorced and separated were 0.2% and 1.1%, respectively.

Among men in Bomet, the percentage distribution of those who never married in 2019 was 51.1%, while those who were married monogamously were 45.5%. The share of those married polygamously in Bomet was 1.9%, while the widowed in the county were 0.5%. The share of the divorced and separated in Bomet County was 0.2% and 0.7%, respectively.

The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022 showed that the median age at first marriage among women aged 20-49 in Bomet County was 19.7 years. Among women aged 25-49, the county's median age at first marriage was 19.2 years. In men, the median age at first marriage in Bomet County in 2022 was 25.6 years for those aged 30-54.

Polygyny

The percentage of married women aged 15-49 in Bomet who had a co-wife in 2022 was 6.5%, with 93.1% having no co-wife.

Among married men aged 15-49 in Bomet, the percentage of those with more than two wives was 2.1% in 2022, with 97.9% having only one wife.

Marriage Registration

The percentage of currently married women in Bomet County whose marriage was registered with the civil authorities in 2022 was 30.1%. Those whose marriage was registered with civil authorities and had a marriage certificate issued was 16.9% in 2022.

Teenage Marriages

The proportion of married males aged 12-15 in Bomet County in 2019 was 5.5%, while the proportion of married females aged 12-15 in the county was 5.3%. Moreover, the % of married females aged 12-18 who were married in Bomet in 2019 was 7.2%.

According to the KDHS, the rate of teenage pregnancies in Bomet County, consisting of females aged 15-19 who have ever been pregnant, was 9%.

Total Fertility Rate

Bomet County had a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 3.3 births in 2019, a decline of 40% from 5.5 births in 2009. By comparison, Kenya had a total fertility rate of 3.4 births in 2019, a drop of 28.6% from 4.8 births in 2019.

Among the youth aged 15-24 in 2019, the total fertility rate of Bomet County was 1.1 births compared to a national youth TFR of 1.0 births.

Bomet County had a Crude Birth Rate of 26.2 births per 1,000 population in 2019, a 43.3% decline from a Crude Birth Rate of 46.2 births per 1,000 population in 2009. By comparison, Kenya’s Crude Birth Rate in 2019 was 27.9 births per 1,000 population, a decline of 27.2% from 38.4 births per 1,000 population in 2009.

Place of Birth and Notification Status

The percentage of recent births in Bomet that occurred in a health facility was 86.5% in 2019, with 13.4% of births occurring in non-health facilities. In Kenya, the share of births occurring in health facilities in the same period was 85.8%, with 14% occurring in non-health facilities.

The share of recent births in Bomet County that were notified in 2019 was 92.7%, while 7.1% were not notified. The share of notified births in Kenya during the same period was 90.4%, while those that were not notified were 9.3%.

Place of Death and Notification Status

In 2019, 68.6% of deaths in Bomet County occurred in a health facility, while 31% occurred in the community. In Kenya, 59% of deaths in 2019 occurred in a health facility, while 40% did not occur in a health facility.

The share of deaths in Bomet County that were notified in 2019 was 92%. Overall, the share of deaths that were notified in Kenya in 2019 was 85.6%.

Bomet County had a Crude Death Rate (CDR) of 12.9 deaths per 1,000 population in 2019. Overall, Kenya had a Crude Death Rate of 10.5%.

Religious Affiliation

Most residents of Bomet County are Protestants 387,001, followed by members of Evangelical Churches 225,608, and Catholics 129,547.

Development

1. The Rural Access Index (RAI) in Bomet County was 95%, representing the percentage of the population living within two kilometers of an all-weather road in 2019.
2. Household access to electricity in Bomet County was 22.1% in 2019, up from 3.9% in 2009.
3. Household access to improved sanitation in Bomet County was 85.9% in 2019, up from 69% in 2009.
4. Household access to safe drinking water in Bomet County was 39.3% in 2019, up from 27.5% in 2009.
5. Bomet had 96.4% of its public primary schools connected to electricity, ranking 23^rd nationally in 2019.

The share of the population in Bomet County owning mobile phones in 2019 was 40.9%. Among women, 65.1% owned any type of mobile phone in Bomet County in 2022, while 19.8% owned a smartphone.

Among men, 74.9% in Bomet owned any kind of mobile phone in 2022, while 34.6% owned a smartphone. The percentage of men and women who had used a mobile phone for financial transactions in the year preceding the 2022 KDHS survey was 54.8% and 68.8%, respectively.

See Also

1. Uasin Gishu County
2. Kericho County
3. Elgeyo Marakwet County
4. Nandi County

References

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19. Commission on Revenue Allocation. (2022). Kenya County Factsheet (3rd ed., p. 120).