This archive report was first published on 5 November 2019.
On November 5, 2019, the results of the 2019 population census revealed significant changes in Kenya's demographic indicators over the last decade.
The census showed that Kenya's population had increased by 23.3 percent, from 38.6 million in 1999 to 46.6 million in 2019, with the country's GDP expanding almost seven times over the same period.
Despite the economic growth, the living conditions of ordinary Kenyans have not improved significantly, with the country's GDP per capita remaining relatively low.
It is worth noting that the expansion of the economy also includes the 2014 GDP rebasing, which raised the size of the national wealth by 25.3 percent without any significant improvement in citizens' living conditions.
As a result, economic planning and the distribution of the national cake must reflect the country's demographic diversity.
Firstly, the allocation of resources to the 47 counties must be revised to reflect the population reality, with accurate figures used to update subsequent resource allocation.
Although the Commission for Revenue Allocation has reduced the weight of population in its revenue allocation formula from 40 to 18 percent, population remains a major factor in resource allocation.
Moreover, the official figures show that some counties have experienced alarmingly high levels of population growth than others, with Nairobi, Nakuru, Kakamega, Bungoma, Kilifi, and Machakos ranking high in population density.
However, attention should not shift away from poor units such as Mandera, which has the highest average household size of 6.9.
Secondly, the numbers released on Monday show that 50.4 percent of the total population are female, a reality that must be addressed given the low number of women at key decision-making organs of public and private sectors.
Thirdly, the numbers confirm an all-familiar trend that Kenya is demographically young, and as such, policy mandarins must work even harder to find better ways of engaging this active age group.
