Population of Kenya
Kenya is one of the most varied lands on the planet both in terms of its geography and its ethnic population. The ethnicity split is arguably more diverse here than anywhere else on the planet but what are the numbers in regard to the Kenya population?
Kenya Population Statistics
The last official census took place in Kenya back in 2009 when it was confirmed that 38,610,097 people were living here. Estimates are released on a regular basis and in 2011, it was claimed that those numbers had risen to 41,070,934, The estimate for 2014 is 45,941,977, which would make this the 30th largest country in the world in terms of population numbers alone.
Kenya Population Density
As far as population density is concerned, Kenya has a surface area of 580,367 square kilometres which converts to 224,080 square miles and makes it the 47th largest country in the world in terms of pure land mass.
It is relatively sparsely populated, however, and for every square kilometre of land, there is an average of 79.2 people here (205 per square mile) and this means that is the 140th most densely populated country on earth.
Kenya Population Pyramid
Kenya Population by Province
Nairobi Province – 3,138,369
Central Province – 4,383,743
Coast Province – 3,325,307
Eastern Province – 5,668,123
North Eastern Province – 2,310,757
Nyanza Province – 5,442,711
Rift Valley Province – 10,006,805
Western Province – 4,334,282
Kenya Population by Religious Affiliation
Kenya Catholic Population – 9,010,684
Kenya Protestant Population – 18,307,466
Other Christian Population – 4.559,584
Kenya Hindu Population – 53,393
Traditionalist Population – 635,352
Other Religion Population– 557,450
No Religion Population – 922,128
Don’t Know – 61,233
Kenya Muslim Population
Muslim Population – 4,304,798
Kenya Population by Tribe
- Kikuyu tribe – 6,622,576
- Luhya tribe – 5,338,666
- Kalenjin tribe – 4,967,328
- Luo tribe – 4,044,440
- Kamba tribe – 3,893,157
- Somali tribe – 2,385,572
- Kisii tribe – 2,205,669
- Mijikenda tribe – 1,960,574
- Meru tribe -1,658,108
- Turkana tribe – 988,592
- Maasai tribe – 841,622
- Teso tribe – 338,833
- Embu tribe – 324,092
- Taita tribe – 273,519
- Kuria tribe – 260,401
- Samburu tribe – 237,179
- Tharaka tribe – 175,905
- Mbeere – 168,155
- Borana – 161,399
- Basuba – 139,271
- Swahili – 110,614
- Gabra – 89,515
- Orma – 66,275
- Rendile – 60,437
Population of Kenya by Age
In 2011, the CIA world factbook produced a set of statistics based on the population estimate of the time that was declared at 41.07 million. As far as age breakdowns were concerned, it was revealed that 42.3% of the population of Kenya was aged between 0 and 14.
Additionally, it was shown that 55.1% were aged between 15 and 64 while just 2.6% of the Kenya population was aged 65 and over in 2011.
Kenya has sustained population growth, but it has both high birth and infant mortality rates. This is consistent with Africa as a whole and blame is being put on the HIV / AIDS epidemic but, statistics have shown that there has been some slight improvement in this area.
There has been marked improvement in life expectancy as well, particularly in recent years, and in 2006, the average level stood at 48.9 years. This figure rose, however, to 57.9 years in 2010
Kenya Population Clock
|What is the population of Kenya (as of 2015||47,979,981|
|Last UN Estimate (July 1, 2015)||46,748,617|
|Births Per Day||22,158|
|Deaths Per Day||5,153|
|Net Migrations Per Day||-137|
|Net Change Per Day||16,868|
|Population Change Since January 1st|
Net population increase of 1 person every 5 seconds – Population estimated based on interpolation of World Population Prospects data.
Kenya Population Indicators
|Median (Average) Age||18.99 years||163rd|
|Crude Birth Rate||32.463 births/thousand||32nd|
|Crude Death Rate||7.549 deaths/thousand||98th|
|Crude Net Migration Rate||-0.201 people/thousand||90th|
|Life Expectancy (Both Sexes)||63.14 years||153rd|
|Life Expectancy (Male)||61.13 years||156th|
|Life Expectancy (Female)||65.18 years||154th|
|Total Fertility Rate||4.077 children/woman||35th|
|Net Reproduction Rate||1.784 surviving daughters/woman||32nd|
|Sex Ratio At Birth||1.03 males per female||153rd|
|Infant Mortality Rate||46.314 deaths/1,000 live births||37th|
|Under Five Mortality||67.634 deaths/thousand||36th|
|Mean Age at Childbearing||28.552 years||109th|
Population growth in Kenya
With improved life expectancy and a drop in infant mortality, Kenya seems set to build on an ever increasing growth in population. By 2020, the UN predicts that the Kenyan population will have risen to 52,563.91 and it will be interesting to see if they are proved right.
The National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) conducted its latest national population and housing census in 2009. KNBS has since 1969 undertaken a national census every 10 years. The 2009 exercise was the ﬁfth since independence, with the last four having been conducted in 1969, 1979, 1989 and 1999.
Kenya has a huge youthful population that is currently enjoying gender balance. The majority of are in the 15 and 64 age group, accounting for over 20.7 million of the population. Those under the age of 14 account for 16.6 million. The number of Kenyans over the age of 64 is slightly over just a million. Gender distribution in the population is almost 50/50.
Kenya population growth rate
Kenya’s population has been growing at an average rate of three per cent annually — 15.3 million in 1979, 21.4 million in 1989, 28.7 million in 1999 and 38 million in 2009. This growth rate includes all peoples found in Kenya (with an exception of refugees) at the time of the census regardless of their citizenry status.
The ethnic distribution of the population according to the 2009 census indicated that the largest group of people are the Bantus, followed by the Nilotes and the minority Cushites who constitute only about two per cent of the population. In terms of communities, the Gikuyu lead in numbers constituting 17 per cent of the population, followed by Luhyas at 14 per cent, Kalenjins make up 13 per cent and Luos 10 per cent, Kamba 10 per cent, Kisii six per cent, Mijikenda five per cent, Meru four per cent, Turkana 2.5 per cent, and the Maasai 2.1 per cent. All other ethnic groups make up the remaining nine per cent and non-indigenous populations taking up another one per cent.
Population of Kenya – Kenya Population Video
Population in Kenya – History of Population Growth in Kenya
For many years Kenya enjoyed the dubious distinction of registering the highest population growth in the world. Then, at the turn of the millennium, the growth rate slowed down dramatically. The high-speed growth had stemmed from the fact that, until very recently, a man’s social and economic status in Kenya was largely determined by the number of children he sired. And, since polygamy was also widely accepted, a man of consequence could boast of having fathered maybe a hundred children, often more.
Kenyan tradition also dictates that once married, a couple must name a child after each of their own parents; which means they must continue to produce children until they have two of each sex. Add to the above the fact that Kenyans universally adore children, and that most Kenyan women would not consider themselves fulfilled unless they had born at least one child (whether married or not), and the reasons for the explosive birthrate are all too clear.
Decrease in Population Growth in Kenya
As to the sudden decline in the population growth rate, this has resulted not only from the impact of AIDS on Kenyan society, but also from the growing realization, especially among the rural population, that today’s couples can neither support nor finance the education of so many children. The emergence of a Kenyan middle class has also affected the growth rate, with many professionals choosing to establish financial security before starting a family, and then opting to have only as many children as they can afford to educate to university level.
The changing social structure has also introduced a new phenomenon, the professional, and often single, Kenyan lady, who increasingly choose either to remain childless, or to have just one child.
Officially the population of Kenya is around 33.9 million, though the actual figure may be much larger, and the forecast annual growth rate is 2.56 percent (2005 estimate), which reflects the expected increased death rate due to AIDS—more than 1.2 million Kenyans are infected with the HIV Virus. Under-fourteens account for 42.5 percent of the population. Urban Kenyans, constituting )5 percent of the whole, are concentrated in a few ‘large cities such as Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Nakuru, while 67 percent of the people live in rural areas, mostly in the high-rainfall arable areas of the Central highlands, and Western Kenya. 80 percent of the land in Kenya, contains only 20 percent of the population.