Kenya Population - The Population of Kenya is Nearly 40 Million

The Kenya population was in 2008, estimated at 38 million by the United Nations Population Fund. This reflects substantial increases over earlier population census figures which showed populations of 15.3 million in 1979, 21.4 million in 1989 and 28.7 million in 1999.

Annual Growth Rate

At the current annual growth rate of 2.8 percent - which is itself considerably higher than the world's average of 1.2 percent - the Kenya population is projected to stand at 51.3 million in 2025 and 65 million in 2050. The latter reflects an increase of 72 percent over the current figure.

Age Structure

42 percent of the Kenya's population is under 15 while only 2 percent is over 65. This is a reflection of the high mortality rate emanating from AIDS. In comparison, only 28 percent of the world's population is under 15 and 7 percent over 65. 49.5 percent of the population is male.

Fertility Rate

Life Expectancy

42 percent of the population of Kenya is under 15 and only 2 percent over 65. Therefore, Kenya has a considerably young population. This is underlined by the fact that the life expectancy for both males and females is 53 years. In comparison, the life expectancy is 75 in Europe, 78 in USA and 80 in Canada.

Besides the low standard of living, the low life expectancy in Kenya is attributable to high AIDS prevalent rate and a large number of undernourished Kenyans. Indeed, in 2007, 7.8 percent of the population aged between 15 and 49 was infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS and 31 percent of the population was under-nourished.

Urban Kenya Population

19 percent of the population of Kenya lives in urban areas, most of it in the capital Nairobi where the populations stands at upwards of 3 million.

This is considerably up from 10 percent in 2005. However, it is still well below the global average where 49 percent of the world's population lives in urban areas.

Population Density

The population density is 65 people per square kilometer, which is significantly higher than the world average of 49.

Because well over 80 percent of the country is classified as arid or semi-arid, Kenya's population is concentrated in the arable belt that runs across a narrow swathe of the country.

Rift Valley - with a population of nearly 9 million - is the most populace province followed by Eastern, Western and Central Provinces.

Religion

Kenya's population is overwhelmingly Christian. Protestants constitute 45 percent, Roman Catholics 33 percent and Muslims 10 percent of the population. The remaining 12 percent of the population either profess indigenous faiths or are atheists.

Populations by Tribe

According to the 1989 population census, Kikuyu comprised 20.8 percent, Luhya 14.4 percent, Luo 12.4 percent, Kalenjin 11.5 percent and Kamba 11.4 percent of Kenya's population.

Although compared to neighboring Uganda and Tanzania, Kenya has a considerable population of Asians, Arabs and Europeans, these together comprised well under 1 percent of the population during the 1989 census.

Following criticism that several distinct communities were lumped together under a tribe while others were left out altogether and that tribal figures were manipulated for political purposes, the tribal categorization was dropped in the 1999 census.

Poverty in Kenya

Kenya is classified as a poor county and Kenya's income per capita is a paltry US$ 481. This represents 1.2 percent of the comparable figure for the United States. And, 58 percent of Kenya's population lives below the poverty line of US$ 2 a day.

Next Census

The housing and population census is held every 10 years in Kenya and the next one is scheduled to be held on 24th and 25th August 2009 with 24th August being the census night. 145,000 enumerators and supervisors have been recruited to conduct the exercise in the country's 174 districts.

It is envisaged to be the last census to be carried out in the country. Going forward, it is hoped that digitization of all government processes will enable key demographic and other data to be collected and updated on a continuous basis.

In the meantime though, we should know the official Kenya population figure before the year is out.

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