Demographics of Kenya

Bantus are the single largest population division in Kenya. The term Bantu denotes widely dispersed but related peoples that speak south-central Niger–Congo languages. Originally from West-Central Africa, Bantus began a millennium-long series of migrations referred to as the Bantu expansion that first brought them to east Africa about 2,000 years ago.

Most Bantu are farmers. Some of the prominent Bantu groups in Kenya include the Kikuyu, the Kamba, the Luhya, the Kisii, the Meru, and the Mijikenda. The Swahili people are descended from Mijikenda Bantu peoples that intermarried with Arab immigrants.[10][11]

Nilotes are the second-largest group of peoples in Kenya. They speak Nilo-Saharan languages and came to Southeast Africa by way of South Sudan.[10] Most Nilotes in Kenya are historically pastoralists, and traditionally had a strong military hegemony.[12] The most prominent of these groups include the Luo, the Maasai, the Samburu, the Turkana, and the Kalenjin.[10] As with the Bantu, some Nilotic systems of governance (such as Ibinda of the Nandi[13]) bear similarities with those of their Cushitic neighbors (such as the Gada system[14] of the Oromo).[15]

Cushitic peoples form a small minority of Kenya's population. They speak languages belonging to the Afroasiatic family and originally came from Ethiopia and Somalia in northeastern Africa. Most are herdsmen and have almost entirely adopted Islam.[16] Cushites are concentrated in the northernmost North Eastern Province, which borders Somalia.[17]

The Cushitic peoples are divided into two groups: the Southern Cushites and the Eastern Cushites.

• The Southern Cushites were the second-earliest inhabitants of Kenya after the indigenous hunter-gatherer groups,[18] and the first of the Cushitic-speaking peoples to migrate from their homeland in the Horn of Africa about 2,000 years ago.[16] They were progressively displaced in a southerly direction or absorbed, or both, by the incoming Nilotic and Bantu groups until they wound up in Tanzania.[16] There are no longer any Southern Cushites left in Kenya. (The Dahalo were originally pre-Cushitic peoples who adopted the language of their dominant Southern Cushitic neighbors sometime toward the last millennium BC.[19]).
• The Eastern Cushites include the Oromo and the Somali. Of these, the Somali are the most recent arrivals to Kenya, having first come from Somalia a few centuries ago.[16] After the Northern Frontier District (North Eastern Province) was handed over to Kenyan nationalists at the end of British colonial rule in Kenya, Somalis in the region fought the Shifta War against Kenyan troops to join their kin in the Somali Republic to the north. Although the war ended in a cease-fire, Somalis in the region still identify and maintain close ties with their kin in Somalia and see themselves as one people.[20] An entrepreneurial community, they established themselves in the business sector, particularly in Eastleigh, Nairobi.[21]

Asians living in Kenya are descended from South Asian migrants. Significant Asian migration to Kenya began between 1896 and 1901 when some 32,000 indentured labourers were recruited from British India to build the Kenya-Uganda Railway.[22] The majority of Kenyan Asians hail from the Gujarat and Punjab regions.[23] The community grew significantly during the colonial period, and in the 1962 census Asians made up a third of the population of Nairobi and consisted of 176,613 people across the country.[24]

Since Kenyan independence large numbers have emigrated due to race-related tensions with the Bantu and Nilotic majority. Those that remain are principally concentrated in the business sector, and Asians continue to form one of the more prosperous communities in the region.[17] According to the 2019 Census, Kenyan Asians number 47,555 people, while Asians without Kenyan citizenship number 42,972 individuals.[8] In 2017, they were officially recognised at the 44th tribe of Kenya.[25]

Europeans in Kenya are primarily the descendants of British migrants during the colonial period. Many are of aristocratic descent and still continue to wield significant influence, especially over Kenya's political elite. Since the Independence of Kenya, Britons and other Europeans in Kenya also continue to dominate the local business community.[17] According to the 2019 Census, Kenyan Europeans number 42,868 people, while Europeans without Kenyan citizenship number 26,753 individuals. 0.3% of the population of Kenya is from Asia or Europe.[8]

Arabs form a small but historically important minority ethnic group in Kenya. They are principally concentrated along the coast in cities such as Mombasa. A Muslim community, they primarily came from Oman and Hadhramaut in Yemen, and are engaged in trade. Arabs are locally referred to as Washihiri or, less commonly, as simply Shihiri in the Bantu Swahili language, Kenya's lingua franca.[17] According to the 2019 Census, Kenyan Arabs number 59,021 people.[8]

A map of Kenya.

[33]

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):[34]

Fertility data as of 2014 (DHS Program):[35]

Numbers are in thousands. UN medium variant projections[31]

• 2015 46,332
• 2020 52,563
• 2025 59,054
• 2030 65,928
• 2035 73,257
• 2040 80,975
• 2045 88,907
• 2050 96,887

Registration of vital events is in Kenya not complete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. [31]

Births and deaths[36]

47,564,296 (2019 census )

Population pyramid of Kenya in 2019

0-14 years: 39.03% (male 9,474,968 /female 9,416,609)

15-24 years: 19.61% (male 4,737,647 /female 4,752,896)

25-54 years: 34.27% (male 8,393,673 /female 8,193,800)

55-64 years: 4% (male 894,371 /female 1,040,883)

65 years and over: 3.08% (male 640,005 /female 852,675) (2019 est.)

total: 20 years. Country comparison to the world: 191st

male: 19.9 years

female: 20.2 years (2018 est.)

1.57% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 67th

22.6 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 66th

6.7 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 137th

2.81 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 59th

20.3 years (2014 est.)

note: median age at first birth among women 25-29

61.6% (2016)

-0.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 109th

Christian 83% (Protestant 47.7%, Catholic 23.4%, other Christian 11.9%), Muslim 11.2%, Traditionalists 1.7%, other 1.6%, none 2.4%, unspecified 0.2% (2009 est.)

total dependency ratio: 78.3 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio: 73.7 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio: 4.6 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio: 21.7 (2015 est.)

urban population: 27% of total population (2018)[39]

rate of urbanization: 4.23% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

total population: 64.6 years (2018 est.)

male: 63.1 years (2018 est.)

female: 66.1 years (2018 est.)

definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.)

total population: 78% (2015 est.)

male: 81.1% (2015 est.)

female: 74.9% (2015 est.)

total: 5 years (1970) to 11 years (2009)[40]

male: 11 years (2009)

female: 11 years (2009)

Like the demographics of Africa in general, Kenya is plagued by high infant mortality, low life expectancy, malnourishment (32% of population) and HIV/AIDS. While these concerns remain grave, a trend towards improvement is reported in the period of 2006 to 2010: Infant mortality was at estimated at 59.26 deaths/1,000 live births as of 2006, decreasing to 54.7 deaths/1,000 live births as of 2010. Life expectancy was estimated at 48.9 years as of 2006, and has risen to 64 years in 2012.[41]

According to 2008–09 Kenyan government survey, total fertility was 4.6, contraception usage among married women was 46 percent.[42] Total fertility rate has decreased 4.91 children per woman (2006 estimate), to 4.38 (2010 estimate). Literacy (age 7 and over) was estimated at 85.1% in 2003 (male: 90.6%, female: 79.7%).

Period	Life expectancy in Years[43]
1950–1955	42.30
1955–1960	44.73
1960–1965	48.02
1965–1970	50.75
1970–1975	53.68
1975–1980	56.32
1980–1985	58.76
1985–1990	58.62
1990–1995	55.94
1995–2000	52.38
2000–2005	52.73
2005–2010	59.72
2010–2015	65.40