57,052,004 (2023 est.)
noun: Kenyan(s)
adjective: Kenyan
Kikuyu 17.1%, Luhya 14.3%, Kalenjin 13.4%, Luo 10.7%, Kamba 9.8%, Somali 5.8%, Kisii 5.7%, Mijikenda 5.2%, Meru 4.2%, Maasai 2.5%, Turkana 2.1%, non-Kenyan 1%, other 8.2% (2019 est.)
English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages
major-language sample(s):
The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information. (English)
The World Factbook, Chanzo cha Lazima Kuhusu Habari ya Msingi. (Kiswahili)
Kiswahili audio sample:
Christian 85.5% (Protestant 33.4%, Catholic 20.6%, Evangelical 20.4%, African Instituted Churches 7%, other Christian 4.1%), Muslim 10.9%, other 1.8%, none 1.6%, don't know/no answer 0.2% (2019 est.)
Kenya has experienced dramatic population growth since the mid-20th century as a result of its high birth rate and its declining mortality rate. Almost 40% of Kenyans are under the age of 15 as of 2020 because of sustained high fertility, early marriage and childbearing, and an unmet need for family planning. Kenya’s persistent rapid population growth strains the labor market, social services, arable land, and natural resources. Although Kenya in 1967 was the first Sub-Saharan country to launch a nationwide family planning program, progress in reducing the birth rate has largely stalled since the late 1990s, when the government decreased its support for family planning to focus on the HIV epidemic. Government commitment and international technical support spurred Kenyan contraceptive use, decreasing the fertility rate (children per woman) from about 8 in the late 1970s to less than 5 children twenty years later, but it has plateaued at about 3 children as of 2022.
Kenya is a source of emigrants and a host country for refugees. In the 1960s and 1970s, Kenyans pursued higher education in the UK because of colonial ties, but as British immigration rules tightened, the US, the then Soviet Union, and Canada became attractive study destinations. Kenya’s stagnant economy and political problems during the 1980s and 1990s led to an outpouring of Kenyan students and professionals seeking permanent opportunities in the West and southern Africa. Nevertheless, Kenya’s relative stability since its independence in 1963 has attracted hundreds of thousands of refugees escaping violent conflicts in neighboring countries; Kenya was sheltering nearly 280,000 Somali refugees as of 2022.
0-14 years: 36.45% (male 10,447,425/female 10,349,611)
15-64 years: 60.26% (male 17,196,347/female 17,185,035)
65 years and over: 3.28% (2023 est.) (male 855,757/female 1,017,829)
2023 population pyramid: 
total dependency ratio: 70.2
youth dependency ratio: 65.3
elderly dependency ratio: 4.8
potential support ratio: 20.7 (2021 est.)
total: 20.9 years (2023 est.)
male: 20.8 years
female: 21 years
2.09% (2023 est.)
26 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
5 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
-0.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
population heavily concentrated in the west along the shore of Lake Victoria; other areas of high density include the capital of Nairobi, and in the southeast along the Indian Ocean coast as shown in this 
urban population: 29.5% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 4.09% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
5.325 million NAIROBI (capital), 1.440 million Mombassa (2023)
at birth: 1.02 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.84 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2023 est.)
20.3 years (2014 est.)
note: data represents median age at first birth among women 25-49
530 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
total: 26.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
male: 29.9 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 23.9 deaths/1,000 live births
total population: 70 years (2023 est.)
male: 68.3 years
female: 71.8 years
3.23 children born/woman (2023 est.)
1.6 (2023 est.)
64.6% (2020)
improved: urban: 91.3% of population
rural: 63.3% of population
total: 71.2% of population
unimproved: urban: 8.7% of population
rural: 36.7% of population
total: 28.8% of population (2020 est.)
4.3% of GDP (2020)
0.16 physicians/1,000 population (2018)
improved: urban: 84% of population
rural: 48.1% of population
total: 58.2% of population
unimproved: urban: 16% of population
rural: 51.9% of population
total: 41.8% of population (2020 est.)
degree of risk: very high (2023)
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, Rift Valley fever, and sexually transmitted diseases: HIV/AIDS (2024)
water contact diseases: schistosomiasis
animal contact diseases: rabies
note: on 31 August 2023, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Asia; Israel is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine
7.1% (2016)
total: 1.68 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
beer: 0.81 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
wine: 0.04 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
spirits: 0.81 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
other alcohols: 0.03 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
total: 11.1% (2020 est.)
male: 19.5% (2020 est.)
female: 2.7% (2020 est.)
10.1% (2022)
56.8% (2023 est.)
4.8% of GDP (2021 est.)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 82.6%
male: 85.5%
female: 79.8% (2021)
NOTE: The information regarding Kenya on this page is re-published from the 2024 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Kenya 2024 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Kenya 2024 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
This page was last modified 04 May 24, Copyright © 2024 ITA all rights reserved.
