Demographics of Kenya

Kenya is a multi-ethnic state in the southern Great Lakes region of East Africa. It is primarily inhabited by Bantu and Nilotic populations, with some Cushitic ethnic minorities in the north. Its total population is estimated at 41 million inhabitants as of 2011.

A national census was conducted in 1999, but its final results were never released. A new census was undertaken in 2009, but it turned out to be controversial, as the questions about ethnic affiliation seemed inappropriate after the ethnic violence of the previous year.^[1] Preliminary results of the census were published in 2010.^[2]

Kenyan population was reported as 38.6 million in 2009, compared to in 28.7 million in 1999, 21.4 million in 1989 and 15.3 million 1979,^[3] an increase by a factor of 2.5 over 30 years, or an average growth of more than 3% per year. The population growth rate has been reported as somewhat reduced during the 2000s and is now estimated at 2.7% (as of 2010), resulting in an estimate of a total population 41 million in 2011.

Ethnic groups

Further information: Languages of Kenya

A Nilotic Maasai man.

Kenya has a very diverse population that includes most major ethnic, racial and linguistic groups found in Africa. The majority of the country's population belongs to various Bantu sub-groups, with a significant number of Nilotes.

Cushitic peoples form a small ethnic minority of about 2%, mostly represented by Oromo and Somali speakers.

Swahili and English are official languages. Swahili is compulsory in primary education, and, along with English, serves as the main lingua franca between the various ethnic groups.

SIL Ethnologue lists a total of 69 individual languages spoken in Kenya.^[4]

Kenya's diversity is such that its largest ethnic group, the Kikuyu, make up for less than a fifth of total population. Ever since Kenyan independence in 1963, Kenyan politics have been characterized by ethnic tensions and rivalry between the larger groups, devolving into ethnic violence in the 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis.

The 2009 census figures give the ethnic composition as follows (out of a total population of 38.6 million): Kikuyu 17%, Luhya 14%, Kalenjin 13%, Luo 10%, Kamba 10%, Kisii 6%, Mijikenda 5%, Meru 4%, Turkana 2.5%, Maasai 2.1%. About 9% of population consist of smaller indigenous group below 1% each, and Non-African groups (Arabs, Indians and Europeans) are estimated to total to about 1%.^[5]

Bantus

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 2000 years ago. Most Bantu are farmers. Some of the prominent Bantu groups in Kenya include the Kikuyu, the Luhya, and the Meru. The Swahili people are descended from Bantu peoples that intermarried with immigrant Arab and Persian traders.^[6][7]

Nilotes

Nilotes are the second-largest group of peoples in Kenya. They speak Nilo-Saharan languages and came to Eastern Africa by way of South Sudan,^[6] although their ultimate place of origin is believed to be West Africa from a population they share with the Bantus.^[8] Most Nilotes in Kenya are herdsmen, and they have a fearsome reputation as warriors and cattle-rustlers. The most prominent of these groups include the Luo, Maasai, the Samburu, the Turkana, and the Kalenjin.^[6] As with the Bantu, the Nilotes have adopted many customs and practices from the Cushitic groups, including the age set system of social organization, circumcision, and vocabulary terms.^[8][9]

Cushites

Cushites form a significant minority of Kenya's population. They speak Afro-Asiatic languages, and originally came from Ethiopia and Somalia in Northeast Africa. Most are herdsmen and Muslim.^[9] Cushites are concentrated in the northernmost North Eastern Province, which borders Somalia.^[10]

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

• The Southern Cushites were the second earliest inhabitants of Kenya after the indigenous Bushman hunter-gatherer groups,^[11] and the first of the Cushitic-speaking peoples to migrate from their homeland in the Horn of Africa about 2000 years ago.^[9] Responsible for having introduced irrigation and composting techniques to East Africa,^[12] they were progressively displaced in a southerly direction and/or absorbed by the incoming Nilotic and Bantu groups until they wound up in Tanzania.^[9] As a consequence of these movements, there are no longer any Southern Cushites left in Kenya (the Dahalo originally being Bushman peoples who adopted the language of their dominant Southern Cushitic neighbors sometime toward the last millennium BCE^[12]).

• 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 only a few centuries ago.^[9] 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 they ultimately lost the war, Somalis in the region still identify and maintain close ties with their kin in Somalia, and see themselves as one people.^[13] An entrepreneurial community, they have increasingly begun asserting themselves in the business sector as more have immigrated into the country, particularly in Eastleigh.^[14]

Non-African

• 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 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.^[10]
• Indians in Kenya are primarily noted for their business acumen. Many Kenyan Indians hail from the Gujrat region. While there have been some race-related tensions with the local Bantu and Nilotic majority, Indians nonetheless form one of the most prosperous communities in the region.^[10]
• Europeans in Kenya primarily consist of descendants of British colonials. Many are of aristocratic descent and still continue to wield significant influence, especially over Kenya's political elite. Britons and other Europeans in Kenya have also traditionally dominated the local business community.^[10] They are colloquially known as mzungu in Swahili.

Population statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Total population is reported as 41.07 million as of July 2011, with an age structure of:

• 0–14 years: 42.3% (male 8,300,393/female 8,181,898)
• 15–64 years: 55.1% (male 10,784,119/female 10,702,999)
• 65 years and over: 2.6% (male 470,218/female 563,145)

The population growth rate is estimated at 2.69% p.a., with a birth rate of 36.64 births/1,000 population and a death rate of 9.72 deaths/1,000 population The sex ratio as of 2006 was estimated at

• at birth: 1.02 male(s)/female
• under 16 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
• 15–64 years: ? male(s)/female

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 57.9 years as of 2010. Total fertility rate has decreased slightly, from 4.91 children born per woman (2006 estimate), to a value of 4.38 (2010 estimate).

Literacy (age 7 and over can read and write) was estimated at 85.1% in 2003 (male: 90.6%, female: 79.7%).

Religion

Main article: Religion in Kenya

Protestant 47.7 %, Roman Catholic 23.5 %, other Christian 11.9 %, Muslim 11.2 %, no religion 2.4 %, indigenous beliefs 1.7 %,^[15] Bahá'í Faith about 1%,^[16][17] Buddhism 0.3 %, other 2 %

References

1. ^ Kenya begins contentious census BBC News, 24 August 2009.
2. ^ Kenya defends tribal census figures BBC News, 31 August 2010.
3. ^ census data cited after citypopulation.de
4. ^ Languages of Kenya
5. ^ CIA - The World Factbook - Kenya
6. ^ ^{a b c} A. Okoth & A. Ndaloh, Peak Revision K.C.P.E. Social Studies, (East African Publishers), p.60-61.
7. ^ S. Wandibba et al, Social Studies STD 6, (East African Publishers), p.45-47.
8. ^ ^{a b} Robert O. Collins, The southern Sudan in historical perspective, (Transaction Publishers: 2006), p.9-10.
9. ^ ^{a b c d e} S. Wandibba et al, p.19-20.
10. ^ ^{a b c d} Godfrey Mwakikagile, Kenya: identity of a nation, (Godfrey Mwakikagile: 2007), p.99-102.
11. ^ H. Okello Ayot, Topics in East African history, 1000-1970, (East African Literature Bureau: 1976), p.13.
12. ^ ^{a b} Randall L. Pouwels, Horn and Crescent: Cultural Change and Traditional Islam on the East African Coast, 800-1900, Volume 53 of African Studies, (Cambridge University Press: 2002), p.9.
13. ^ Mwakikagile, p.79.
14. ^ Kenya/Somalia: Somalia community doing booming business in country
15. ^ http://www.knbs.or.ke/docs/PresentationbyMinisterforPlanningrevised.pdf
16. ^ "Kenya". World Council of Churches. World Council of Churches. 2008. http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/kenya.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
17. ^ "Background Note: Kenya". The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affair. 2007. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2962.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 

1989 KENYA POPULATION CENSUS http://www.cbs.go.ke/ www.minorityrights.org/download.php?id=147

 This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2006 edition".

External links

• Kenya: Minorities, Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Diversity, report by Minority Rights Group, 2005