Recent surveys indicate that 38.7per cent of Kenya’s population or 19.2 million people are poor while an additional 34.9per cent or 17.3 million people are classified as vulnerable.
According to the 2019 Human Development Report, published by the United Nations Development Program(UNDP), Kenya’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is 0.178. This is compared to Cameroon’s 0.243 and Tanzania’s 0.273
MPI is the share of the population that is multidimensionally poor, adjusted by the intensity of the deprivations.
In Kenya, 23.3 per cent of parliamentary seats are held by women, and 29.8per cent of adult women have reached at least a secondary level of education compared to 37.3per cent of their male counterparts.
For every 100,000 live births, 510 women die from pregnancy related causes; and the adolescent birth rate is 75.1 births per 1,000 women of 15-19 years.
Female participation in the labour market is 63.6 percent compared to 69.1 percent for men. Cameroon and Tanzania are ranked at 140 and 130 respectively on this index.
Kenya has a Gender Inequality Index (GII) value of 0.545, ranking it 134 out of 162 countries.
The 2019 Human Development Report (HDR) explores inequalities in human development by going beyond income, beyond averages, and beyond today.
Kenya’s Human Development Index (HDI) value for 2018 is 0.579—which put the country in the medium human development category—positioning it at 147 out of 189 countries and territories. The rank is shared with Nepal.
The HDI is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.
A long and healthy life is measured by life expectancy. Knowledge level is measured by mean years of schooling among the adult population, which is the average number of years of schooling received in a life-time by people aged 25 years and older; and access to learning and knowledge by expected years of schooling for children of school-entry age, which is the total number of years of schooling a child of school-entry age can expect to receive if prevailing patterns of age-specific enrollment rates stay the same throughout the child’s life.
Standard of living is measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.
Between 1990 and 2018, Kenya’s life expectancy at birth increased by 8.9years, mean years of schooling increased by 2.8years and expected years of schooling increased by 2.0years.
Kenya’s GNI per capita increased by about 34.7percent between 1990and 2018.