Poverty in Kenya
Although Kenya's economy is the largest and most developed in eastern and Central Africa, 25% (2023/2024) of its population lives below the international poverty line.
According to the information from OPHI Country Briefing 2017, poor people in Kenya are significantly deprived in the living standard dimension, especially of cooking fuel, electricity, and sanitation indicators.
[citation needed] After the new government taking office in 2003, there were early signs of economic recovery in Kenya.
Owing to the success of the Economic Recovery Strategy developed by the new government, children had access to free primary education.
Kenya has the largest economy in the East African region with a gross domestic product of 74.8 billion US dollars in 2017.
In Kenya, 80% of the land is classified as arid and semi-arid, where there is highly variable rainfall and frequent droughts.
[8] The drought resulted in a slump in the production of the staple crop (maize), and more than 2 million people were in need of food aid.
[9] Droughts reduce crop and livestock production, cause financial losses in agriculture and increase unemployment rates.
Kenya is an upper-middle income country with inequality in wealth distribution, poverty level and human rights aspects.
Kenya's inequality is reflected by share of income and social services varying among different segments of the population.
[10] The wealth gap has not narrowed in recent years, even though the statistics show that the economy has grown by 19 percent.
Disclosed by the World Bank in 2015, Kenya's Gini index was 40.8%,[11] indicating the unequal distribution of income.
[12] Kenya has significant gender inequality and Kenyan women continue to advocate for their equal right to property, security, financial services, healthcare, and education.
[13] Women may still need their spouse or father's consent before accessing a healthcare provider or taking time off from their traditional household roles.
[14] Most institutions providing healthcare in Kenya afford women very little say over their own bodies; they may be forced to undergo abortions or female circumcision.
[17] The increasing criminal rate leads to instability of the society that directly reduces economic growth and further causes poverty problems.
Diseases that spread in the society reduce productivity and increases the health care expenditure of government, which worsens the poverty in Kenya.
[22] The Society for International Development has revealed that rivers are the most common supply of Kenya's drinking water.
Droughts damage Kenya's agricultural economy, cause famine and result in even worse hygienic conditions.
[24] Due to the severe water crisis, many Kenyans’ basic standards of living are not guaranteed, and incidences of related diseases are high, which increases financial burden on the government and exacerbates poverty.
For instance, for householders with low income that were unable to have access to safe food, health care and education, implements of the plan improved their condition through using money from the exchequer.
Objectives of the NPEP involved wide aspects, such as universal education, primary health care, safe drinking water and abolishing the gap between rural and urban social development.
In addition, the government created more jobs and helped people living in arid areas address the unstable weather effects on agriculture.
