- The number of extremely poor Kenyans has decreased from 9.23 million in 2022 to 9.03 million in 2023.
- Around 15.1 million Kenyans cannot afford to put food on the table, with the 2021 poverty rates showing that a third of Kenyan households are food poor.
- Tanzania had the highest number of people living in extreme poverty in 2022
Kenya defied a challenging macro environment that was occasioned by rising global inflation and external economic shocks to lift 200,000 of its citizens out of extreme poverty. The country’s economy recovered from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic that had rendered millions of workers jobless.
Lift out of extreme poverty
New data released by the African Development Bank reveals that more than 200,000 Kenyans have taken action against the rising food and energy prices in the country to lift themselves out of extreme poverty.
As a result, the number of extremely poor Kenyans has decreased from 9.23 million in 2022 to 9.03 million in 2023.
Kenya’s progress is consistent with the regional trend, which saw a general decline of 0.4 percent in the number of people falling into extreme poverty. The report highlights that a marginal increase in employment levels provided some relief to Kenyans and other East African Community (EAC) member states in their efforts to escape extreme poverty.
According to the economic survey by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the poorest people are in rural areas at 13.7 million compared to 5.4 persons living below the poverty line in urban areas such as Nairobi and Mombasa.
Around 15.1 million Kenyans cannot afford to put food on the table. In 2021 reports on the poverty rate showed a third of Kenyan households are food poor. People are considered food poor if they consume less than $16.5 (KSh2,331) per month in rural areas and $20.5 (KSh2,905) in urban areas.
Rising income inequality
The East African region faced challenges such as increasing income inequality, measured by the Gini coefficient. Kenya outperformed its neighboring EAC states with the lowest Gini coefficient of 38.9. Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi posted higher coefficients.
The report attributes the increased poverty and inequality in the region to several factors. Key among them are rising energy and food prices, prolonged drought, and the lingering impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The East African economies have relatively high Gini coefficients. This reflects the continent’s overall income inequality and poverty levels, notes the report.
In 2023, the total number of people living in extreme poverty in East Africa is 105.70 million. This is about 18.5 percent of the global population in extreme poverty. And it shows a slight increase from 105.5 million in 2022.
Tanzania leads with majority of the poor
In 2022, Tanzania had the highest number of people living in extreme poverty, affecting 25.9 million individuals. On the other hand, Ethiopia experienced a significant decline of 11.2 percent. Addis Ababa cut the number of people in extreme poverty from 9.91 million in 2022 to 8.8 million in 2023.
Comoros emerged as the most unequal country in East Africa in 2023, with a Gini coefficient of 45.3. In contrast, Seychelles displayed the least inequality, with a Gini coefficient of 32.1.
Many East African countries, including those in the EAC, ranked relatively low on the global scale of income distribution. This suggests that a small portion of the population holds the majority of the wealth, leaving the majority struggling. A significant number of the people struggle to get food, energy, healthcare, housing, and education.
