Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey ( KIHBS)

Abstract

The Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS 2005/06) Project was to collect a wide spectrum of socio-economic indicators required to measure, monitor and analyse the progress made in improving living standards. Specifically, the KIHBS was designed to update and strengthen three vital aspects of the national statistical database, notably: the Consumer Price Index (CPI), poverty and inequality; and the System of National Accounts (SNA). The data collection phase of this survey took 12 months and data on demographics, housing, education, health, agriculture and livestock, enterprises, expenditure and consumption, among others, was collected. Results from these areas are summarised below. Household characteristics Distribution of population by sex shows that there are more females (50.7%) than males (49.3%). Kenya’s sex ratio stands at 97 males per 100 females while the age dependency ratio stands at 84 persons for every 100 people in the working-age population. Kenya has a mean household size of 5.1 persons. Overall, seven out of every ten households are headed by males. Nationally, 63.5 per cent of household heads are married into monogamous unions. Results on orphanhood show that 5 per cent of children aged below 18 years have lost their fathers while, 1.2 per cent have lost both parents. Education characteristics The results show that, 93.4 per cent of the population aged 6-17 years have attended school for at least one school term. Approximately 20 per cent of children have never attended school due to lack of money for school expenses while 9.9 per cent have never attended school because of ill health. Gross primary and secondary school attendance rates are estimated at 117.0 per cent and 40.0 per cent respectively. Nationally, 79.5 per cent of the population aged 15 years and above can both read and write. Nairobi Province has the highest literacy level of 96.6% for males followed by Nyanza Province (91.9%). The majority of students in primary, secondary and university attend government institutions. Health characteristics The results from this survey indicate that 27.4 per cent of the survey population have suffered from some kind of illness during the four weeks prior to the survey period. The prevalence of illness is relatively higher (30.1%) for females than for males (24.7%). Malaria is the most common sickness, affecting 41.4 per cent of the sick population. Nationally, 36.1 per cent of illnesses were self-diagnosed, while 46.2 per cent were diagnosed by a medical worker. In terms of mosquito bed-nets, usage rate stands at 26.6 per cent of the population. The use of nets is higher in urban areas (43.7%) than in rural areas (22.2%). The results also show that 53.9 per cent of the children in the country are delivered at home and 39.1 per cent in health facilities. Children in rural areas are twice as likely to be born at home as compared to urban children. Overall, 39 per cent of children are delivered by trained medical personnel while 39.1 per cent by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) of which 27.4% by untrained TBA and 11.7% by trained TBA. In terms of child health, 65.9 per cent of children aged 12-23 months are fully immunised. Nutritional status indicators show that 33 per cent of children are stunted, 6.1 per cent are acutely undernourished (wasted) while 20.2 per cent are underweight. Agriculture and Livestock Agriculture is a key sector of the country’s economy, contributing about 25 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and providing employment to an estimated 70 per cent of the labour force. KIHBS - Basic Report - The data from the KIHBS indicate that 68.8 per cent of all households in Kenya are engaged in crop farming activities. In the rural areas, this proportion stands at 85.4 per cent. This activity is practised on an estimated 12.3 million acres out of a total area of about 146.5 million acres. However, it is only on 6 per cent of all agricultural parcels that irrigation farming is practised. Similarly, the results show that 66.0 per cent of Kenyan households keep at least one type of livestock. The most common types of livestock are chicken and cattle with 67.0 and 64.0 per cent of livestock rearing households, respectively keeping them. Other common livestock types include goats, sheep, camels, pigs and donkeys. Household enterprises, access to credit and shocks Two-thirds of households in Kenya are engaged in wholesale/retail trade sector while manufacturing is the second most important sector. About a half of households used own savings, while 15.1 per cent used gifts from friends to start their business. Just over 30 per cent of all households were able to access credit. Neighbours/friends, grocery/local merchant and SACCOs were the three leading sources of credit. Credit was mainly sought for subsistence needs, school fees and medical expenses in that order. Out of all “shocks” experienced by households, death was the most prevalent and severe. Other common shocks were loss of employment, fire, drought and floods. Household social amenities Two-thirds of Kenyans reside in their own houses while close to a quarter reside in rented dwellings. House/bungalow is the most common type of dwelling followed by traditional huts/manyatta and Swahili type houses. Overall, 57.0 per cent of households use safe drinking water. Eastern and North Eastern Provinces have the lowest rates of using safe drinking water. The results further show that 84.0 per cent of the Kenyan households use adequate human waste disposal facilities while 14.8 per cent have no toilets. Over 80 per cent of households in the rural areas use firewood for cooking while paraffin is the leading source of cooking energy used by 44.6 per cent of urban dwellers. Over three quarters of households use paraffin lamps while electricity is used by 15.6 per cent of Kenyans. Community Perspectives The results show that 25.9 per cent of Kenyan Communities have the nearest public primary school within one kilometre or less, while 51.4 per cent are located 5 or more kilometres away from such a school. On the other hand, 19.3 per cent of Kenyans have a public secondary school within a distance of one kilometre or less, while 49.0 per cent travel for 5 or more kilometres. Only 11.3 per cent of Kenyans travel one kilometre or less to reach a health facility, while about a half (47.7%) travel for 5 kilometres or more. More than a half of rural dwellers travel 5 or more kilometres to reach a health facility, while only 11.9 per cent of urban dwellers travel similar distances. Only 10.3 per cent of Kenyans have access to a telephone facility within a distance of one kilometre or less, while 59.7 per cent have to travel 5 or more kilometres to reach a telephone facility. Overall, only 7.0 per cent of Kenyans travel one kilometre or less to reach the nearest post office, while a higher proportion (72.2%) has to cover 5 or more kilometres to access post office services. Nationally, close to a fifth of Kenyans have a bitumen road located one kilometre or less, while 65.8 per cent Kenyans can reach a tarmac road after travelling for 5 or more kilometres.. While 36.2 per cent communities concurred that corruption involving public servants was much better or better now than five years ago, 47.4 per cent felt it was worse or much worse. Nationally, 42.1 per cent Executive Summary vi - KIHBS - Basic Report were of the opinion that police services in their communities were better or much better now compared to five years ago, while 39.9 per cent felt that police services were worse or much worse now than five years ago. In an effort to enhance security, a third of the communities (33.2%) introduced community policing, 19.8 per cent took no step, and 19.0 per cent relied on neighbourhood watch, while 13.6 per cent improved house security by adding iron bars, walls or fences.