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Average Nairobian 11 times richer than counterpart in Kenya’s poorest county
Nairobians flock at Eastleigh, Nairobi in a last-minute rush to shop for Christmas on December 24, 2024. The Gross County Product (GCP) 2024 report reveals huge disparities in the economic fortunes of Kenyans based on the counties they live in.
The average Nairobian is 11 times wealthier than a resident of Kenya’s poorest county, Mandera, and has more wealth than the average Kenyan in each of the seven poorest counties combined, according to a new report shedding light on economic disparities between counties.
The Gross County Product (GCP) 2024 report reveals huge disparities in the economic fortunes of Kenyans based on the counties they live in, showing that only in nine counties do Kenyans have wealth more than the national average.
“The GCP per capita is calculated by dividing the GCP by the respective county population. Along with other indicators such as poverty and inequality rates, this measure helps in assessing economic development,” the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) notes.
The report assessed the economic fortunes of Kenyans in different counties based on the value of products produced in a county compared to its population (GCP per capita), placing Nairobi City County top of the table, with a GCP per capita of Sh802,344.
This means that when you take the value of all goods and services produced in Nairobi in 2023 and divide by the county’s population, each resident would earn an average of Sh802,344 (or a monthly average of Sh66,862).
This is in sharp contrast to Mandera - the county with the lowest GCP per capita of Sh72,764 (Sh6,064 monthly) in 2023 - which shows that an average Nairobian’s access to wealth is 11 times higher than that of a Mandera resident.
A comparison of the GCP per capita of the two counties also means that it takes almost a year for the resident of Mandera to earn what a Nairobian earns in a month.
“GCP per capita serves as an indicator of the average income of residents in that county, providing insight into the economic performance and relative wealth of the county per person. It provides valuable insights into the economic well-being of county residents and showcases variations in economic development across the 47 counties,” KNBS notes.
Overall, Nairobi's GCP per capita is higher than that of the seven poorest counties combined, meaning that on average a Nairobian earns more money than the average Kenyan in each of the seven counties.
The seven poorest counties according to KNBS GCP per capita in 2023 were Mandera (Sh72,764), Wajir (Sh79,376), Garissa (Sh81,775), Samburu (Sh113,073) Isiolo (Sh119,139), Tana River (Sh122,779) and Busia (Sh127,811).
Their combined GCP per capita was Sh716,717, which was less than Nairobi’s Sh802,344.
GCP offers a monetary measure of the net market value of all final goods and services produced within each of the 47 counties in a year.
KNBS notes that Nairobi’s high GCP per capita, which is nearly three times the national average, is driven by Nairobi’s status as the capital city and the major economic hub.
Nairobi’s GCP per capita was followed by Mombasa (Sh507,337), Nakuru (Sh334,667), Nyeri (Sh317,459), Lamu (Sh304,024), Nyandarua (Sh302,965), Embu (Sh300,392), Machakos (Sh299,637) and Meru (Sh297,650), rounding off the list of counties with a higher GCP per capita than the national average of Sh293,229.
“As of 2023, Kenya’s GDP per capita was Sh293,229, up from Sh266,473 in 2022, indicating continued growth in the country’s overall economic performance. However, there are significant differences among counties, with some areas surpassing the national average with others lagging behind,” KNBS notes.
All the counties in the Western and Nyanza regions had a lower GCP per capita than the national average, only Nakuru made the cut in the Rift Valley region, and four counties in Mt Kenya had a higher GCP per capita than the national average, the report shows.
