Economy

Kenya@60 in numbers

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GRAPHIC | STANSLAUS MANTHI | NMG

Kenyans are living nearly twice as long as they did 60 years ago in an economy that continues to elicit mixed feedback on the socioeconomic strides that have been made to fulfil the dreams of the Independence generation.

Official data shows life expectancy is averaging 62.7 years when compared with 35 in 1963 when Kenya attained Independence.

The increased life expectancy comes on the back of major investments in the health sector where the number of health facilities has grown from under 1,500 to 16,517, with the number of health practitioners also growing.

But Kenya will have to increase its budgetary allocation to public health, step up hiring of health practitioners and stem vices such as theft of drugs in an economy where official projects say its population will hit 70.18 million by 2045 from under 50 million today.

The progress in life expectancy has come alongside that of the education sector where far more children are now in school.

From a primary school enrolment of 891,553 at Independence, the number has grown to more than 10.36 million supported by reforms such as free primary education. The number of teachers has risen nearly 10 times to 221,510

University enrolment has also increased from just 536 in 1963/64 to 17,538 in 1987/88 and 562,925 in 2021/22 on continued opening up of more institutions of higher learning especially in the counties.

But the education sector has also had its sticky challenges, including the pressure on the resources in public institutions and the growing dependence on private institutions as the required infrastructure and teachers trail the population of learners.

Economic indicators such as debt, cost of living and taxation levels have also triggered mixed feelings on whether the last 60 years have made Kenyans better off.

This is an economy that was last year valued at Sh13.37 trillion compared with Sh6.58 billion at independence and with per capita income rising from Sh762.62 to Sh260,024.

Kenya’s tax revenue has not been growing as fast as its budgetary needs, leading to a continued pile up of debt to the current Sh9.39 trillion from Sh1.65 billion at Independence.

The piling debt has come in an environment where Kenya is struggling to contain its wage bill or expand the tax base, especially as new jobs lean more towards the informal sector and digital businesses emerge.

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