Resource information
About half of Kenya's rural
population (approximately 9 million people) was the poverty
line in 1992, a proportion unchanged from 1982. In urban
areas, approximately a million and a quarter persons or 30
percent of the population was below the poverty line. In the
early 1980s, Kenya's social indicators were distinctly
more favorable than those of most countries in the region,
and there was further progress. But many indicators
stagnated in the early 1990s. There are also persistent
differences between rural and urban areas and between the
poor and the non-poor. These are the findings of the Kenya
poverty assessment (March 1995) which is one of the few
studies in the region to document and measure changes in
poverty indicators over a decade. Using data from a number
of sources, it shows that while Kenya achieved some
improvement in its social indicators, the lack of sustained
per capita income growth resulted in continued poverty for
an increasing number. And that the benefits of good health
and education did not accrue to all.
