
Consumption expenditure
Household welfare is highly correlated with income. Household incomes are not easy to measure, because they are not always a true reflection of actual incomes, but household consumption expenditure is usually a reliable indicator. Individual expenditures have historically been shown to be correlated with income level. Household surveys have therefore traditionally captured data on expenditures as a proxy for estimating incomes. Consumption expenditure on a determined food basket is used to estimate the poverty line.
Household consumption expenditure in Table 3.1 reveals inequalities both nationally and across rural and urban areas. For purposes of analyzing inequality, we divide the population into quintiles, each representing 20 percent of all the households in Kenya, from lowest to highest expenditures. The consumption expenditure share of the fifth quintile with the highest expenditures above KSh7,200 is 3.6 times more than that of the first quintile with expenditures below KSh 1,440. The disparities in expenditures are more pronounced in urban areas compared to rural areas.
The variations in consumption expenditure are more pronounced in urban areas with expenditures in the fifth quintile at least 121 times more than the first quintile compared minimal differences in rural areas. However, when we look at the population that is in each decile across areas, there are big disparities between rural and urban areas; 44.6 percent of the total rural population is in the first quintile, while only 2.6 percent of urban population is in the first quintile. This is in comparison to the fifth decile with populations of 1.5 percent and 34.1 percent in rural and urban areas, respectively. This shows that there are large income differentials between urban and rural areas.
When we separate the rural and urban areas and look at inequality within each, we see that it is not all that different as illustrated on Table 3.2. In rural areas, the ratio of the top quintile to the bottom quintile is 6.4 while that of urban areas is 6.6.
Inequalities in consumption expenditure are pronounced across counties (see table 3.1). Nairobi, Mombasa and Kiambu counties display significant differences with the 5th quintile spending more than the first by 691 times in Nairobi, 75 in Mombasa and 20 Kiambu. These three counties show a skewed distribution of expenditures compared to the other seven top ranked counties. In eight of the bottom 10 counties at least 50 percent of their population is in the bottom 1st quintile with expenditures below KSh 1,440 compared to only 0.6 percent of the population in Nairobi County.
Table 3.1: National and county monthly expenditure deciles distribution* by share, proportion of households, and population.
|
CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE SHARE PER QUINTILE |
NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS PER QUINTILE |
|
NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS PER QUINTILE |
|||||||||||||
|
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
|
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
|
Name |
Ksh. Below 1,440 |
Ksh. 1,441-2,840 |
Ksh. 2,841-3,880 |
Ksh. 3,881-7,200 |
Ksh. Above 7,200 |
Ksh. Below 1,440 |
Ksh. 1,441-2,840 |
Ksh. 2,841-3,880 |
Ksh. 3,881-7,200 |
Ksh. Above 7,200 |
Total |
Ksh. Below 1,440 |
Ksh. 1,441-2,840 |
Ksh. 2,841-3,880 |
Ksh. 3,881-7,200 |
Ksh. Above 7,200 |
Total |
Kenya |
9.8 |
13.6 |
17.8 |
23.1 |
35.7 |
31.5 |
23.5 |
18.9 |
14.4 |
11.7 |
37,565,589 |
20.0 |
20.0 |
20.0 |
20.0 |
20.0 |
8,469,875 |
Rural |
21.1 |
17.0 |
29.5 |
26.2 |
6.2 |
44.6 |
21.1 |
20.5 |
12.2 |
1.5 |
25,843,775 |
31.6 |
20.3 |
24.3 |
20.4 |
3.5 |
5,239,316 |
Urban |
0.5 |
10.8 |
8.0 |
20.5 |
60.3 |
2.6 |
28.7 |
15.3 |
19.3 |
34.1 |
11,721,814 |
1.3 |
19.5 |
13.1 |
19.4 |
46.8 |
3,230,559 |
Top 10 counties |
|||||||||||||||||
Nairobi |
0.1 |
6.2 |
6.6 |
17.9 |
69.1 |
0.6 |
19.2 |
15.3 |
20.2 |
44.7 |
3,068,835 |
0.3 |
15.5 |
13.1 |
19.6 |
51.5 |
968,202 |
Mombasa |
0.8 |
10.8 |
8.0 |
20.1 |
60.3 |
5.0 |
27.8 |
14.8 |
17.9 |
34.4 |
918,681 |
3.6 |
22.8 |
13.4 |
18.4 |
41.8 |
265,912 |
Kiambu |
2.2 |
7.6 |
11.1 |
35.2 |
44.0 |
9.6 |
17.9 |
17.2 |
31.4 |
23.8 |
1,601,101 |
4.7 |
11.5 |
14.6 |
32.0 |
37.2 |
456,106 |
Kisumu |
4.9 |
14.3 |
12.1 |
16.9 |
51.9 |
17.7 |
30.9 |
16.6 |
12.7 |
22.1 |
951,587 |
11.0 |
26.9 |
18.7 |
15.3 |
28.1 |
221,792 |
Lamu |
5.0 |
7.9 |
14.0 |
27.6 |
45.6 |
28.1 |
15.1 |
17.7 |
21.9 |
17.2 |
98,646 |
24.4 |
11.5 |
15.3 |
23.9 |
24.9 |
21,026 |
Nakuru |
5.0 |
14.1 |
20.0 |
27.5 |
33.5 |
16.1 |
26.5 |
24.6 |
19.3 |
13.5 |
1,562,625 |
8.5 |
18.2 |
21.8 |
25.3 |
26.2 |
401,448 |
Machakos |
6.0 |
15.6 |
15.9 |
26.7 |
35.7 |
20.0 |
28.9 |
19.2 |
18.1 |
13.8 |
1,084,129 |
13.0 |
21.8 |
18.5 |
21.3 |
25.5 |
261,791 |
Uasin-Gishu |
5.6 |
15.1 |
23.4 |
26.0 |
29.9 |
17.0 |
27.2 |
26.9 |
17.6 |
11.3 |
867,712 |
9.4 |
19.3 |
24.3 |
23.0 |
24.1 |
197,981 |
Nyeri |
5.6 |
9.6 |
20.8 |
36.2 |
27.9 |
18.5 |
19.2 |
24.3 |
27.1 |
10.9 |
678,735 |
10.3 |
14.3 |
22.9 |
34.1 |
18.2 |
199,439 |
Kajiado |
7.0 |
14.3 |
17.6 |
26.9 |
34.2 |
22.0 |
26.6 |
20.7 |
17.9 |
12.8 |
675,955 |
13.0 |
20.2 |
19.1 |
21.9 |
25.8 |
170,063 |
Median county |
|||||||||||||||||
Kisii |
15.0 |
18.7 |
21.7 |
16.2 |
28.4 |
36.7 |
27.9 |
19.3 |
8.8 |
7.3 |
1,139,552 |
27.9 |
27.1 |
22.4 |
11.9 |
10.7 |
236,416 |
Bottom 10 counties |
|||||||||||||||||
Narok |
15.5 |
21.9 |
34.3 |
19.6 |
8.7 |
31.4 |
29.6 |
26.6 |
10.0 |
2.3 |
838,624 |
20.5 |
25.4 |
29.8 |
17.9 |
6.5 |
163,721 |
Kitui |
24.0 |
17.2 |
23.3 |
22.8 |
12.6 |
50.2 |
20.5 |
16.3 |
10.0 |
3.0 |
979,563 |
38.1 |
19.6 |
19.3 |
15.7 |
7.3 |
198,933 |
Bomet |
19.7 |
21.4 |
29.0 |
20.0 |
10.0 |
39.4 |
27.0 |
21.6 |
9.4 |
2.6 |
721,873 |
27.9 |
24.3 |
24.6 |
17.3 |
5.8 |
141,164 |
Makueni |
24.9 |
18.5 |
24.7 |
20.5 |
11.4 |
50.0 |
21.8 |
16.8 |
8.9 |
2.5 |
873,416 |
36.9 |
20.5 |
19.7 |
15.3 |
7.5 |
186,047 |
Marsabit |
32.9 |
30.0 |
11.8 |
11.4 |
13.8 |
58.1 |
28.8 |
7.0 |
3.6 |
2.5 |
288,272 |
50.2 |
30.0 |
9.3 |
5.1 |
5.4 |
56,536 |
Samburu |
33.3 |
26.2 |
18.5 |
10.9 |
11.1 |
56.1 |
26.6 |
11.3 |
3.8 |
2.3 |
220,978 |
43.2 |
27.9 |
16.4 |
7.1 |
5.5 |
45,353 |
West Pokot |
33.0 |
24.0 |
23.8 |
13.0 |
6.2 |
55.0 |
24.8 |
14.1 |
4.9 |
1.3 |
485,464 |
39.3 |
26.6 |
20.2 |
10.1 |
3.8 |
78,428 |
Mandera |
48.3 |
28.7 |
11.0 |
6.9 |
5.1 |
72.1 |
20.5 |
4.9 |
1.7 |
0.8 |
927,605 |
67.3 |
21.8 |
6.4 |
2.6 |
1.8 |
109,602 |
Turkana |
57.0 |
25.5 |
5.9 |
5.7 |
5.9 |
77.6 |
17.6 |
2.6 |
1.3 |
0.9 |
801,346 |
67.3 |
21.8 |
4.8 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
106,004 |
Wajir |
52.4 |
24.9 |
13.9 |
5.7 |
3.1 |
74.9 |
17.5 |
5.7 |
1.5 |
0.4 |
522,830 |
65.6 |
20.9 |
9.2 |
3.0 |
1.4 |
60,602 |
*The total may not add up to 100 for some due to aggregation
NB: Counties have been ranked by proportion with highest ratio between 1st and 5th quintile
Table 3.2: Average rural and urban consumption expenditure deciles
RURAL HOUSEHOLDS |
|||
Quintile |
Expenditure share |
% of Households |
% of Population |
Ksh. 0-1245 |
6.5 |
20 |
30.5 |
Ksh. 1246-1583 |
9.8 |
20 |
23.4 |
Ksh. 1584-3133 |
17.0 |
20 |
19.3 |
Ksh. 3134-4199 |
24.9 |
20 |
15.6 |
Ksh. 4200 + |
41.7 |
20 |
11.1 |
Total/Number |
100 |
5,239,316 |
25,843,775 |
URBAN HOUSEHOLDS |
|||
Quintile |
Expenditure share |
% Households |
% of Population |
Ksh. 0-2433 |
5.9 |
20 |
30.2 |
Ksh. 3434-3163 |
10.7 |
20 |
22.7 |
Ksh. 3164-6848 |
19.0 |
20 |
19.3 |
Ksh. 6849-9521 |
25.0 |
20 |
15.8 |
Ksh. 9252-11683 |
39.2 |
20 |
12.0 |
Total/Number |
100 |
3,230,559 |
11,721,814 |