Nairobians spend twice as much as the rest of the country report

Nairobians spend twice as much as their counterparts in the rest of the country according to a breakdown of data from a just published report.

The report, whose central theme featured inequality and is co-authored by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), shows that Nairobians have the highest mean real per capita expenditure at Ksh.103,774 per year.

The median per capita expenditure is also the highest at Ksh.80,472 meaning at least half of the Nairobi residents spend this sum each year.

In contrast, the mean real per capita expenditure countrywide sits at Ksh.54,819 while the median real per capita expenditure averages Ksh.38,235 implying at least half of Kenyans spend this sum each year.

The data has been derived from previous surveys including the Welfare Monitoring Survey of 1994 and the 2015/16 Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS).

Other counties with high spending are Mombasa (Ksh.79,266 per head), Kiambu (Ksh.69,623), Nyeri (Ksh.66,896) and Nakuru (Ksh.60,576).

Meanwhile, residents in Mandera have the lowest expenditures at Ksh.21,443 per year and Ksh.15,043 in median spending.

Other counties in the bottom five include Wajir (Ksh.22,130), West Pokot (Ksh.24,897), Busia (Ksh.26,525 and Marsabit (Ksh.29,435).

This means that Nairobians are spending a sum five times higher than the lowest spending Mandera residents.

At the same time, the amounts spent could be much higher given statistics in this report cut out spending alluding to inflation (with real expenditures being spending adjusted for inflation).

Cost of living

However, overall real expenditures have been on the decline over the last two decades.

For instance, Kenyans spent an average of Ksh.62,374 each per year in 1994 with mean real expenditure in Nairobi sitting at a higher Ksh.174,071.

Greater spending in Nairobi is meanwhile attributable to higher incomes in the Capital but is also a factor of rising costs.

For instance residents of the capital city have casually commented over the runaway cost of living with many already moving or implying plans to head back to the countryside on economic pressures.

Commuting costs are for instance greater in Nairobi relative to the rest of the country.

Even so, the cost of living appears to be relatively flat across the board with residents in rural areas facing even greater pressures on the cost of living.

An analysis of inflation data by region has for instance established that Kenyans in rural areas and those in lower-income households face the steepest cost of living.

This implies that high costs in urban areas may be masked in respect to the development on consumer price indices (CPIs).

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Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Nairobi Cost Of Living

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