Number of household members
FIGURE 5: Household size for the Shona community and Kenyans
6
5.1
4.9
5
4
3.3
4.6
3
3
3
2
1
0
Shona
National
(urban)
Population average
Shona
National
Kiambu County
Shona
National
Nairobi County
Source: Shona SES (2019) and KIHBS (KNBS 2015/16).
while for Kenyans it is 18 years for men and 19 years for women. Among urban Kenyans, there is a larger
proportion of the population within the 20–34 age groups and relatively fewer children.
16. The Shona community households are larger in size and have two more members on average, and
the working population bears more economic burden than urban Kenyans. The average Shona community household size is 4.9 compared to 3.3 in urban Kenya (p<0.01; Figure 5). Only 12 percent of the
Shona community households are made up of one or two members compared to 43 percent of Kenyan
urban households (p<0.01). In contrast, 49 percent of Shona households are comprised of five or more
household members compared to 25 percent of urban Kenyans (p<0.01). These patterns can also be
observed at the county level, as the Shona community households in Kiambu and Nairobi are larger in
size than national residents of such counties (Figure 5). In addition to the larger size of Shona households, the larger number of dependents leads to the Shona working age population bearing more economic burden than urban nationals. As measured by the household dependency ratio, every working-age
Shona is responsible for one dependent compared to two working-age nationals, who are responsible
for one dependent (0.9 vs. 0.6, p<0.01; Figure 6). In Nairobi and Kiambu, the Shona communities also
FIGURE 6: Dependency ratio for the Shona community and Kenyans
Number of dependents per
working adult
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.9
0.6
0.9
0.5
0.5
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Shona
National
(urban)
Population average
Shona
National
Kiambu County
Shona
National
Nairobi County
Source: Shona SES (2019) and KIHBS (KNBS 2015/16).
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