Demographic Features

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Demographic Features

Population size and composition

Trans Nzoia County is a cosmopolitan county with cultural diversity comprising majority of the 44 Kenyan tribes residing in the county. The Kenya Population and Housing Census (KPHC) of 2019 enumerated a total of 990,341 persons in Trans Nzoia County, with 489,107 being male and 501,206 being female and 28 being inter sex. According to the KPHC 2019, the county population density is 397 persons per square kilometre while the average house hold size is 4.4 persons. Using the inter censal growth rate of 3.6 percent for population projection, the population for the County in 2022 is projected to be 1,103,256 persons and by the year 2023 it is projected to increase to 1,143,697 persons. Table 1.3 shows the population projections by age cohorts for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Table 3: Population Projections by Age Cohorts

Age Cohort	2019 (Census)			2022 Projections			2023 (Projections)
Age Cohort	M	F	Total	M	F	Total	M	F	Total
0-4	65,326	64,232	129,558	72,776	71,558	144,334	75,444	74,181	149,624
5-9	71,635	71,287	142,922	79,805	79,417	159,222	82,730	82,328	165,058
10-14	75,156	74,192	149,348	83,727	82,653	166,381	86,796	85,683	172,480
15-19	63,629	60,915	124,544	70,886	67,862	138,748	73,484	70,350	143,834
20-24	40,757	44,351	85,108	45,405	49,409	94,814	47,070	51,220	98,290
25-29	31,725	36,224	67,949	35,343	40,355	75,698	36,639	41,835	78,473
30-34	30,115	34,425	64,540	33,550	8,351	71,901	34,779	39,757	74,536
35-39	24,055	23,253	47,308	26,798	25,905	52,703	27,781	26,855	54,635
40-44	21,786	22,284	44,070	24,271	24,825	49,096	25,160	25,735	50,896
45-49	16,867	16,809	33,676	18,791	18,726	37,517	19,479	19,412	38,892
50-54	12,519	13,417	25,936	13,947	14,947	28,894	14,458	15,495	29,953
55-59	10,888	12,207	23,095	12,130	13,599	25,729	12,574	14,098	26,672
60-64	8,807	9,082	17,889	9,811	10,118	19,929	10,171	10,489	20,660
65-69	6,137	6,540	12,677	6,837	7,286	14,123	7,088	7,553	14,640
70-74	4,371	4,778	9,149	4,870	5,323	10,192	5,048	5,518	10,566
75-79	2,347	3,060	5,407	2,615	3,409	6,024	2,711	3,534	6,244
80-84	1,558	1,942	3,500	1,736	2,163	3,899	1,799	2,243	4,042
85-89	886	1,318	2,204	987	1,468	2,455	1,023	1,522	2,545
90-94	322	454	776	359	506	865	372	524	896
95-99	189	308	497	211	343	554	218	356	574
100+	31	125	156	35	139	174	36	144	180
NS*	1	3	4	1	3	4	1	3	5
TOTAL	489,107	501,206	990,313	544,889	558,367	1,103,256	564,862	578,835	1,143,697

Source: County Economic Planning Department, 2021

In the table above the highest proportion of the population in Trans Nzoia is Children of Age 0-17 which accounted for 51 percent of the county population in 2019. The county has generally a youthful population with 851,098 of her population below 35 years of age, representing 77 per cent of the total projected population for the county in 2022 and 24,167 persons in the age cohort, 70+ representing the population of the elderly persons. On the other hand, the labour force mainly of ages 15-64 years has a projected population of 595,029 persons in 2022 representing 54 percent of the total county projected population in 2022.

Table 4: Population Projections by Urban Centres 2022 and 2023

Urban Centre	2019 (Census)			2022 (Projections)			2023 (Projected)
Urban Centre	M	F	Total	M	F	Total	M	F	T
Kitale	80,521	81,648	162,169	89,704	90,960	180,664	92,992	87,743	187,286
Kiminini	7,980	8,580	16,560	8,890	9,559	18,449	9,216	9,221	19,125
TOTAL	88,501	90,228	178,734	98,594	100,519	199,113	102,208	96,964	206,417

Source: County Economic Planning Department, 2021

In accordance to the Urban Areas and Cities Act, 2011 Trans Nzoia County has two main urban centres namely Kitale and Kiminini towns. The 2019 KPHC enumerated 162, 169 persons in Kitale town and 16,560 persons in Kiminini township respectively. The total projected urban population for these towns is 199,113 in 2022 and 206,417 in 2023 respectively. Table 1.0.4 shows the census population in 2019 and projected population for Kitale and Kiminini for the years 2022 and 2023.

Population desnsity and distribution

Table below shows the population distribution by Gender and Sub County in 2019, and projections for 2022 and 2023 while table 1.0.6 shows the projected population density by Sub County for the years 2019, 2022 and 2023.

Table 5: Projected Population Distribution by Gender and Sub County (2022 and 2023)

Sub County	2019 (Census)			2022 (Projections)			2023 (Projections)
Sub County	M	F	T	M	F	T	M	F	T
Kiminini	118,087	124,730	242,817	131,555	138,955	270,510	136,377	144,049	280,425
Saboti	101,198	101,174	202,372	112,739	112,713	225,452	116,872	116,844	233,716
Kwanza	100,234	103,584	203,818	111,665	115,398	227,063	115,759	119,628	235,386
Endebess	56,090	55,689	111,779	62,487	62,040	124,527	64,777	64,314	129,092
Cherangany	113,498	116,029	229,527	126,442	129,262	255,704	131,077	134,000	265,077
TOTAL	489,107	501,206	990,313	544,889	558,367	1,103,256	564,862	578,835	1,143,697

Source: County Economic Planning Department, 2021

Table 6: Projected Population Density by Sub County

Population Statistics

Sub County Name	2019 (Census)			2022 Population Projection		2023 Population Projection
Sub County Name	Area Sq. Kms	population	Density	Population	Density	Population	Density
Kiminini	367	242,823	662	270,516	737	280,432	765
Saboti	355	202,377	569	225,458	634	233,722	657
Kwanza	465	203,821	438	227,066	488	235,390	506
Endebess	678	111,782	165	124,530	184	129,095	191
Cherangany	629	229,538	365	255,716	406	265,090	422
TOTAL	2,495	990,341	397	1,103,287	442	1,143,729	458

Source: County Economic Planning Department, 2021

According to KPHC 2019, the County has a population density of 397 people per square Kilometre and is projected to increase to 442 people per square Kilometer in 2022. This is expected to rise further to 458 by 2023 .Trans Nzoia County is among top fifteen densely populated counties in Kenya. The report indicates further that Kiminini Sub County has the highest population and is also the most densely populated sub county. On the other hand, Endebess Sub County is the least populated with a population of 111,782 persons and a population density of 165 persons per square kilometer.

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