Kenya: Liftoff a Framework Enhancing a Pathway to the Nation’s Population Growth to 57.8 Million by 2030

By Abdul Rahman Bangura-

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone– Njuguna Ndung’u – Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning, asserted in Nairobi that, the policy would offer the country with a responsive and harmonized direction to address population growth in relation to economic growth.

“Population growth must be in tandem with available resources and development goals. Rapid population growth is problematic for any country; if the population grows faster than the economy, challenges like increased dependency emerge,” he noted.

He pursued that, the framework, titled “Kenya National Population Policy for Sustainable Development,” would guide Kenya to battle population growth in alliance with its economic blueprint Vision 2030, Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

“Kenya’s population growth between 1999 and 2009 was about 3% per year; this fell to 2% between 2009 and 2019. This means Kenya is on the right path because the growth of population should never be higher than the growth of the real economy,” he added.

Kenya’s population presently stands at about 50 million people and is projected to grow to 57.8 million by 2030, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

The youth constitute 29% of the population, with their numbers growing vastly from 3.2 million in 1989 to 13 million in 2019 and anticipated to reach 19 million by 2035, Ndung’u said.

James Muhati – Principal Secretary for Economic Planning, remarked the framework would enhance the population and adopt forward-looking planning.

Kenya’s economy grew 5.6% in 2023, an addition from 4.9% in 2022, according to the World Bank. And it is anticipated to grow 5 in 2024.

New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports, Africa Correspondent