Poverty Situation in Kenya:the Case of Kakamega District

Abstract

This research paper assesses empirically the poverty situation in Kakamega District. The third Welfare Monitoring Survey data was used. The survey was done by Central Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Finance and Planning. The model developed by Foster, Greer and Thorbecke in 1984 was used in this study to compute poverty measures. The model uses the FEI-based poverty lines that were computed from the same data to construct poverty measures. The results indicate that more than half the population of Kakamega District live in poverty, especially in the rural areas. The results also show that rural poverty is too high as compared to urban poverty. As it was found from the results, it is important to disaggregate data to the lower levels like the district than always using national and combined data because it gives more acurate estimates of poverty. There are also

measures suggested in the study that should be consi~a for poverty eradication in Kakamega and other regions in Kenya in general.