Counties where you are likely to live longer

You are more likely to live longer in Kenya’s eastern region, but die early living in the Western region, a new report shows.

The report by state-owned Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra) on life expectancy across the country, says that residents of counties in eastern Kenya averagely live for 24 years longer than those from the lake region counties.

The report, which sourced data from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2014, as updated in 2018, only cites extreme poverty as the cause for short life in Western Kenya, and does not explain the reason for longer life around eastern counties, which equally face poverty. It also revises downwards the average life expectancy in the country from 66 years as held by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the World Bank, to 57.7 years.

“Life expectancy at birth (is) measured by the number of years lived. The global aspiration of 85 years and a minimum of 20 years as used in World Bank HDI (Human Development Index) was considered in the computation of the index as the frontier and worst respectively,” the report stated.

Best

Isiolo County was ranked best for a person who wants to live longer, with a score of 0.73. This means that in Isiolo people on average live for 67.45 years.

This was measured on a scale of 0-1 where 0 was considered worst circumstances, where a person would die earlier, and 1, where a person would live for longer. In the circumstances, Kippra adopted the World Bank’s HDI, where a life expectancy of 20 years is considered worst case scenario, and 85 years best.

Kitui and Makueni counties tied in second position, with both scoring 0.72 index out of 1, in terms of number of years residents in the counties tend to live. This means that residents in the two counties on average live for 66.8 years, also above both MOH and World Bank data on the lifespan in Kenya.

Closing the top four was Machakos County with a score of 0.7, which translates to 65.5 years.

Life expectancy at birth

“The highest scores of life expectancy at birth were recorded in Isiolo and Kitui counties while Wajir had the least score of 0.35. The low rates in some counties such as Wajir can be associated with extreme poverty in the counties,” Kippra stated.

On the other hand, Wajir and Siaya tied in the list of worst performers, meaning counties in Kenya where residents die at youngest ages, with both scoring 0.35. This implies that residents in the two counties have an average lifespan of 42.75 years, 24 years lower than in Isiolo, the best performing county.

The report shows there exists a big gap between the state of life in the two counties and others following in the list of low life expectancy, with those following the two -- Vihiga and Kisumu -- tying at a score of 0.45 (or 49.25 years).

Homa Bay County, follows on the list from bottom performers, with a score of 0.48, then Migori and Taita Taveta tying at 0.49 to close the list of seven counties with the lowest lifespan.

Average lifespan

“The average score was 0.58 with 25 counties scoring above average,” the research stated. This translates to an average lifespan of 57.7 years, which also falls below the lifespan as per MOH and World Bank.

While the seven poorest performing counties were scored below 0.5, 22 counties scored 0.6 and above.

The counties scoring 0.6 and above, meaning life expectancy is longer there, are West Pokot, Tharaka Nithi, Samburu, Nyeri, Nyandarua, Nyamira, Narok, Nairobi, Murang’a, Meru, Marsabit, Kirinyaga, Kilifi, Kiambu, Kajiado, Garissa, Embu and Elgeyo Marakwet. This means that the counties had a lifespan of at least 59 years.

A total of 18 counties scored between 0.5 and 0.58, out of the maximum 1.

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