Demographics of Kenya

Kenya is a multi-ethnic state in the Great Lakes region of East Africa. It is primarily inhabited by Bantu and Nilotic populations, with some Cushitic-speaking ethnic minorities in the north. Its total population is estimated at 47 million as of 2017.

A national census was conducted in 1999, but results were never released. A new census was undertaken in 2009, but turned out to be controversial, as the questions about ethnic affiliation seemed inappropriate after the ethnic violence of the previous year. Preliminary results of the census were published in 2010.

Kenya's population was reported as 38.6 million in 2009, compared to in 28.7 million in 1999, 21.4 million in 1989 and 15.3 million 1979, an increase by a factor of 2.5 over 30 years, or an average growth of more than 3% per year. The population growth rate has been reported as reduced during the 2000s and is now estimated at 2.7% (as of 2010), resulting in an estimate of 46.5 million in 2016.

Kenya has a very diverse population that includes most major ethnic, racial and linguistic groups found in Africa. The majority of the country's population belongs to various Bantu sub-groups, with a significant number of Nilotes.

Cushitic peoples form an ethnic minority of about 7%, mostly represented by Oromo and Somali speakers.

Swahili and English are official languages. Swahili is compulsory in primary education, and, along with English, serves as the main lingua franca between the various ethnic groups.

SIL Ethnologue lists a total of 68 individual languages spoken in Kenya.

...
Wikipedia