List of ethnic groups of Kenya

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

A national census was conducted in 1999, although the 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 in 1979, an increase of 2.5 over 30 years, or an average growth of more than 3 percent per year. The population growth rate has been reported as reduced during the 2000s and was estimated at 2.7 percent (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 percent, 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 68 languages spoken in Kenya.

Kenya's largest ethnic group, the Kikuyu, make up less than a fifth of the population.

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