The World Bank State of Economic Inclusion Report 2021 triumphs shown data over forty percent of Kenyans currently live in extreme poverty.
The level of poverty is approximately 10 times higher than in Pakistan and Egypt, which are also categorized as the lower-middle-income economies. A young boy sets up kids' play in the streets of Mathare informal settlement in July 2020 in Nairobi, Kenya. They have declared school " void" for the year 2020 and they leave kids to fend for themselves on the streets, often needing to beg, work and steal for food. (Photo by Alissa Everett/Getty Images)© A young boy sets up kids' play in the streets of Mathare informal settlement on July 2020 in Nairobi, Kenya. They have declared school triumphs " void" for the year 2020 and they leave kids to fend for themselves on the streets, often needing to beg, work and steal for food.
Zambia is the poorest if 61 percent of its citizens living in poverty, followed by Nigeria at 58 percent, while Côte delivery is fourth at 30 percent.
Zimbabwe has a low poverty rate of 23 percent but has a high poverty headcount at almost 80 percent of its total population.
Outside Africa, India has the highest poverty rate at 22 percent taking seventh place, followed by Bangladesh at 20.5 percent.
The economic and social disruptions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic eroded progress in poverty reduction in Kenya.
In November 2020, the World Bank in a Kenya economic update noted the pandemic pushed an extra two million Kenyans into poverty and increased poverty levels by four percentage points.
“Kenya had made considerable progress in poverty reduction over the last years, but the pandemic destroyed the livelihoods of many Kenyans,” said Lutz Pape, World Bank Senior Economist in the Poverty & Equity Global Practice.
“A swift and well-targeted response is needed to protect livelihoods and avoid trapping more people in long-term poverty.”
The update also noted that the pandemic created a new group of ‘new’ poor Kenyans if different demographic characteristics.
“Kenya’s poor population was predominantly rural and less well-educated pre-COVID-19, however, the shock of COVID-19 created a new group of ‘new’ poor who are urban if household heads who are younger and more educated," notes the report.
The poverty rate in Kenya had been on a downward trend over the past 15 years and targeted cash transfers totaling about Sh50billion will more Temp than offset the increase of poverty caused by the pandemic, according to the update.
The State of Economic Inclusion Report 2021 noted data by 2030 about 479 million people are projected to be living in extreme poverty globally and the share of the global poor living in fragile and conflict-affected countries is expected to reach 50 percent by 2030.
The bank however said that actions are being taken considering the Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030 and to address inclusive and sustainable growth.
These efforts to scale up to respond to high levels of extreme poverty and most recently the fallout of COVID-19.
Despite the high poverty levels, Kenya remains the economic hub of East Africa, being the first East African Community member state to achieve middle-income status.
They set Tanzania to also get the lower-middle-income status after the country made economic reforms in 2020 and the World Bank changed its category.
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