Two Kenyan children born every minute

• Population growth rate shows that on average the country recorded 124 births per hour

At least two children were born in Kenya every minute raising the country’s population by ten million over the last decade.

As a result, the country’s population now stands at 38.6 million nationally, up from the 28.7 million recorded in 1999.

During Tuesday’s release of the Population and Housing Census, Planning minister Wycliffe Oparanya revealed that the country was adding one million people yearly to its already high population.

Based on this information, the Daily Nation sought to find out how many children, during the ten year period, were born at various intervals.

According to our calculations, approximately 124 children were born every hour, 2,976 every day, 20,833 every week and 83,333 every month - for the last ten years.

Rift Valley - the most populous province, registered the highest increase in population growth during the period.

The number of people living in the region grew by more than 3 million from 6.9 million ten years ago to the current 10 million.

It was followed by Nyanza Province which registered a 1.05 million people growth. The province currently has 5.4 million people.

Interestingly, North Eastern Province recorded the third highest increase in its population with a figure of 1.3 million.

The number of people living in the areas grew from 972,143 ten years ago to the current 2.3 million. North Eastern has, however, always recorded rapid population growth.

Between 1969 and 1979, for example, the area’s population grew by 52 per cent, from 245,757 to 373,787.

It is between 1989 and 1999 that the most rapid growth was observed, at 159 per cent to 962,142. This coincided with the collapse of the Republic of Somalia.

Between 1999 and 2009, the province had a population growth rate of 140 per cent, four times the national average.

The population of Eastern province also grew by slightly over one million people, Nairobi 995,115 , Western (975,506) Central (659,584) and Coast (838,043).