Over the recent years, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has released annual data on “Gross County Product (GCP)” which is simply the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of counties.
The report was funded by the World Bank. It tracked the value of all the final goods and services produced in each of the 47 counties, with a view to providing a picture of the economic structure and relative size of the economy for each county.
KNBS ranked the counties based on various aspects such as physical development, nutrition, health, education, child protection, information, water, sanitation and housing.
The data is also used by the national government in the distribution of revenue to the devolved units.
Based on the data provided by KNBS in 2019 and 2020, Nairobi City County is bar the richest county in Kenya.
In August 2020, KNBS ranked Meru, Nyeri and Kirinyaga as joint second richest counties in Kenya. Most of the population in these counties can comfortably fend for themselves.
Based on county contributions to the country’s GDP, Nairobi is by far the largest contributor at 21.7 per cent.
In 2019, Nakuru County contributed 6.1 percent share of the GDP, Kiambu (5.5 per cent), Mombasa (4.7 per cent) and Machakos (3.2 per cent) to close out the top five.
To wind up the top ten contributors in terms of GDP, Meru contributed 2.9 percent, Kisumu (2.9 per cent), Nyandarua (2.6 per cent), Kakamega (2.4 per cent) and Uasin-Gishu (2.3 per cent).
Bungoma, Tharaka Nithi, Nyandarua, Elgeyo Marakwet, Siaya and Nyeri are among the fastest growing counties in per capita GCP.
Turkana was ranked among the poorest counties in the country. Four in five people are poor. Those in the urban parts of county spend less than Ksh5,995 in a month, while those in rural areas earn less than Ksh3,252 per month.
