51 Percent of Kenyans Living Hand to Mouth

More than 50 percent of Kenyans are only working for food, a newly released report shows.

The 2019 Finacess Household Survey released on Wednesday by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) shows that 51 percent of Kenyans are living from hand to mouth.

The latest findings represent an increase by more than 15 percent from 34.3 percent in 2016.

The survey found out that the cost of living in the country continues to rise, triggering a hand-to-mouth means of survival.

The sad state of affairs is despite access to formal financial services and products growing from 41.3 percent in 2006 to 82.9 percent in 2019.

CBK's interim director of research Raphael Otieno links the worsening financial health of Kenyans to poor microeconomics, especially a drop in agricultural productivity as a result of bad climate.

''Kenyans continue to take a beating from a poor climatic condition that continues to take the toll on food production. This stretched inflation during the period under review, forcing households to spend more on basic needs," Otieno says.

The study sampled 8,669 households countrywide, 40 percent in urban areas and 60 percent from the rural setting.