Kenya: AFIDEP and partners to launch report examining implications of East African region’s youth demographics
Event Date: 20 Jun 2018
Event Location: Nairobi, Kenya

The African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP), together with the University of Southampton, the East African Research Fund (EARF), and the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), will on Wednesday, 20th June, 2018 be launching a research report on the youth demographics in the East African region.

The report, ‘East African Regional Analysis for Youth Demographics’, examines youth population dynamics, policy and other economic and natural challenges in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda and the impact they can have on the socio-economic transformation of a country.

The launch is set to happen at Mövenpick Hotel in Nairobi and partners, government officials and various industry stakeholders are scheduled to be in attendance including Dr Josephine Kibaru-Mbae, Director General of the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD).

AFIDEP’s Executive Director, Dr Eliya Zulu, will give a summary of the report and its findings and discuss the socioeconomic implications of youth demographics and how a growing youthful population affects access to and demand for basic and critical services including schooling, housing, healthcare, and jobs.

The report suggests that even though a young population can be seen to present a significant dependency burden, this can be turned into an opportunity to harness the demographic dividend if fertility and mortality decline rapidly.

The study was done over a year together by AFIDEP together with the University of Southampton and employed modelling techniques including cohort component population projections to show, under different scenarios, the short, medium, and long-term implications of youth population dynamics on the countries’ socioeconomic status up to 2050.

The report also provides recommendations that highlight the policy and implementation implications for each of the four countries and for the region, to fully benefit and leverage the productivity of their large youthful populations.

The study was conducted by AFIDEP in partnership with the University of Southampton and was funded by the UK Department for International Development.

Kenya Research Brief

Author: Victory Kamthunzi