Kenyans Report Dizzying Levels Of Earning Declines In Q1 2021

As services suspended for Kenya’s latest lockdown have resumed at speed, GeoPoll has unveiled its latest pan-African poll showing Kenyans are more worried than ever about the financial impact of Covid-19 and the accompanying restrictions.

With 79 percent of Kenyans reporting their incomes have declined since January 2021, the country reported the most widespread income declines of any of six Sub-Saharan nations polled by GeoPoll from March 24^th to April 12^th this year.

Some 64 percent of the 2,400 respondents in South Africa, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, and Kenya said their incomes had fallen since January this year and 42 percent that they were down by a lot.

But the proportions were far greater in Kenya, and particularly among the youth, with 66 percent of the Kenyan 15-25 year-olds polled saying the first quarter had seen their income fall drastically.

This widespread financial impact saw 54 percent of the 400 Kenyans polled reporting that they were ‘extremely concerned about meeting their expenses over the next three months.

“When we see the trend in Kenya of deteriorating incomes in the three months leading up to each of our four polls during the pandemic, it becomes clear that Kenyans are experiencing progressive financial pressure, which is getting worse as the pandemic is prolonged,” said John Paul Murunga, GeoPoll Regional Director – East Africa.

This has played out in many other financial changes too, with three-quarters reporting they are using mobile money less often, and 41 percent saying they are making mobile deposits and withdrawals a lot less often.

The poll also found further employment shifts as the proportion of respondents in full-time and part-time employment fell again, and the proportion who are now self-employed or unemployed rose. Overall, 35 percent reported they were now unemployed.

Yet, despite the pandemic’s heavy economic costs, many Kenyans have retreated from their earlier enthusiasm to get vaccinated, reporting the lowest satisfaction of all the nations polled in the information they were getting on vaccination, at just 42 percent.

Most were positive about the way the government has handled the crisis, but where 68 percent of the Kenyans polled by GeoPoll in November 2020 said they would get the Covid-19 vaccine as soon as they could, only 53 percent reported the same intention in March 2021.

To download GeoPoll’s full report and view an interactive dashboard of results, please visit this page: https://hubs.ly/H0N43FX0