Machakos leads in Ukambani with 1.4m

Machakos town. [Courtesy]

Makueni is the only county from Ukambani whose population is less than a million, according to the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census.

Numbers released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) yesterday have Makueni’s population at 987,653 people.

Machakos is leading in the region with 1,421,932 while Kitui is second with 1,136,187.

More women

Population in the three counties mirrors the national numbers with more women than men across board.

The female population in Kitui is recorded as 587,151 compared to 549,003 male. In Machakos, it is 711,191 female against 710,707 male, while in Makueni it is 497,942 female and 489,691 male.

The number of intersex in the three counties is 87 – 33 in Kitui, 34 in Machakos and 20 in Makueni.

With the highest population among the three, Machakos is also leading in the number of households with 402,466. It is followed by Kitui at 262,942 and Makueni at 244,669.

The average number of persons in each household is 3.5 in Machakos, 4.3 in Kitui and 4.0 in Makueni.

Population density

Machakos also leads in terms of population density per square kilometre at 235, followed by Makueni 121 and Kitui 37.

Mutomo is the most populous sub-county in Kitui with 113,356 people followed by Mwingi Central (108,713), and Kitui Central (105,991).

In Machakos, Athi River is the most populous with 322,499 people, followed by Mwala with 181,896 and Yatta 172,583.

For Makueni, the highest population in Kibwezi at 197,000 followed by Makueni at 130,375 and Nzaui 126,701.