Counties with large commercial centres such as Nairobi, Kiambu, Mombasa, Nakuru and Machakos, had relatively high Gross County Product (GCP) compared to counties with predominantly rural settings.
Counties with wide range of economic activities, especially agricultural production such as Meru, Kakamega and Nyeri also accounted for notable proportions of GCP to total Gross Value Added (GVA).
In addition to having urban settings and diversity in economic activity, counties with high population contributed more to the overall GVA than counties with relatively low population.
Such counties include; Nairobi City, Kiambu, Nakuru, Meru, Kakamega, Bungoma, Kisii, Nandi and Murang’a.
Counties that are heavily reliant on agricultural production, such as tea, maize, potatoes, and vegetables, contributed more, except for counties with cities that have a wide range of economic activities compared to those that rely on other economic activities.
These counties include Bomet, Kericho, Murang’a, Trans Nzoia, and Nyandarua.
The five leading counties in agricultural production were Meru, Nakuru, Nyandarua, Murang’a, and Kiambu.
These counties exhibited diverse agricultural outputs, including tea, coffee, maize, vegetables, potatoes, and raw milk and performed better than counties relying on a narrower range of agricultural produce.
Meru County stood out due to its abundant agricultural yield, particularly in fruits, and availability of forest resources.
Meru County contributed Ksh.214,119 million to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sectors in 2022.
Nyandarua is trailing in real GCP growth for the period 2018-22 with the list inclising Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kisii, and Bungoma which also did relatively poorly.
Elgeyo Marakwet and Nyandarua are particularly surprising because they were the fastest growing in the previous period 2013-17.
Laikipia was in the middle of the pack, the economy growing by 48% (40 billion) during the period. Laikipia contributed 0.3% to national manufacturing activity, 1.1% to industrial activities other than manufacturing, and 1.1% to agricultural activities.
Kilifi contributes an impressive 4.6% to manufacturing activities nationally.
4. Nyeri, Embu, Nyandarua, and Kiambu are ahead of Nakuru, Machakos and Kisumu in nominal per capita GDP. This result is surprising because latter are highly urbanised.
5. At 217, 284 shillings per capita income, Laikipia is nominally twice as well off as her neighbours, Isiolo (102,008), Samburu (100,013), and Baringo (130,030).
