Survey: Kenya halves share of people with no schooling in 20 years, but Northern counties lag

Kenya has cut the share of people with no formal schooling by about half in 20 years, the 2025–26 Kenya Mini Demographic and Health Survey (KMDHS) shows. Only 12 per cent of women and 8 per cent of men now report never having attended school.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and the Ministry of Health (MoH) released the report on November 3, 2026. It finds that 45 per cent of women aged 15–49 have completed secondary school or gone further.

Those gains are shaping health outcomes. Mothers with secondary education or higher report markedly lower child mortality than those with little schooling. They are also more likely to give birth in a health facility and to use modern family planning. Nationally, 91 per cent of births now take place in a health facility.

Family planning uptake helps explain a further drop in the Total Fertility Rate, which fell to 3.1 children per woman from 3.4 in 2022. Teenage pregnancy has also eased. The share of girls aged 15 to 19 who have ever been pregnant dropped to 11.9 per cent from 14.8 per cent over the same period.

Digital access is spreading alongside classroom learning. 61 per cent of women aged 15–49 used the internet in the past year, and 65 per cent of them go online daily. For many, that opens a channel to health information and income opportunities.

Progress has not reached every county evenly, however. Garissa has the highest share of residents who have never attended school. There, 61.6 per cent of females and 52.4 per cent of males aged six and above have no formal education.

Mandera follows closely, with 59.8 per cent of females and 42.9 per cent of males in the same position. In Wajir the figures are 59.3 per cent for females and 43.8 per cent for males. Turkana records 59.6 per cent for females.

Central Kenya sits at the other end of the scale. Only 5.3 per cent of residents in Machakos and 5.6 per cent in Murang’a have never been to school. Kiambu leads on time spent in class, with women averaging 8.0 years and men 8.9 years. Women in Mandera average just 4.0 years, half the Kiambu figure.

Turkana also features among the counties with the highest teenage pregnancy levels, alongside Samburu, West Pokot, Narok and Kajiado, according to KNBS officials.

The KMDHS is the eighth demographic and health survey in Kenya since 1989 and the first in the shorter “mini” format. Fieldwork ran from November 5, 2025, to February 10, 2026. It covered 29,935 households across all 47 counties. The Government of Kenya and the Gates Foundation were among the funders.

Speaking at the Nairobi launch, State Department for Medical Services Principal Secretary (PS) Dr. Ouma Oluga said the findings should shape policy. “Data is not just for the purposes of show, but for the purpose of improving the lives of the people that depend on our actions,” he said. He added that the aim is to make a tangible difference to mothers, children and communities.

The World Health Organization’s representative in Kenya, Neema Kimambo, offered a similar caution. National averages, she said, can hide the communities still facing barriers to essential services. The northern counties now stand as the clearest test of that warning.