Nairobi City County is one of the 47

counties of Kenya The Counties of Kenya ( sw, Kaunti za Kenya) are geographical units envisioned by the 2010 Constitution of Kenya as the new units of devolved government that replaced the previous provincial system. The establishment and executive powers o ...

. With a population of 4,397,073 in the 2019 census, it is the third smallest yet the most populous of the counties, also serving as the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

of Kenya. In 2013, the county entity was effected, replacing

Nairobi City Council The City Council of Nairobi was the local authority governing the city of Nairobi, Kenya. It was the largest of the 175 local Authorities in the country and was under direction of the Ministry of Local Government. The chief executive of the city co ...

, the long-standing unit of administration since pre-independence. The city county consists of eleven gazetted sub-counties and eighty five electoral wards. On the national level, Nairobi also sends seventeen Members of Parliament across the constituencies and one

County Woman Representative In Kenya a county woman representative is a member of the Kenya National Assembly who represents one of the 47 counties in a seat reserved for female members. The county woman representatives serve in the national assembly alongside the 290 members ...

to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

; one senator to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. The county government, which is allocated devolved functions as per the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

, is headed by the county governor, who appoints his cabinet. The county's

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

is headed by the County Speaker, who presides over the County Assembly:

single-member A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner v ...

elected Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) represent their respective electoral wards. Additional MCAs are also nominated by

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

as a form of affirmative action. Nairobi City County shares the same boundaries as the then Nairobi Province; Kenya's eight

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

were sub-divided into forty seven

Counties of Kenya The Counties of Kenya ( sw, Kaunti za Kenya) are geographical units envisioned by the 2010 Constitution of Kenya as the new units of devolved government that replaced the previous provincial system. The establishment and executive powers o ...

as per the

Constitution of Kenya The Constitution of Kenya is the supreme lawof the Republic of Kenya. There have been three significant versions of the constitution, with the most recent redraft being enabled in 2010. The 2010 edition replaced the 1963 independence constit ...

, based on the forty seven districts that were established prior to 1992. On 25 August 2022 after the general elections in Kenya, Johnson Sakaja was sworn-in as the fourth Governor of Nairobi County.

Demographics

Based on the population census conducted by

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) is a department in Kenya's Ministry of Planning which collects and compiles regular cross-sectoral data for the government. The Bureau was established through the Statistics Act of 2006 and initiated ...

in 2019, determined the resident population of Nairobi City County was 4,397,073 within the

city proper A city proper is the geographical area contained within city limits. The term ''proper'' is not exclusive to cities; it can describe the geographical area within the boundaries of any given locality. The United Nations defines the term as "the sin ...

, the highest of the

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

. A breakdown of the population showed that there were 2,192,452 males, 2,204,376 females and 245 intersex individuals. Embakasi Sub-county had the highest population of 988,808, accounting for more than 22% of the total population of the county;

Kasarani Kasarani is a commercial and residential neighbourhood in Nairobi. Kasarani is also used in reference to the city's sub-county with the same name, which spans through neighbourhoods in the northeastern areas of Nairobi. Located within the larg ...

came in second with 780,656. Kibra Sub-county with an area of , had the least population among the sub-counties but had a high population density of 15,311/km². The population density was highest in the sub-county of

Mathare Mathare is a collection of slums in Nairobi with a population of approximately 500,000 people; the population of Mathare Valley alone, the oldest of the slums that make up Mathare, is 180,000 people. Mathare is the home of football teams Mathare ...

with 68,942/km² followed by a distant second by Kamukunji with 25,455/km², then

Makadara Makadara is a residential neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi. It is approximately southeast of the central business district of Nairobi. Location Makadara is located approximately southeast of Nairobi's central business district. It is str ...

with 16150/km², Kibra and Dagoretti with 15,311/km², and 14,908/km² respectively. Lang'ata had the lowest population density with 911/km², with the highest household size of 3.1. As a whole, Nairobi City had the highest number of households in the country with 1,506,888, with an average household size of 2.9, as well as the highest population density of 6247/km² against the county's total area of .

Administrative and electoral boundaries

Nairobi is divided into 17 electoral constituencies, 85 wards, and 11 sub-counties.

Leadership

References

Notes

External links