Nine in ten in Kenya report income loss due to COVID-19

Key findings from Kantar’s research, which took place between 7 and 23 May, include: 

• Education of children is the biggest concern for people in Kenya, with 79% who say they are very worried that their children’s education will be affected long term. Worry about education was more common than worries about decreasing household income (71%), health of family and friends (63%), and their own health (60%).
• Adults with more dependents report the most financial strain: 94% of those with 3+ dependents report losing income, compared to 85% of people with no dependents.
• Adults with dependents report more frequent conflicts with family members or others with whom they have close relationships since COVID-19 outbreak. Among those with 3+ dependents, 42% reported more frequent conflicts, compared to 30% of those who have no dependents.
• Conflicts are also more likely to involve physical violence for those with more dependents. Among adults with 3+ dependents, 39%reported having experienced conflicts involving violence, compared to 34% of adults with 1-2 dependents, and 23% of those with no dependents.
• About half (49%) of people in Kenya say they ‘strongly approve’ of the way Kenya’s government is responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. There is a stark difference in the level of approval by educational attainment, with approval being highest among people with lower levels of education (60% among people with primary or no education, 46% among people with secondary education, and 26% among people with higher than secondary education).
• National media such as newspapers, TV, and radio, is the most trusted source of information about COVID-19 (78% of adults), followed by websites or social media (9%).

Launched in late 2019, Public Voice is a phone survey panel that uses probabilistic sampling – recognised as the gold standard for survey research – to achieve nationally representative statistics. The findings discussed here are from the second wave of COVID-19 research in Kenya using Public Voice, and a third wave is scheduled for July 2020.

Additional findings include:

Levels of concern

• People in Kenya with dependents stated that their biggest concern about the COVID-19 impact is their children’s education (79% are ‘very worried’). Large majorities also say they are concerned about decreasing household income (71%), having to cut expenses on food and other essential items (65%), children’s physical and mental development (63%), risk of child abuse (61%), health of family and friends (63%), and personal health (60%).

Financial impact

• Following the COVID-19 outbreak, 91% of people in Kenya report a loss of income. People with families are more likely to report decreased income, with 94% of people with 3+ dependents reporting loss of income vs 85% of people with no dependents
• Among adults reporting loss of income during the Corona Virus outbreak, 67% report using money or assets saved for education to meet their daily needs. This percentage is higher among adults with dependents (67-71%) compared to adults with no dependents (53%). Among adults relying on farming as main source of income, 76% report having used up resources needed for farming to meet daily needs. Similarly, among adults owning their own business and reporting loss of income, 64% report having sold stock or business assets. Since the outbreak, 40% of people report having had to look for a new job or source of income. Again, the effect is greater on families; 42% of those with 3+ dependents report having looked for a new job, compared to 31% of adults with no dependents.

Interpersonal conflict

• Following the COVID-19 outbreak, 40% of people in Kenya report more frequent conflicts with family and people who are close to them
• Among people reporting more frequent conflicts, 67% have experienced violent conflicts. The level is highest among people experiencing greater financial strain
• People experiencing a change in income since the COVID-19 outbreak are more likely to report more frequent conflicts (38-41%) compared to people with no change in income (19%).

Perceptions of government

• Nearly half (49%) of people in Kenya ‘strongly approve’ of the way Kenya’s government is responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. There is a stark difference in the level of approval by educational attainment: approval, with the highest level of approval seen among people with lower levels of education (60% among people with primary or no education, 46% among people with secondary education, and 26% among people with higher than secondary education)
• A similar proportion (50%) of people in Kenya trust the government ‘a lot’ to make the right decisions in the future about the COVID-19 outbreak.

Trusted sources of information

• National media such as newspapers, TV, and radio, is the most trusted source of information about COVID-19 (78% of adults), followed by websites or social media (9%).
• This broad trend is similar irrespective of education level, but better educated people are more likely to have websites and social media as most trusted source (20%) compared to people with lower educational attainment (10% among people with secondary education and 4% among people with primary or no education).

Amrik Heyer, Senior Research Advisor, Financial Sector Deepening Kenya (FSDK), a co-sponsor of the study, said, “Public Voice gave us a great opportunity to rapidly get robust data that we need at a time when face-to-face research was not possible, for example, on the impacts of financial distress on the erosion of long-term assets saved for education, business and farming, which are needed for rebuilding the economy.”

For more information on this study and the methodology, and to learn how you can add questions to future Public Voice surveys, please watch our 18 June webinar.

Public Voice

Kantar’s Public Voice panel in Kenya provides a quick and affordable way of collecting high-quality representative data on social, economic, political and development issues across the country. Respondents are randomly selected from a pool of 36,000 adults who took part in an earlier face-to-face survey representative of all 47 counties of Kenya. The data are weighted to reflect the national population by gender, age, education, province, religion and employment.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Public Voice surveys provide cost-effective alternatives to classic face-to-face methods, while maintaining high data quality standards. Public Voice allows clients to continue to measure the impact and effectiveness of their programmes, while also capturing valuable data that will help them with coronavirus response and recovery efforts, now and in the weeks and months ahead.

Methodology

A total of 1,201 interviews were conducted over the telephone among adults (18+) living in Kenya between the 7 and 23 May 2020. Interviews were conducted using Kantar’s nationally representative, probabilistic panel, Public Voice, as the sample source. The data was weighted to ensure national representativeness. The weights adjust for non-response across sub-groups in the population (gender, age, education, province, religion and working status).