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A Senior Policy Research Analyst at the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) has called on the Kenya government to invest in human capital by skilling and reskilling the youth if the continent is to harness her demographic dividend.
Speaking in Nairobi during a panel discussion on the State of Kenya Population Report and the State of the World Population Report 2023, Dr Bernard Onyango said planning and investing in education and skills development in high school and at tertiary level will make a difference for the country.
“The continent’s growing youthful population may not yield the expected dividends if deliberate actions to develop their human capital is not taken serious,” he said.Onyango said the population growth rate in the country has been coming down because couples have opted for smaller families. On average, today, families are having 3 to 4 children, contrary to the situation as it was in 1970s when families had as high as 6 to 8 children. Today, the proportion of people under 15 years old has come down from 43 per cent to about 39 per cent over the last 10 years. This means that we are reducing dependency burden. However, for us to maximize the dividend, we have to make the right investments in human capital development and make sure that more youths are in employment,” added Onyango.
Onyango said there are a lot of people in the working ages who still stay with their parents up to the age of 30 years.
“This is still a burden that has to be reduced. In developed countries when people are 20 years old they are independent,” added Onyango.
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