Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

What Kenya National Bureau of Statistics does

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) is a semi-autonomous State Corporation established by the Statistics Act No. 4 of 2006 and operating under the Ministry responsible for planning. It is the principal agency mandated to collect, compile, analyze, publish, and disseminate official statistics for Kenya, coordinating the National Statistical System across central government MDAs, the 47 county governments, and external data partners. KNBS conducts decennial population and housing censuses (1999, 2009, 2019), the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS), the Integrated Labour Force Survey (ILFS), the Remittances Household Survey, and produces regular statistical releases including CPI/Inflation, Producer Price Index, Quarterly GDP, Balance of Payments, Gross County Product, Leading Economic Indicators, Construction Input Price Index, and Residential Property Price Index, alongside annual Economic Survey, Statistical Abstract, and 47 County Statistical Abstracts.

KNBS's core technology consists of a web-based statistical data collection, analysis, and dissemination platform delivered through multiple specialized data portals: the Kenya Open Data Portal, the Kenya National Data Archive (KeNADA) for microdata, the KNBS Visualizations platform, the Kenya Health Data Portal (KDHS Portal), the FinAccess Survey Portal, the National Information Platform for Food and Nutrition (NIPFN), and the SDG Kenya platform. Field operations rely on tablet-based Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) by trained enumerators with QR-code authenticated field-staff badges, deployed across all 47 counties. The bureau is ISO 9001:2015 certified for quality management and integrates with Kenya's e-citizen platform for digital payments, library access, and publications distribution.

KNBS is primarily funded through statutory allocation from the Government of Kenya, supplemented by donor co-funding for specific surveys from USAID, the World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO, WFP, UNAIDS, UN Women, Nutrition International, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative. A secondary revenue stream comes from fee-based data publications, custom data requests ([email protected]), and specialized analytical services, transacted through the E-Citizen platform. Core summary statistics are provided free of charge (freemium pricing), while full datasets and custom reports are monetized. The primary customer segments are Kenya Government MDAs at the national level, Kenya's 47 county governments, researchers and academia, international development partners, and the private sector.

Name

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

Legal name

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

Website

https://knbs.or.ke

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) is the State Corporation mandated by the Statistics Act, 2006 to collect, analyze, and disseminate official statistics for Kenya, serving the national government, all 47 county governments, researchers, international donors, and the private sector through periodic statistical releases, flagship surveys, and multiple specialized data portals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Statistical Services

NAICS

Administration of Economic Programs (9261)

akta.pro primary industry

National Statistics & Census Administration (BPAIAAAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Health Data, Vital Statistics & Population Health Informatics (BPAIAJAM)

Keywords

• Official statistics
• National statistical agency
• Government data services
• Economic surveys
• Population census

Headquarters

HQ city

Nairobi

HQ country

Kenya

HQ region

Africa

Offices21 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: Primary funding from the Government of Kenya through statutory allocation. KNBS is a State Corporation established by the Statistics Act, 2006.
2. Data Publications and Reports: Sale of statistical publications, census reports, economic surveys, and specialized data products to the public and organizations.
3. Custom Data Requests: Fee-based custom data requests and special analytical services for government agencies, researchers, and private sector.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

KNBS collects, compiles, analyzes, and disseminates official statistics for Kenya through periodic statistical releases (CPI, GDP, PPI), national surveys (census, KDHS, KIHBS, ILFS), publications (Economic Survey, Statistical Abstract), and web-based data portals. It serves as the principal agency for official statistics under the Statistics Act, 2006, coordinating the National Statistical System across national and county governments.

Product overview

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) offers a comprehensive portfolio of statistical products and data services. The core offerings consist of periodic statistical releases including Leading Economic Indicators (monthly), Consumer Price Indices and Inflation Rates (monthly), Producer Price Indices (quarterly), Quarterly GDP Reports, Quarterly Balance of Payments Reports, Gross County Product, Construction Input Price Indices, and Residential Property Price Index. KNBS also conducts major national surveys such as the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS), Kenya Integrated Labour Force Survey (ILFS), Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS), and Remittances Household Survey. These are complemented by publications including Economic Survey, County Statistical Abstracts, and the Statistical Abstract. KNBS provides data access through multiple web-based portals including the KDHS Portal, KNBS Visualizations platform, Kenya Open Data Portal, Kenya National Data Archive (KeNADA), Kenya National Information Platform for Food and Nutrition (NIPFN), and FinAccess Household Survey 2021 portal. The organization operates as Kenya's principal agency for official statistics collection, analysis, and dissemination.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Leading Economic Indicators

Quantifiable outcome

• Population data: 53,330,978 (Mid 2025)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Mama Ngina University College (MNUC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 July 2025MoU signed July 22, 2025 for joint research, mentorship, data sharing, and participation in national and international events. The agreement runs for five years with a joint committee to operationalize collaboration.
• Central Bank of Kenya (CBK)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 July 2025Collaboration for the 2025 Remittances Household Survey (RHS) to collect data on inward and outward remittances. KNBS and CBK working together to improve national statistics for planning, research, and policy formulation related to remittance flows.
• Financial Sector Deepening Kenya (FSD Kenya)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 July 2025Partner in the 2025 Remittances Household Survey collaboration with KNBS and Central Bank of Kenya. Contributes to improving financial inclusion data and remittance statistics for Kenya.
• Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2024First MoU between KNBS and an institution of higher learning, signed in August 2024. Focus on joint research, mentorship, data sharing, and participation in national and international events.
• Ministry of Health (MoH) KenyacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022KNBS collaborated with Ministry of Health for the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS), the 7th DHS conducted in Kenya since 1989.
• ICF InternationalcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2022Provided technical assistance through The DHS Program, a USAID-funded project supporting population and health surveys worldwide. ICF supported implementation of the 2022 KDHS.
• Kenya Revenue AuthorityminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Stakeholder collaboration for Informal Cross-Border Trade (ICBT) Surveys to supplement merchandise data obtained from Customs authorities.
• Ministry of Industry, Trade and CooperativesminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Collaborated with KNBS for ICBT Surveys to compile external trade, balance of payments, and national accounts statistics.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• National Bureau of Statistics of Nigeria (NBS): Nigeria's statutory national statistics agency, performing GDP, CPI, PPI, labour and demographic survey work as a parastatal — directly comparable to KNBS in mandate and African context.
• Statistics South Africa (Stats SA): South Africa's national statistical agency with an essentially identical mandate — collecting, analysing and disseminating official statistics under a Statistics Act — making it the closest peer to KNBS in mandate, scale and product mix.
• Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics (NBS Tanzania): Tanzania's national statistical office, also a state agency running censuses, household surveys, GDP and CPI releases — a close East African functional equivalent of KNBS.
• Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS): Uganda's statutory statistics bureau with a near-identical mandate covering household surveys, censuses and economic indicators in a comparable East African governance and funding environment.
• Ghana Statistical Service: Ghana's national statistics authority, mandated to produce official statistics including GDP, CPI and population censuses — directly comparable in role, scope and operating-model.

Broad incumbents

• Statistics Canada: Canada's national statistical agency — a sophisticated, well-funded incumbent that publishes a similarly broad portfolio of economic, social and demographic indicators with strong dissemination infrastructure.
• U.S. Census Bureau: The U.S. federal statistical agency running decennial census, demographic surveys and economic indicators — a much larger but functionally analogous national statistics body.
• Office for National Statistics (UK): UK's large, established national statistical institute covering economic, population and social statistics. Comparable as a more mature blueprint for what KNBS could evolve into with respect to portal richness and data-driven services.
• Eurostat: The statistical office of the European Union producing harmonised cross-country economic and social indicators. Comparable in mandate as a supra-national official statistics producer, though at a higher geographic scope.

Others

• World Bank Data (Open Data / DataBank): Global open-data platform for development indicators. Acts partly as a consumer and aggregator of national statistics (including KNBS data) — thematically connected as an enabling data-distribution channel rather than a competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/knbstats
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@knbs1
• Facebookfacebook.com/bureauofstatistics
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kenya-national-bureau-of-statistics
• Instagraminstagram.com/kenya_stats

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Kenya National Bureau of Statistics