Moving more people to towns will improve services

Nairobi Expressway construction on aerial view. [David Gichuru, Standard]

While flying over the Mt Kenya region towards northern Kenya, something caught my eye. People live in isolated villages. Kenya’s population density is around 100 people per square kilometer. For comparative purposes, the Netherlands has a population density of 500 people per square kilometer.

Comparatively the Netherlands is about the size of Garissa County. Of significance for the difference between Kenya and the Dutch nation is more in where the people live. Close to two-thirds of the population of Holland are within the conurbation of the Randstad, the area between the four main cities. The region is barely the size of Kiambu County but has a population of nine million people and a density of 1,500 people per square kilometer. The concentration of people within a small area makes it easy for government to provide services.