Description

GEO2_KE identifies the household's county within Kenya in all sample years. Counties are the second level administrative units of the country. GEO2_KE is spatially harmonized to account for political boundary changes across census years. Some detail is lost in harmonization; see the comparability discussion. A GIS map (in shapefile format), corresponding to GEO1_KE can be downloaded from the GIS Boundary files page in the IPUMS International web site.

The full set of geography variables for Kenya can be found in the IPUMS International Geography variables list. For cross-national geographic analysis on the first and second major administrative level refer to GEOLEV1, and GEOLEV2. More information on IPUMS-International geography can be found here.

Comparability — General

Kenya passed a new constitution in 2010 which nullified all geography changes that occurred after 1992. As a result, the former Provinces were abolished, and the former second level administrative units, formerly Districts, were elevated to the new first level administrative units and renamed Counties. The 47 districts present in 1992, with the same boundaries present at that point, now represent the 47 counties that make up the first geographic level. Despite the counties now holding the first administrative role, counties are used as the level of geography identified in GEO2_KE to preserve comparability between samples.

Where boundaries changed over time, units were harmonized to create units with boundaries that remain stable over time.

Boundary changes for GEO2_KE are too numerous to list here, but users should be aware that there were changes over time.

Universe

Availability

• Kenya: 1969, 1979, 1989, 1999, 2009, 2019