Demography studies characteristics of human populations, such as size, growth, density, distribution, and vital statistics. It is a very important branch of science that enable us understand humans in terms of increase, distribution and concentration.
This is the basic characteristic of a population; every setup has different age and sex composition which gives the proportion of males and females in each age group. All this information can have a considerable impact on the population’s social and economic situations both at present and in the future.
The age distribution across all the 676 households was captured as shown in the graph. The infants, under the age of one year were; males with almost 7% while the female were slightly lesser with 6%. This could be explained by other factors that need exploration.
This trend is also seen in the under five year olds with male children exceeding the females by 2% giving a total of 45% for both. There is slight change with the numbers beginning to reduce with the female children ages between 5-14 gaining numbers by 15%.
The numbers tremendously dropped for both males and females for the ages 15-24 but the females were still high with 21%. There is a slight increase of the males from 25 – 50+ years with numbers exceeding the females with a big margin at 30% compared to females of the same ages across who have 23%.There seem to be more women of reproductive ages between the ages of 14 and 24 years and they reduce in numbers as their ages increase with time.
The male/female ratio = Total no. of male x 100= 1756 x 100 = 95.43 = 95
Total no. of females1840
= 95/100
The baseline survey shows the percentage of females reduced to 49% from 52% according to the Migori County fact sheet (2010). This gives a reverse trend from the usual national figures where the female have a higher percentage than men.
A household is one or more persons who occupy a single housing unit (Population Handbook, 2004). In some instances apart from having persons related by birth or marriage, some households can have unrelated persons or even cases of adoption.
By knowing the number of people who live in a household and the number of households, then we can calculate the average size of households.
Households and families are the basic units in which most people live. The trends in number, type and composition of the households are important when it comes to planning and policy making. Most services in urban centres or counties are offered as per households not as per individuals.
According to the baseline survey, there are more children by birth comprising of 56% of the household makeup, they accounted for the larger population in most households.
In some areas the numbers of household were almost same as their spouses but in most cases they were more than their spouses. Child by relation is at 8% compared to child by birth that comprise of more than half the household population. Children by other relation mostly due to other factors are the least with almost 2%.
Average household size = Number of persons living in households
Total households
Average household size = 3696
676
= 5.4674556 = 5.5 = 6
Hence the average number per household is therefore at 6 members per unit. This could be dangerous considering the fact that most households are not performing well in terms of socio-economic capacity, meaning they could be burdened.
Education is the imparting of knowledge and skills in transformation of individuals by changing their attitudes and practices for a positive change and development.
The baseline showed a big percentage of 43% of most households are primary level individuals. This also captures the household heads who only a few managed some level of secondary education but very few numbers reached tertiary levels. The Kenya literacy bureau (2008)
Twenty five per cent (25%) comprised of younger children who are under school age of 6 years and were not attending school. Four per cent (4%) of the population did not have education and consists of adults.
One of the basic human requirements is good shelter. If housing has enough space, well lit and sufficiently ventilated then issues of health and social norms can be well addressed.
Permanent houses are made up of long lasting materials comprising of cement and iron sheets while semi-permanent have walls made of mud and roof of iron sheets and the floor can either be earth or cemented. Temporary houses are those ones made from lesser materials which do not have a long life span; the walls and the floor are both mud and the roof is made of thatch grass.
The findings revealed that 60% of the houses are semi-permanent, 25% temporary while only very few were permanent. This clearly shows the economic ability of the population meaning they are not well financially placed to afford good and appropriate housing.
Registration of vital statistics is very important for a country as this will help in information on the number of deaths and births; hence planning in advance for interventions and budget inclusions.
From the baseline findings, 80% of the households with under five years old did not have birth certificates or could not trace them. Only 20% had them at the time of visit.
Spirituality and religion play a very important role in the making and shaping of a people morally and uprightly. Healing of communities after an episode of conflict is vital for continuous co-existence and development.
Lack of spirituality and religion may also lead to breakdown of social norms and family units.
Most people were found to be worshipping in the indigenous churches that is, this include spiritual churches which are of the local origin. This has taken 50% of the proportion, followed by Seventh Day Adventist with 20% while others take up the remaining proportion of 8%. Hence most people worship with the new found churches in the Uriri constituency.
Land is a natural resource on which grows natural vegetation and on which human beings co-exist. Without land, it means one might be unable to meet some of the basic needs such as education, food, settlement and economic development.
Most of the families had up to three acres of land. This comprised of almost 50% of the population, who occupy almost a quarter of an acre where they have built residential houses and made compounds. However there are those families with less than one acre and consist of 33% while those who did not have land were 7%. A few in the population had more than 3 acres.
Food security is very important for the survival of individuals. Without enough land that is arable, may lead to starvation and eventual ill-health. There will also be economic stagnation since there are no economic activities that stimulate productivity within the community.
Almost half of the families had their land of three acres under cultivation. This took 48% of the total while families who are tilling less than one acre were 34% while those who had more than three acres tilled 10% of their land. This means that food security situation in Uriri constituency is not good as the less land is being put to use. This testifies why most households did not have cereals present at the time of visit.
The baseline shows 50% of the households depended on other sources to get food. This included purchasing from the shops and markets the cereals they required for their daily survival. Only a quarter admitted they had cereals present in their households but still was not enough to last till the next harvesting season.
The general situation of food security is wanting as this might soon be catastrophic if there is nothing done to intervene.
Respondents indicated that almost half, 276(40.7%) of mothers do not attend ANC clinics for their health services as shown below
More than half (50.3%) of the mothers did not deliver in the provided health facilities in Migori county.