Women in Turkana have been ranked to be the highest consumers of alcohol, the latest Kenya Demographic and Health Survey shows.
The report shows that alcohol consumption is more common among women in Turkana at 15 per cent followed by Kiambu and Murang’a counties both at 11 per cent.
Other counties include Nairobi and Bungoma at nine per cent, Nyeri and Kajiado at eight per cent and Baringo at seven per cent.
Counties in the northern region of the country have the lowest rates of women who take alcohol.
They are Wajir, Mandera and Marsabit who have nearly insignificant data at zero per cent while Tana River, Isiolo and Garissa have 0.4 per cent, one per cent and two per cent respectively.
“Among women who consumed alcohol during the preceding month, 38 per cent consumed only one drink on days when alcohol was consumed, while 26 per cent consumed two drinks and 15 per cent consumed three drinks,” the report says.
Generally, the report shows that 26 per cent of men and five per cent of women consumed at least one alcoholic beverage in the month prior to the survey.
“Seven per cent of women consumed alcohol every day or almost every day. Men drink more frequently than women; 13 per cent of men drink every day or almost every day,” it says.
The report shows alcohol consumption per day increases with age.
From the report, the percentage of men who consume alcohol every day or almost every day increases from five per cent among men aged 15 to 19 years to 19 per cent among those aged 45 to 49 years.
In terms of income brackets, the percentage of men who take alcohol daily decreases from 19 per cent among the rich to per cent among the poor.
The 2022 KDHS was implemented by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders.
The data collection was done from February 17 to July 31, 2022.
The sample for the 2022 KDHS report was drawn from the Kenya Household Master Sample Frame (K-HMSF).
The sample size was computed at 42,300 households, with 25 households selected per cluster, which resulted in 1,692 clusters spread across the country, 1,026 clusters in rural areas, and 666 in urban areas.
