Public Story
Demographica
The image of Kenya tends to be one of nomadic tribes dressed in red and adorned with beads, but the reality is much different. More than a quarter of Kenya’s population today live in cities and, while the country has forty two tribes, the majority of people belong to just five. Furthermore a staggering 75% of the country’s population is under the age of thirty, making it one of the youngest country’s in the world.
Demographica is an ongoing project that blends photography and demography to create a typology of 100 portraits that does its best to statistically represent the makeup of a country’s population. The aim of Demographica is to paint a true representation of a country, dispelling the various misconceptions and stereotypes people may have, and revealing the actual diversity of the many different people who make up any one population.
* The portraits in this series are all composites and each consist of nine photographs stitched together to create one full portrait. The technique, known as the Brenizer method, results in portraits with an extremely shallow depth of field - reminiscent of a large format photograph.
Gender Ratio
Male 50%
Female 50%
Age
0-14 Years 40.2%
15-24 Years 19.15%
25-54 Years 33.91%
55-64 Years 3.92%
65+ 3%
Urban/Rural
Urban 26.5%
Rural 73.5%
Ethnic Groups
Kikuyu 22%
Luhya 14%
Luo 13%
Kalenjin 12%
Kamba 11%
Kisii 6%
Meru 6%
Other African 15%
Asian/European/Arab <1%
2,700
