The UN counts about 540,000 Kenyans living outside the country as of 2024. That is a very conservative figure, and the reason why matters as much as the ranking itself, so it is covered further down. Even by that strict count, though, the pattern is clear: nearly nine in ten emigrants are concentrated in just ten countries, and two of them, the United States and the United Kingdom, account for well over half.
The ranking
The most recent per-country breakdown available is the UN's 2020 estimate, when the total stood at roughly 535,000. Figures are rounded.
| Rank | Destination country | Kenyans living there | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 157,000 | 29.3% |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 139,000 | 26.0% |
| 3 | Uganda | 34,000 | 6.4% |
| 4 | Canada | 29,000 | 5.4% |
| 5 | Mozambique | 25,000 | 4.7% |
| 6 | Australia | 25,000 | 4.7% |
| 7 | Tanzania | 24,000 | 4.5% |
| 8 | South Africa | 20,000 | 3.7% |
| 9 | Germany | 17,000 | 3.2% |
| 10 | South Sudan | 10,000 | 1.9% |
| Top ten combined | 480,000 | about 90% | |
| All other countries | about 55,000 | about 10% |
UN estimates based on official statistics on the foreign-born or foreign population in each destination. The UAE and other Gulf states are also widely reported to host tens of thousands of Kenyans, but they don't appear in this top-ten list.
The ranking by region
Grouping the top ten by region shows where the weight sits:
| Region | Countries in the top ten | Kenyans | Share of top-ten total |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | United States, Canada | 186,000 | 38.8% |
| Europe | United Kingdom, Germany | 156,000 | 32.5% |
| Africa | Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, South Sudan | 113,000 | 23.5% |
| Oceania | Australia | 25,000 | 5.2% |
North America and Europe together hold about 71 percent of the top-ten total. Africa is the next largest block, driven mostly by neighbouring countries and South Africa.
How the ranking has moved since 2017
The UN's 2017 estimate put the total at 501,204, with the top nine destinations as follows. Setting it beside the 2020 figures shows some large shifts.
| Destination | 2017 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 123,164 | 157,000 | +27% |
| United Kingdom | 141,020 | 139,000 | about −1% |
| Uganda | 61,501 | 34,000 | −45% |
| Tanzania | 32,472 | 24,000 | −26% |
| Canada | 28,502 | 29,000 | about +2% |
| South Africa | 27,143 | 20,000 | −26% |
| Australia | 18,714 | 25,000 | +34% |
| Germany | 15,084 | 17,000 | +13% |
| South Sudan | 9,570 | 10,000 | +4% |
The biggest story is the United States overtaking the United Kingdom as the top destination. In 2017 the UK led by nearly 18,000. By 2020 the US led by about 18,000 the other way. Uganda's fall is the sharpest, and the East African neighbours in general lost ground in these estimates, though part of that may reflect revisions to how those countries' data are counted rather than people actually leaving.
Why the real number is much higher
The UN figure only captures people who a destination country's own statistics record as foreign-born or foreign nationals. It leaves out a lot:
- Children born abroad to Kenyan parents, who are citizens by descent
- Kenyans who have taken another citizenship but still identify with the diaspora
- Short-term contract workers, especially in the Gulf
- People whose immigration status means they don't appear in official counts
For that reason, government and community estimates run far higher. A Parliamentary Budget Office report published in April 2025 put the diaspora at around four million, and other estimates cited by diaspora media sit at about three million.
Community and media estimates by country
Diaspora-focused media publish much larger per-country ranges. These are rough and unofficial, so treat them as an indication of scale rather than a count:
| Country | Estimated range |
|---|---|
| United States | 200,000 to 300,000 |
| United Kingdom | 150,000 to 200,000 |
| Canada | 80,000 to 100,000 |
| South Africa | 60,000 to 80,000 |
| Australia | 40,000 to 60,000 |
| United Arab Emirates | 40,000 to 60,000 |
The order at the top is the same as the UN's, with the United States first and the United Kingdom second, but the gap between the two estimates is large. The UN figure for the US, for example, sits below even the low end of the community range.
Births registered abroad
One official window into the second generation is the number of births to Kenyan citizens registered with the authorities from abroad. Registrations rose 15 percent to 5,694 in the most recent statistical report. Most were in the United States and the United Kingdom, followed by smaller numbers from Australia (235), Canada (225), Uganda (197), Saudi Arabia (152), South Africa (151) and Tanzania (145). These are voluntary registrations, so they undercount actual births.