A third of dependents of retirees were above 25 years and of working age, according to a new survey that underlines Kenya’s growing youth unemployment crisis.
The Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) pensioner survey indicated that 33.3 percent of those relying on retirees for their livelihood were above 25 years.
It shows that individuals above 60 years and retired were spending their meager pension on their children often graduates expected to be in employment.
Kenya’s soft economy and the surge in graduates leaving school annually has created a growing pool of unemployed youths—who are forced to rely on aged parents for basic items like food, housing and clothing.
The survey, which sampled 602 retirees, indicates that retirees children below five accounted for 6 percent of the pensioners’ dependents.
The retirees also had the burden of taking care of their grandchildren. About 66 percent of their grandchildren were below the age of 11 years.
This suggests that the parents of the grandchildren were the graduates depending on the pensioners as a rising number of unemployed youths delay moving to their own homes.
“Demographic distribution suggests a potential reflection of ongoing job scarcity in the country amongst youths,” said the RBA survey.
“With children of retirees increasingly dependent on their parents and sometimes grandchildren, there appears to be a complex interplay of economic challenges and familial support dynamics, underscoring the need for targeted interventions to bolster employment opportunities and economic resilience moving forward.”
Official data show that Kenya generated 123,100 formal jobs in 2023, inadequate for the over one million graduates that exit universities and colleges.
The rising dependence comes amid revelations that 75 percent of the pensioners survive on a monthly pay of less than Sh30, 000.
The low monthly pension payouts and high dependency by the retirees’ children, grandchildren and siblings look set to condemn the retirees to old age poverty.
Research findings revealed school fees accounted for the largest share of monthly expenditure at Sh28,494, followed by loan payments at Sh22,719.
Other significant expenditures were food (Sh14,705), rent (Sh10,229), and medical bills/insurance cover (Sh9,430) Analysts point out that the low uptake of pension products by Kenyans and the meager payouts at retirement have forced many retirees or those approaching the legal retirement age to continue working.
The survey indicated that 78 percent of respondents invested their lump sum in farming, followed by land purchases (74 percent) and real estate (70 percent) among others.
Only 23 percent of retirees used their lump sum to start a business despite yielding the highest average monthly income of Sh33,758 compared to land at just Sh6,575.
