What are Remittances?
Money and gifts sent by Kenyans living and working abroad (the diaspora) to their families/relatives and friends here in Kenya. It also includes money or gifts that Kenyans send to their families/ relatives and friends living abroad. Remittances boost household incomes thus promoting household expenditures.
What is 2025 RHS?
The 2025 Remittances Household Survey (2025 RHS) is a baseline household survey that is aimed at providing qualitative and quantitative data on remittance activities. The 2025 RHS will target households receiving remittances from family members, relatives and friends living in the diaspora; remittance inflows, as well as households sending remittances to family members, relatives or friends living abroad; remittance outflows, in the past 12 months. It will also target households receiving remittances from international organizations either in Kenya or abroad e.g. FAO, WFP, UNICEF, UNHCR, etc. The information provided by the households will be treated with utmost confidentiality and will be used strictly for statistical purposes.
Why Households Listing?
Recognizing that not all households receive remittances, the survey is designed to start with households listing, a process of identifying households that have either received or sent remittances in the past 12 months. The process involves random selection of households within a specified area, which can be a village, a part of a village or a combination of villages. Household listing is the first stage in the process of conducting the 2025 RHS which will be followed by data collection for the survey.
Who is conducting it?
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in collaboration with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya and other stakeholders is conducting the 2025 Remittances Household Survey.
Why is it important? Have we done it before?
Kenya’s economic blueprint the Vision 2030 considers Diaspora remittances as one of the flagship projects under the financial sector. The Diaspora Diplomacy Pillar, contained in the Foreign Policy Document of 2014 underscores the Government’s commitment to implement measures and interventions which will leverage the potential of Kenyans abroad to contribute to the country’s transformation agenda while meeting their needs and expectations through a mutually beneficial and lasting partnership. The State Department for Diaspora Affairs (SDDA) recognizes that the Diaspora presents enormous potential for skills, knowledge and technology transfer as well as savings, investment and remittances. There is need therefore for targeted investment in their rights and welfare and this requires concerted efforts by the Government and the private sector. The State Department further recognizes the imperative to among other initiatives, strategically incentivize remittances towards achieving the one (1) trillion Kenya Shillings target in annual remittances by 2027, in line with the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
Financial inclusion and literacy for remittance-recipient families can increase opportunities for formal savings and investment. These mechanisms can in turn build the human capital of remittance families and improve their living standards through better education, health and housing. Measurement of remittances is therefore important to provide credible data to support these initiatives.
There have been efforts made before to obtain remittance statistics. However, the results from these previous surveys have not given representative observations to aid in getting national estimates. The Central Bank of Kenya in collaboration with KNBS and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) conducted a Diaspora Remittances Survey (DRS) in 2021; The 2021 Online Diaspora Remittances Survey. The report may be accessed in the link: (https://www.centralbank.go.ke/wpcontent/uploads/2022/01/REPORTOFTHEKENYADIASPORAREMITTANCESSURVEYDECEMBER2021.pd).
When – duration
This is a national exercise, across all the counties. The first stage of the process, the listing for the 2025 RHS began on 3rd June, 2025 and will proceed for a period of thirty (30) days.
How is it being undertaken
The survey personnel will administer a questionnaire to the household head or most knowledgeable person in the selected households through face-to-face interviews.
Use of 2025 RHS Data
The information from the 2025 RHS will be used to compile Kenya’s Balance of Payments (BOP) and other macroeconomic statistics. The data will also be used to track Kenya’s performance towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
- At household level. By recognizing the positive socioeconomic impact of remittances on families’ wellbeing (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5).
- At community level. By supporting policies and specific actions to promote synergies between remittances and financial inclusion, encourage market competition and regulatory reforms, and mitigate any negative impact resulting from climate change (SDGs 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 and 13).
- At international level. By ensuring that the revitalized Global Partnership for Sustainable Development – as outlined in SDG 17 promote collaboration across all sectors involved in remittances.
We encourage sampled households to provide the required data.