67% of Households Feel Economically Worse Since 2022 Election - TIFA Poll

A poll by TIFA Research has disclosed that most households feel economically worse since the August 2022 general election.

In a report released on Thursday, December 18, TIFA revealed that 67 per cent of households feel economically worse off since the last election.

Only 22 per cent of households said they feel economically better, while 16 per cent reported that they are in the same situation as before the election.

A further 2 per cent of households said they are not sure whether they are better or worse off economically.

“While the pace of decline may be slowing, most households still feel economically worse off, and the lived economy remains a major vulnerability for the government heading toward 2027. The economic narrative is still overwhelmingly negative, and small gains have not yet translated into a broad-based recovery,” TIFA stated.

The majority of households which feel economically worse were in Mt Kenya (83%), followed by Nairobi (76%) and South Rift (71%).

“In comparing results with TIFA’s two most recent previous surveys, it emerges that there has been a slight improvement in Kenyans’ economic situation since the 2022 election (15% currently vs 10% in each of the previous two surveys),” TIFA stated.

TIFA also mentioned that there has been a downward trend over the last three surveys among those who report a worsening of their economic situation since the last election in with the figures declining from 75 per cent to 70 per cent and now to 67 per cent.

Meanwhile, TIFA disclosed that 68 per cent of Kenyans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Only 17 per cent feel the country is in the right direction, while 12 per cent feel the country is neither wrong nor right.

The majority of Kenyans who feel the country is the wrong direction are from the Mt Kenya region (83%), Lower Eastern (76%), Coast region (73%), Nairobi (73%) and South Rift (70%).

Further the report highlighted Kenya’s most serious problems to be unemployment, poverty, inflation, high taxes, corruption, poor leadership, lack of access to health care, crime and lack of democracy.

TIFA conducted the survey from November 10 to November 17, 2025, with a sample size of 2,053 respondents.

The report comes days after the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) said the country’s economic direction is stripping resources from essential services, worsening inequality, and allowing historical injustices.

In the report released on December 3, KHRC said 68 per cent of Kenya’s revenue goes into paying public debt and government salaries, leaving less than a third of the budget for health, education, food security, water, sanitation, housing, and social protection.

The commission noted that support for older persons has decreased to Ksh15 billion from Ksh18 billion, while funding for orphans has reduced to Ksh5 billion from Ksh7 billion.

“Meanwhile, the county’s pending bills have exploded, now 300 times higher than the county’s total expenditure, and the wage bill consumes nearly half the entire budget, leaving very little for services that citizens depend on,” KHRC stated.