2.9 Total county per capita spending, FY2013/14–FY2017/18

FIGURE 2.9

Total county per capita spending, FY2013/14–FY2017/18

K Sh per capita 9,500 9,000 8,500 8,000 7,500 7,000 6,500 6,000 5,500 5,000 4,500 4,000 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 5,694 6,860 7,725 8,394 8,630

2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18

Source: World Bank calculations based on Controller of Budget data (various years).

devolved, health makes up the largest share: over 25 percent of total county expenditure. Per capita health spending increased by 64.5 percent over the first four years of devolution, from K Sh 1,572 in FY2014/15 to K Sh 2,427 in FY2017/18 (figure 2.10). Funding for agriculture, water, and education started at K Sh 400–500 per capita on average, with education increasing significantly by FY2017/18 to K Sh 796 per capita (58 percent), with more modest increases for water to K Sh 580 (32 percent) and for agriculture to K Sh 527 (26 percent).

These figures show a revealing picture of county preferences toward investing in health and education relative to water and agriculture. Administrative spending has also grown, with per capita spending in the Office of the Governor and other administrative services increasing from K Sh 2,683 in FY2014/15 to K Sh 3,385 (31 percent) in FY2017/18, while County Assembly spending per capita increased from K Sh 612 to K Sh 853 (39 percent) over the same period.

It is important to highlight the contributions of citizens and other sources of finance to service delivery in the counties. Annual revenue by the water companies was about K Sh 21 billion in 2017. This compares with total budgeted county expenditure of K Sh 27 billion that year. Out-of-pocket health expenditure by citizens was estimated at 27.7 percent of total health expenditure in the Kenya National Health Accounts FY2015/16 (Ministry of Health 2017). This approximates K Sh 2,000 per capita, roughly equivalent to the county health expenditure that year. The policy of universal health care is intended to address this in