page_title: Mombasa
section_title: Demography
hierarchical_section_title: Mombasa / Demography
caption_attribution_description: Downtown Mombasa
context_page_description: Mombasa is a coastal city of Kenya along the Indian Ocean. The city is known as the white and blue city in Kenya. It is the country's oldest and second-largest city, with a population of about 1,208,333 people according to the 2019 census. Its metropolitan region is the second-largest in the country, and has a population of 3,528,940 people.
  Mombasa is a tourism-based city; it has an extra-large port and an international airport, and is an important regional tourism center. Located on the east coast of Kenya, it also is the home of one of the State House, and is considered by some as a second capital in all but name. In 2018 the local government released an edict in which the city was painted white with blue accents and the old town was painted yellow. In Mombasa County and the former Coast Province, Mombasa's situation on the Indian Ocean made it a historical trading center, and it has been controlled by many countries because of its strategic location.
context_section_description: Mombasa city has a population of 1,208,333 per the 2019 census.
  Mombasa has a cosmopolitan population, with the Swahili people and Mijikenda predominant. Other communities include the Akamba and Taita Bantus as well as a significant population of Luo and Luhya peoples from Western Kenya. The major religions practised in the city are Islam, Christianity and Hinduism. Over the centuries, many immigrants and traders have settled in Mombasa, particularly from the Middle East, Somalia, and the Indian sub-continent, who came mainly as traders and skilled craftsmen.
caption: Downtown Mombasa
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