Demography of Ghana Totally Explained

Everything about Ghana People totally explained

The Demography of Ghana describes the condition and overview of Ghana's peoples. Demographic topics include basic education, health, and population statistics as well as identified racial and religious affiliations.

Demographic trends

Ghana's first postindependence population census in 1960 counted about 6.7 million inhabitants. By 1970 the national census registered 8.5 million people, about a 27 percent increase, while the most recent official census in 1984 recorded a figure of 12.3 million--almost double the 1960 figure (see table 2, Appendix). The nation's population was estimated to have increased to about 15 million in 1990 and to an estimated 17.2 million in mid-1994. With an annual growth rate of 2.2 percent for the period between 1965 and 1980, a 3.4 percent growth rate for 1981 through 1989, and a 1992 growth rate of 3.2 percent, the country's population is projected to surpass 20 million by the year 2000 and 35 million by 2025.
   Increasing population is reflected in other statistical representations as well. Between 1965 and 1989, a constant 45 percent of the nation's total female population was of childbearing age. The crude birth rate of 47 per 1,000 population recorded for 1965 dropped to 44 per 1,000 population in 1992. Also, the crude death rate of 18 per 1,000 population in 1965 fell to 13 per 1,000 population in 1992, while life expectancy rose from a 1970 to 1975 average of forty-two years for men and forty-five years for women to fifty-two and fifty-six years, respectively, in 1992. The 1965 infant mortality rate of 120 per 1,000 live births also improved to 86 per 1,000 live births in 1992. With the fertility rate averaging about seven children per adult female and expected to fall only to five children per adult female by the year 2000, the population projection of 35 million in 2025 becomes more credible. A number of factors, including improved vaccination against common diseases, and nutritional education through village and community health-care systems, contributed to the expanding population. The rise in the nation's population generated a corresponding rise in the demand for schools, health facilities, and urban housing.
   By contrast, a large part of the Volta Basin was sparsely populated. The presence of tsetse flies, the relative infertility of the soil, and, above all, the scarcity of water in the area during the harmattan season affect habitation. The far north, on the other hand, was heavily populated. The eighty-seven persons to a square kilometer recorded in the 1984 census for the Upper East Region, for example, was well above the national average. This may be explained in part by the somewhat better soil found in some areas and the general absence of the tsetse fly; however, onchocerciasis, or river blindness, a fly-borne disease, is common in the north, causing abandonment of some land. With the improvement of the water supply through well-drilling and the introduction of intensive agricultural extension services as part of the Global 2000 program since the mid-1980s, demographic figures for the far north could be markedly different by the next census.
   Like the population density figures, the rate of urbanization varied from one administrative region to another. While the Greater Accra Region showed an 83-percent urban residency, the Ashanti Region matched the national average of 32 percent in 1984. The Upper West Region of the country recorded only 10 percent of its population in urban centers that year, which reflected internal migration to the south and the pattern of development that favored the south, with its minerals and forest resources, over the north. Urban areas in Ghana have customarily been supplied with more amenities than rural locations. Consequently, Kumasi, Accra, and many towns within the southern economic belt attracted more people than the savanna regions of the north; only Tamale in the north has been an exception. The linkage of the national electricity grid to the northern areas of the country in the late 1980s may help to stabilize the north-to-south flow of internal migration.

Education

Primary and junior secondary school education is tuition-free and mandatory. The Government of Ghana support for basic education is unequivocal. Article 39 of the Constitution mandates the major tenets of the free, compulsory, universal basic education (FCUBE) initiative. Launched in 1996, it's one of the most ambitious pre-tertiary education programs in West Africa. Since 1987, the Government of Ghana has increased its education budget by 700%. Basic education's share has grown from 45% to 60% of that total. Students begin their 6-year primary education at age six. Under educational reforms implemented in 1987, they pass into a junior secondary school system for 3 years of academic training combined with technical and vocational training. Those continuing move into the 3-year senior secondary school program. Entrance to one of the five Ghanaian universities is by examination following completion of senior secondary school. School enrollment totals almost 3 million.

Demographic breakdown

Population: 22,931,299(July 2007 est.); 19,533,560(2001 est.)
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected Age structure: 0-14 years: 38.2% (male 4,438,308/female 4,329,293)(2007 est.); 42% (male 4,120,240; female 4,063,960)(2000 est.)
15-64 years: 58.2% (male 6,661,512/female 6,687,738)(2007 est.); 55% (male 5,290,675; female 5,391,175)(2000 est.)
65 years and over: 3.6% (male 380,495/female 433,953) (2007 est.); 3% (male 318,890; female 348,620)(2000 est.) Population growth rate: 1.972% (2007 est.); 2.07% (2006 est.) Birth rate: 29.85 births/1,000 population (2007 est.); 29.81 births/1,000 population (2000 est.) Death rate: 9.55 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.); 10.22 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.) Net migration rate: -0.58 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.); -0.89 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.025 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.996 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.877 male(s)/female total population: 1.003 male(s)/female (2007 est.) Sex ratio: at birth: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female (2007 est); 1.03 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
under 15 years: 1.025 male(s)/female (2007 est.); 1.01 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
15-64 years: 0.996 male(s)/female (2007 est.); 0.98 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
65 years and over: 0.877 male(s)/female 0.91 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
total population: 1.003 male(s)/female (2007 est.); 0.99 male(s)/female (2000 est.) Infant mortality rate: 53.56 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.); 57.43 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.) Life expectancy at birth: total population: 59.12 years (2007 est.); 60 years
male: 58.31 years (2007 est.); 59 years
female: 59.95 years (2007 est.) ; 61 years (2000 est.) Total fertility rate: 3.89 children born/woman (2007 est.); 3.95 children born/woman (2000 est.) Nationality: noun: Ghanaian(s)
adjective: Ghanaian Ethnic groups: Akan 45.3%, Mole-Dagbon 15.2%, Ewe 11.7%, Ga-Dangme 7.3%, Guan 4%, Gurma 3.6%, Grusi 2.6%, Mande-Busanga 1%, other tribes 1.4%, other 7.8% (2000 census) Religions: According to a census taken in 2000, Christian make up 68.8% of the population. (Pentecostal/Charismatic 24.1%, Protestant 18.6%, Catholic 15.1%, other 11%) The census noted that Muslims make up 15% of the population, however recent sources indicate that number to be at 30%. Other faiths include traditional African religions and Judaism, which is practiced by some African tribes. There are also communities of Nichiren Buddhists and Bahá'ís in Ghana. Languages: English (official), African languages (including Akan, Moshi-Dagomba, Ewe, and Ga) Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 57,9%
male: 66,4%
female: 49,8% (2000 census)

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