Ghana: People & Society#
| Population | 26,908,262 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, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2016 est.) |
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| Nationality | noun: Ghanaian(s) adjective: Ghanaian |
| Ethnic groups | Akan 47.5%, Mole-Dagbon 16.6%, Ewe 13.9%, Ga-Dangme 7.4%, Gurma 5.7%, Guan 3.7%, Grusi 2.5%, Mande 1.1%, other 1.4% (2010 est.) |
| Languages | Asante 16%, Ewe 14%, Fante 11.6%, Boron (Brong) 4.9%, Dagomba 4.4%, Dangme 4.2%, Dagarte (Dagaba) 3.9%, Kokomba 3.5%, Akyem 3.2%, Ga 3.1%, other 31.2% note: English is the official language (2010 est.) |
| Religions | Christian 71.2% (Pentecostal/Charismatic 28.3%, Protestant 18.4%, Catholic 13.1%, other 11.4%), Muslim 17.6%, traditional 5.2%, other 0.8%, none 5.2% (2010 est.) |
| Demographic profile | Ghana has a young age structure, with approximately 57% of the population under the age of 25. Its total fertility rate fell significantly during the 1980s and 1990s but has stalled at around four children per woman for the last few years. Fertility remains higher in the northern region than the Greater Accra region. On average, desired fertility has remained stable for several years; urban dwellers want fewer children than rural residents. Increased life expectancy, due to better health care, nutrition, and hygiene, and reduced fertility have increased Ghana’s share of elderly persons; Ghana’s proportion of persons aged 60+ is among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty has declined in Ghana, but it remains pervasive in the northern region, which is susceptible to droughts and floods and has less access to transportation infrastructure, markets, fertile farming land, and industrial centers. The northern region also has lower school enrollment, higher illiteracy, and fewer opportunities for women. Ghana was a country of immigration in the early years after its 1957 independence, attracting labor migrants largely from Nigeria and other neighboring countries to mine minerals and harvest cocoa – immigrants composed about 12% of Ghana’s population in 1960. In the late 1960s, worsening economic and social conditions discouraged immigration, and hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mostly Nigerians, were expelled. During the 1970s, severe drought and an economic downturn transformed Ghana into a country of emigration; neighboring Cote d’Ivoire was the initial destination. Later, hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians migrated to Nigeria to work in its booming oil industry, but most were deported in 1983 and 1985 as oil prices plummeted. Many Ghanaians then turned to more distant destinations, including other parts of Africa, Europe, and North America, but the majority continued to migrate within West Africa. Since the 1990s, increased emigration of skilled Ghanaians, especially to the US and the UK, drained the country of its health care and education professionals. Internally, poverty and other developmental disparities continue to drive Ghanaians from the north to the south, particularly to its urban centers. |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 38.2% (male 5,164,505/female 5,113,185) 15-24 years: 18.66% (male 2,498,185/female 2,522,353) 25-54 years: 34.05% (male 4,445,321/female 4,716,311) 55-64 years: 4.91% (male 642,984/female 678,784) 65 years and over: 4.19% (male 520,589/female 606,045) (2016 est.) |
| Dependency ratios | total dependency ratio: 73% youth dependency ratio: 67.2% elderly dependency ratio: 5.9% potential support ratio: 17% (2015 est.) |
| Median age | total: 21 years male: 20.5 years female: 21.5 years (2016 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 2.18% (2016 est.) |
| Birth rate | 30.8 births/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Death rate | 7.1 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Net migration rate | -1.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Urbanization | urban population: 54% of total population (2015) rate of urbanization: 3.4% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.) |
| Major urban areas - population | Kumasi 2.599 million; ACCRA (capital) 2.277 million (2015) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 0.94 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2016 est.) |
| Mother's mean age at first birth | 22.6 note: median age at first birth among women 25-29 (2014 est.) |
| Maternal mortality rate | 319 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 36.3 deaths/1,000 live births male: 40.2 deaths/1,000 live births female: 32.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 66.6 years male: 64.1 years female: 69.1 years (2016 est.) |
| Total fertility rate | 4.03 children born/woman (2016 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | 19.5% (2013) |
| Health expenditures | 3.6% of GDP (2014) |
| Physicians density | 0.1 physicians/1,000 population (2010) |
| Hospital bed density | 0.9 beds/1,000 population (2011) |
| Drinking water source | improved: urban: 92.6% of population rural: 84% of population total: 88.7% of population unimproved: urban: 7.4% of population rural: 16% of population total: 11.3% of population (2015 est.) |
| Sanitation facility access | improved: urban: 20.2% of population rural: 8.6% of population total: 14.9% of population unimproved: urban: 79.8% of population rural: 91.4% of population total: 85.1% of population (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | 1.61% (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | 274,600 (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | 12,600 (2015 est.) |
| Major infectious diseases | degree of risk: very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever water contact disease: schistosomiasis respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis animal contact disease: rabies (2016) |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate | 10.9% (2014) |
| Children under the age of 5 years underweight | 11% (2014) |
| Education expenditures | 6.2% of GDP (2014) |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 76.6% male: 82% female: 71.4% (2015 est.) |
| School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) | total: 11 years male: 12 years female: 11 years (2014) |
| Child labor - children ages 5-14 | total number: 1,806,750 percentage: 34% (2006 est.) |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 11.2% male: 10.2% female: 12% (2010 est.) |