Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) – 2021 PHC Report

Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) – 2021 PHC Report

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 has released a 2021PHC Preliminary Report which gives the provisional results from the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC).

About the 2021 Population and Housing Census

The 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC), Ghana’s first fully digital census, employed technology in all aspects of its implementation. It leveraged on technology available to improve operational efficiency, enhance the quality of the data collected and be able to release results in a timely manner. To learn more about the uniqueness of the 2021 PHC, visit the census website.

Here’s Ghana Current Population 2021

Ghana Population 2021
The 2021 PHC counted and collected detailed information on all persons that spent the Census Night, that is Sunday 27th June 2021, in the country (de facto approach). The initial enumeration period was from 27th June to 11th July, with a mop-up period, first for one week and subsequently extending it to 15th August in some areas with challenges. Prior to the Census Night, the listing of structures took place between 13th and 25th June, 2021. Structures listed were completed buildings, uncompleted buildings at various levels of completion above window level and unconventional structures (such as metal containers, and kiosks).

What is Ghana’s population 2021?

  1. Ghana’s population figure from the 2021 PHC is 30.8 million.
  2. The population has grown almost five-fold since the first post-independence census was conducted in 1960.
  3. Ghana’s population is growing, but at a declining rate compared with previous censuses.
  4. Females make up a greater proportion of the population in the 2021 PHC as has been the trend for the past four censuses. They outnumber males in 10 out of the 16 regions.
  5. Greater Accra has overtaken Ashanti as the nation’s most populous region.
  6. Ahafo has replaced Upper West as the nation’s least populous region.
  7. Average household size, which has been on the decline since 2000, is 3.6 members.
  8. Out of the 10.7 million structures listed, 20% were metal containers, kiosks, and wooden structures.
  9. One out of every five of the structures listed was not fully completed.
  10. The information on structure usage indicated six out of every 10 structures were for residential use.

Which region in Ghana has the highest population 2021?

» Greater Accra Region is now the most populous region in Ghana, overtaking the Ashanti Region which has been the most populous region since 1970. Ashanti Region closely follows as the second most populous region. These regions are both almost twice (1.9) times the size of the third most populous region, Eastern Region.

» The Central Region is now the fourth most populous region following the splitting of the former Western, Brong Ahafo and Northern Regions who were all more populous than Central Region in 2010. The four most populous regions make up over half (54%) of the total population.

» The Ahafo Region is the least populous region taking the place of the Upper West which had been the least populous in all the previous post-independence censuses. The Savannah and North East Regions are the second and third least populous regions respectively.

» Disparities in the population size across region have been the largest observed since 1960 when Ghana conducted its first post-independence census. In 1960, the most populous region, Eastern, was almost five times (4.63) the size of Upper West, the least populous. In 2010, the most populous region, Ashanti was almost seven times (6.81) the size of the least populous, Upper West. In 2021, the two most populous regions, Greater Accra and Ashanti, are almost 10 times (9.6) the size of Ahafo, the least populous. There are 11 other regions that are at least twice as populous as Ahafo, and six that are thrice as populous. For Savannah and North East, there are seven other regions twice as populous and five that are thrice as populous.

» The current Northern Region observed the largest change in population with an almost 50% increase over its population in 2010. The two other regions that made up the then Northern Region in 2010, North East and Savannah, had the second and third largest intercensal increases (41.7% and 38.4%) respectively. The next highest change recorded was in Greater Accra with an addition of 35.8%. The Eastern Region, followed by the Volta Region, recorded the lowest intercensal change (adding 10.8% and 11.4% respectively to their populations). The range of these figures highlight the regional disparities in population change from the previous censuses.
Region in Ghana with the highest population

Report on Household Size

Greater Accra and Eastern Region recorded the smallest household size of 3.2 which is almost half the household size of 6.0 recorded in the North East Region, the largest household size. In nine out of the 16 regions, households had less than four members, on the average, with the smaller household sizes observed in the southern part of the country.

Conversely, the larger population density figures are observed in the southern part of the country.

The region with the highest population density is Greater Accra with 1,236 persons per square kilometre, which is significantly higher than what is observed in regions. This figure is over five (5.5) times the density observed in Ashanti, the region with the second highest density, almost 100 times (91.5) more people per square kilometre than Savannah region which has 14 persons per square kilometre. Upper West and Bono East represent the second and third most sparsely populated regions.

Regional Differences

Regional differences in the distribution of structures mimic that of population distribution. Generally, population size is correlated with the number of structures: the regions with high proportions of the population tended to have the most structures and vice-versa. North East, the region with the third-least number of persons, recorded the least number of structures, followed by Ahafo and Savannah, regions with the first and second least proportions of population respectively.

Greater Accra Region recorded the highest number of both residential and non-residential structures with 19.3% of all the total structures listed. The number of structures in Greater Accra is greater than the number of structures in six regions (North East, Savannah, Ahafo, Upper West, Oti, and Upper East) combined. Three regions (Greater Accra, Ashanti, Eastern) combined have almost half (47.3%) of all structures listed.

At the national level, the usage reported for six out of every ten structures (59.6%) was residential with the regional figures starting from just over half (53.1%) in the Western North and Bono Regions (53.7%) to almost three-quarters (73.5%) in the Savannah Region.

Note: information on usage of structures was not collected for structures at lintel level without roof, window level, or concrete/metal/pillars levels.
Ghana Population Report 2021

 

Download the 2021PHC Preliminary Report – PDF    

Summary of Provisional Results

  • The de facto population in Ghana on Census Night was 30,792,608 made up of 15,610,149 females and 15,182,459 males.
  • Overall, females make up 50.7% of the population and males 49.3%, giving a national sex ratio of 97 males for every 100 females.
  • In all, 8,345,414 households were enumerated, with an average national household size of 3.6 persons.
  • The national population density in the 2021 PHC is 129 persons per square kilometre.
  • Over ten million (10,661,421) structures were counted during the listing, out of which 8,547,391 (80.2%) are fully completed i.e. roofed with windows and doors fixed.

Source: https://census2021.statsghana.gov.gh