Wednesday, June 15, 2011
2010 Provisional Census Results Out PDF Print E-mail
Friday, 04 February 2011 09:42

The Provisional results of the 2010 Population and Housing Census show that the total population of Ghana is 24,233,431; this was disclosed by the Government Statistician and Head of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Dr. Grace Bediako, in a press conference in Accra.

According to Dr. Bediako, the population of males is 11,801,661 and the population of female is 12,421,770 which translate into 48.7 percent for males and 51.3 percent for females.

She said the 2010 Population and Housing Census commenced at 12 midnight on 26th September, 2010, which was the reference point for the Census (Census Night). During this period, she noted, trained Enumerators enumerated all persons found within the borders of Ghana, irrespective of their nationality and residential status.

The GSS, she said, plans to release a series of data emanating from the census aimed at increasing the utility of the census data.  The provisional results, she noted, is one of such publications. It aims at furnishing the general public with summarized information about the country.
The Government Statistician pointed out that the provisional figures show that Ghana’s population increased by 28 percent compared to that of the last census conducted in 2000. She added that the Northern region recorded the highest percent increase of 35.6 percent. According to Dr. Bediako, the Greater Accra, Central and Ashanti regions also recorded substantial increases in population by 34.6, 32.2 and 30.8 percent respectively.

The intercensal growth rate for the country declined from 2.7 percent in 2000 to 2.4 percent per annum in 2010.  The growth rates in Central, Greater Accra, Ashanti and Northern Regions were significantly above the national figure of 2.4 percent.  The least growth rate (1.1%) was recorded in the Upper East Region.

She indicated that the sex ratio for the country, i.e. the number of males to 100 females is 95, with the Brong Ahafo Region (104) and Western Region (102) being the only regions with sex ratios above 100.
 
She further explained that the Ashanti Region is still the most populous region in the country, with a population of 4,725,046 representing 19.5 percent of Ghana’s population, with Greater Accra recording the next highest population figure of 3,909,764 representing 16.1 percent of the population. According to the Government Statistician, the total population for the two regions, Ashanti and Greater Accra constitute 35.6 percent of the country’s population. This figure compared with the 2000 Census figure shows that, the proportionate share of the two regions in Ghana’s population has increased by about 1 percentage point.

Dr. Grace Bediako noted that the provisional results show that there is increasing pressure on land use by the population; this suggests that the number of persons per one square kilometer has almost doubled from 52 in 1984 to 102 in 2010.

Consistently, the population pressure has been much more intense in the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions within the same period.  However, the population density in the Northern and Upper West Regions was relatively low. Population density recorded in both regions was less than 50 persons per square kilometer. 
Dr. Grace Bediako urged the public to wait patiently for the final results of the 2010 Population and Housing census which she promised will be released by the end of March 2012.

The Minister for Information, Hon. John Tia Akologu, who chaired this occasion said that since the 2000 population and Housing Census, planning  and decision making  in this country  has been based on estimates from the 2000 census results as well  as sample surveys conducted by the statistical service .

Source: ISD (Antoinette I. Mintah)
Photo: Patience Lartey

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