2010phc Children Adolescents &young People in GH

2010
POPULATION & HOUSING CENSUS REPORT
CHILDREN, ADOLESCENTS
& YOUNG PEOPLE IN GHANA
Ghana Statistical Service

July, 2013
Preface and Acknowledgement
Activities of the Ghana Statistical Service, like many other national statistical offices, include
data collection, compilation and analyses as well as dissemination of statistical information in
an accessible and user-friendly manner. This means analysing and interpreting the statistics
in a form that makes it easily understood for people to appreciate the value of the statistical
information and disseminating it widely.
Ghana like many other developing countries, rely mainly on survey and population census
data for planning at the national and sub-national levels. Characteristics of the population
such as age, sex, education and occupation are obtained from census data and complemented
by other relevant indicators from national sample survey data. The 2010 Population and
Housing Census (PHC), which is the fifth post-independence census to be conducted in the
country was, therefore, implemented to provide data for effective planning at all levels.
The success of the 2010 Population and Housing Census, including the preparation of
analytical reports and monographs, has been a collaborative effort of the Government of
Ghana, various Development Partners (DPs) and the people of Ghana. Local consultants from
research institutions and universities in Ghana were engaged to prepare the national and
regional analytical reports, including six monographs using the 2010 census data. In order to
strengthen the report writing capacities of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDAs) which are engaged in population-related activities,
professional staff of GSS and these MDAs were paired up with consultant writers to prepare
the reports.
The monograph on ‘Children, Adolescent and Youth in Ghana’ is one of the six monographs
that have been prepared from the 2010 Population and Housing Census data. The aim of this
monograph is to assess the youthfulness of Ghana’s population resulting from high fertility
rates and increasing life-expectancy and its implications for the development of the country.
The Ghana Statistical Service wishes to thank the United Nations Population Fund (UNPA)
for the lead role it played in mobilizing resources from the UN System and other
Development Partners for the 2010 PHC and for providing technical and financial support for
the preparation of this monograph. Our appreciation also goes to Professor Stephen O.
Kwankye and Kobina Abekah Ansah for the dedication and competence they demonstrated in
the preparation of this report.
Dr Philomena Nyarko
Government Statistician
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................... V

LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ VIII
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................IX
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1
1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION ................................................................................................. 1
1.2 RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................. 2
1.3 DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS OF CHILDREN, ADOLESCENTS AND YOUTH .................................. 3
CHAPTER TWO: POPULATION SIZE, AGE-SEX AND HOUSEHOLD STRUCTURE ......... 5
2.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 5
2.2 POPULATION SIZE AND AGE-SEX COMPOSITION..................................................................... 5
2.3 SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION: GEO-POLITICAL REGIONS ................................................................ 7
2.4 LIVING ARRANGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... 10
2.5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................. 15
CHAPTER THREE: HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS ............................................................. 17
3.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 17
3.2 TYPE OF DWELLING .............................................................................................................. 17
3.2 TYPE OF HOLDING/TENANCY ARRANGEMENT AND OWNERSHIP OF DWELLING ................. 23
3.3 MAIN CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL FOR HOUSEHOLD STRUCTURE ........................................ 25
3.4 HOUSEHOLD FACILITIES AND UTILITIES ............................................................................... 28
CHAPTER FOUR: LITERACY AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT ................................ 38
4.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 38
4.2 LITERACY LEVELS................................................................................................................. 38
4.3 LITERACY STATUS BY AGE-SEX AND REGION OF RESIDENCE ............................................. 41
4.4 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT ................................................................................................ 45
4.5 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT BY AGE-SEX AND REGION OF RESIDENCE ............................. 48
CHAPTER FIVE: MARITAL STATUS, FERTILITY AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH .. 54
5.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 54
5.2 MARITAL STATUS ................................................................................................................. 54
5.3 TRENDS IN ADOLESCENT AND YOUTH FERTILITY IN GHANA ............................................... 60
5.4 AGE AT FIRST SEX ................................................................................................................. 63
5.5 AGE AT FIRST BIRTH ............................................................................................................. 64
5.6 CHILDREN EVER BORN ......................................................................................................... 68
5.7 CONTRACEPTIVE USE ............................................................................................................ 69
CHAPTER SIX: HEALTH AND MORTALITY .......................................................................... 71
6.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 71
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6.2 INFANT MORTALITY .............................................................................................................. 71
6.3 CHILDHOOD MORTALITY ...................................................................................................... 74
6.4 UNDER-FIVE MORTALITY ..................................................................................................... 76
6.5 ADOLESCENT AND YOUTH MORTALITY ............................................................................... 78
CHAPTER SEVEN: ECONOMIC AND EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS .................. 81
7.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 81
7.2 EMPLOYMENT STATUS .......................................................................................................... 81
7.4 SPATIAL VARIATION IN EMPLOYMENT STATUS.................................................................... 87
CHAPTER EIGHT: DISABILITY ................................................................................................. 95
8.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 95
8.2 TYPE OF DISABILITY ............................................................................................................. 95
8.3 SPATIAL VARIATION OF DISABILITY BY REGION OF RESIDENCE ......................................... 96
8.4 DISABILITY BY MARITAL STATUS ...................................................................................... 100
8.5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................... 102
CHAPTER NINE: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY .............................................................. 104
9.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 104
9.2 HOUSEHOLD OWNERSHIP OF COMPUTER............................................................................ 104
9.4 MOBILE PHONE OWNERSHIP ............................................................................................... 109
9.5 REGIONAL VARIATION IN MOBILE PHONE OWNERSHIP ..................................................... 110
9.6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................... 112
CHAPTER TEN: POPULATION PROJECTION OF YOUNG PERSONS ............................ 114
10.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 114
10.2 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................. 114
10.3 PROJECTION RESULTS ......................................................................................................... 116
CHAPTER ELEVEN: SUMMARY, POLICY IMPLICATIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................. 121
11.1 POPULATION SIZE, AGE-SEX AND HOUSEHOLD STRUCTURE ............................................. 121
11.2 HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS .............................................................................................. 122
11.3 LITERACY AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT ..................................................................... 123
11.4 MARITAL STATUS, FERTILITY AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ............................................ 124
11.5 HEALTH AND MORTALITY .................................................................................................. 125
11.6 ECONOMIC AND EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS ............................................................ 125
11.7 DISABILITY .......................................................................................................................... 126
11.8 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY .............................................................................................. 127
11.9 POPULATION PROJECTION ................................................................................................... 128
11.10 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 128
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................. 130
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: Population distribution of young persons by age-sex and locality as percent
of total national population ................................................................................................... 5
Table 2.2: Sex Ratio and Percent distribution of population of young persons by
age-sex and locality............................................................................................................... 7
Table 2.3a: Distribution of Population of Children 0-9 years by region and sex ................................... 8
Table 2.3b: Distribution of Adolescent Population 10-14 years by region and sex................................ 9
Table 2.3c: Distribution of Youth Population 15-19 years by region and sex ........................................ 9
Table 2.3d: Distribution of Youth Population 20-24 years by region and sex...................................... 10
Table 2.3e: Distribution of youth population 25-35 years by region and sex ....................................... 10
Table 2.4: Distribution of population aged 0-35 years by relationship to head of household,
sex and type of locality ...................................................................................................... 11
Table 2.5: Percent distribution of population of children aged 0-9 years by relationship to
head of household, sex and type of locality ....................................................................... 12
Table 2.6: Percent Distribution of population of young persons by relationship to head of
household, sex and type of locality .................................................................................... 12
Table 2.7: Percent Distribution of population by relationship to head of household, age
and region........................................................................................................................... 14
Table 3.1: Percent of Young persons by Age group and Ownership of dwelling............................... 24
Table 3.2: Present of young persons by age group and type of holding/tenancy arrangement ........... 25
Table 3.3: Percent of Young persons by Age group and Main Source of Lighting ............................ 29
Table 3.4: Percent of Young persons by Age group and Main source of cooking fuel for
household ........................................................................................................................... 31
Table 3.5: Bathing facility used by household by type of locality and age group .............................. 33
Table 3.6: Percent of young persons by age and type of toilet facility used among households ........ 34
Table 4.1: Percent Distribution of young persons by age-sex and literacy level ................................ 39
Table 4.2: Distribution of young persons by age-sex, literacy level and type of locality ................... 41
Table 4.3a: Percent distribution of population of young males by language of literacy,
region and age .................................................................................................................... 43
Table 4.3b: Percent distribution of population of young females by language of literacy,
region and age .................................................................................................................... 44
Table 4.4: Distribution of population of young persons by educational attainment and age-sex ....... 46
Table 4.5: Percent distribution of population of young persons by educational attainment,
type of locality and age-sex ............................................................................................... 48
Table 4.6: Distribution of children aged 3-9 years by educational attainment, region and sex .......... 49
Table 4.7: Distribution of adolescents aged 10-14 years by educational attainment,
region and sex .................................................................................................................... 49
Table 4.8: Distribution of youth aged 15-19 years by educational attainment, region and sex .......... 50
Table 4.9: Percent distribution of youth aged 20-24 years by educational attainment,
region and sex .................................................................................................................... 51
Table 4.10: Percent distribution of youth aged 25-35 years by educational attainment,
region and sex .................................................................................................................... 52
Table 5.1: Distribution of population of young persons by marital status and age-sex ...................... 55
Table 5.2: Distribution of population of young persons by marital status, type of locality
and age-sex......................................................................................................................... 57
Table 5.3: Distribution of population aged 12-14 years by marital status, region and sex .................. 58
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Table 5.7: Percent Contribution of young persons to births in last 12 months .................................... 67
Table 5.8: Percent Contribution of young persons to births in last 12 months by region .................... 67
Table 5.9: Contribution of young persons to children ever born and mean number of
children ever born ............................................................................................................... 68
Table 5.10: Percent Contribution of young persons to children ever born by region ........................... 69
Table 6.1: Percent of total and pregnancy-related deaths among young persons by age
and sex ................................................................................................................................. 79
Table 6.2: Percent of deaths due to accident, violence, homicide and suicide among young
persons by age ..................................................................................................................... 79
Table 7.1: Distribution of the population of young people by age-sex and employment status .......... 82
Table 7.2: Distribution of population of young people by age-sex and institutional sector
of employment .................................................................................................................... 84
Table 7.3: Distribution of population of young people by age-sex and Occupation ........................... 85
Table 7.4: Distribution of population of young people by age-sex and industry of employment........ 87
Table 7.5: Percent distribution of population 5-9 years by sex, employment status and region.......... 88
Table 7.6: Percent distribution of population 10-14 years by sex, employment status and region...... 89
Table 7.7: Percent distribution of population 15-19 years by sex, employment status and region ...... 90
Table 8.1: Percent distribution of population of young people in Ghana by reported disability
and type and age-sex ........................................................................................................... 96
Table 8.2: Percent distribution of population of young people in Ghana by reported disability,
region of residence and age-sex .......................................................................................... 97
Table 8.3a: Percent of population 0-9 years with disability by sex and region .................................... 98
Table 8.3b: Percent of population 10-14 years with disability by sex and region ................................ 99
Table 8.3c: Percent of population 15-19 years with disability by sex and region ................................ 99
Table 8.3d: Percent of population 20-24 years with disability by sex and region .............................. 100
Table 8.3e: Percent of population 25-35 years with disability by sex and region .............................. 100
Table 8.4: Percent distribution of population of young people in Ghana by reported disability, ...........
marital status and age ....................................................................................................... 102
Table 9.1: Percent distribution of population of young people by household ownership of
computer and rural-urban residence .................................................................................. 105
Table 9.2: Percent distribution of population of children 0-9 years by household ownership of ............
computer, region and rural-urban residence...................................................................... 106
Table 9.3: Percent distribution of population of adolescents 10-14 years by household
ownership of computer, region and rural-urban residence................................................ 107
ownership of computer, region and rural-urban residence................................................ 107
Table 9.5: Percent distribution of population of youth 20-24 years by household ownership of ............
Table 9.6: Percent distribution of population of youth 25-35 years by household ownership of ............
Table 9.6: Percent distribution of population of young people by ownership of mobile phones ............
and rural-urban residence ................................................................................................... 109
Table 9.7: Percent distribution of population of adolescents 12-14 years by ownership of
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mobile phones, region and rural-urban residence ............................................................. 110
Table 9.8: Percent distribution of population of adolescents 15-19 years by ownership of
mobile phones, region and rural-urban residence ........................................................... 111
Table 9.9: Percent distribution of population of youth 20-24 years by ownership of
mobile phones, region and rural-urban residence ........................................................... 111
Table 9.10: Percent distribution of population of youth 25-35 years by ownership of mobile
phones, region and rural-urban residence ....................................................................... 112
Table 10.1: Age-sex base year population distribution of Ghana, 2010 ............................................ 116
Table 10.2: Base year (2010) population and projected age-sex population distribution of
children, adolescents and youth for 2015 and 2020 ........................................................ 117
Table 10.3a: Projected population distribution of Ghana by age and sex, 2015 (High Variant) ........ 118
Table 10.3b: Projected population distribution of Ghana by age and sex, 2020 (High Variant) ........ 118
Table 10.4a: Projected population distribution of Ghana by age and sex, 2015
(Medium Variant) .......................................................................................................... 119
Table 10.4b: Projected population distribution of Ghana by age and sex, 2020
(Medium Variant) .......................................................................................................... 119
Table 10.5a: Projected population distribution of Ghana by age and sex, 2015 (Low Variant) ......... 120
Table 10.5b: Projected population distribution of Ghana by age and sex, 2020 (Low Variant)......... 120
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3.1: Percent of young persons by age group and type of dwelling.............................. 18
Figure 3.2: Percent distribution of children aged 0-9 years by type of dwelling and region .. 19
Figure 3.3: Percent distribution of children aged 10-14 years by type of dwelling and
region ................................................................................................................... 20
region ................................................................................................................... 21
region ................................................................................................................... 22
region ................................................................................................................... 22
Figure 3.6: Percent distribution of young persons by age group and main construction
material for outer wall of household structure ...................................................... 26
Figure 3.7: Percent distribution of young persons by age group and main roofing material
for household structure ........................................................................................ 27
Figure 3.8: Percent distribution of young persons by age group andmain floor construction
material for household structure .......................................................................... 28
Figure 3.9: Percent distribution of young persons by age group and main source of
drinking water ...................................................................................................... 30
Figure 3.10: Percent of young persons by age group and cooking space for household ......... 32
Figure 3.11: Percent of young persons by age group and method of rubbish disposal for
household ............................................................................................................ 35
Figure 3.12: Percent of young persons by age group and method of liquid waste disposal
for household ....................................................................................................... 36
Figure 5.1: Trend in Total Fertility Rate in Ghana, 1988-2008 .............................................. 62
Figure 5.2: Percent contribution to fertility by adolescents and youth in Ghana, 1988-2008 63
Figure 5.3a: Percent of adolescents and youth in Ghana having sex at exact ages, 1998 ....... 64
Figure 5.3b: Percent of adolescents and youth in Ghana having sex at exact ages, 2008 ....... 64
Figure 5.4a: Percent of adolescents and youth by age at first birth, 1988 ............................... 65
Figure 5.4b: Percent of adolescents and youth by age at first birth, 1998 ............................... 65
Figure 5.4c: Percent of adolescents and youth by age at first birth, 2008 ............................... 66
Figure 6.1: Trend in Infant Mortality Rate, 1988-2011 .......................................................... 72
Figure 6.2: Infant Mortality by Locality ................................................................................. 73
Figure 6.3: Infant mortality by region, 1988-2011 ................................................................. 73
Figure 6.4: Child mortality rate, 1988-2011 ........................................................................... 74
Figure 6.5: Child mortality rate by locality, 1988-2011 ......................................................... 75
Figure 6.6: Child mortality rate by region, 1988-2011 ........................................................... 75
Figure 6.7: Under-five mortality rate, 1988-2011 .................................................................. 76
Figure 6.8: Under-five mortality rate by locality, 1988-2011 ................................................ 77
Figure 6.9: Under-five mortality rate by region, 1988-2011 .................................................. 78
viii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ix
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background Information

Ghana’s population growth rate of 2.4% and 2.5% respectively for the period 1984-2000 and
2000-2010 shows that the country’s population is growing rapidly. This rapid growth has
implications for the development of the country.
The rapid growth of Ghana’s population has resulted in a youthful population, with two in
every five people in the country being less than 15 years. This is reflected in all the national
censuses conducted in the country after independence. The size of the population less than 15
years, has, however, been declining with time. For example, in 1984, 45% of the country’s
population was reported to be less than 15 years. This reduced to 41.2% and 38.3%
respectively in the 2000 and 2010 Population and Housing Censuses (See Population Census
reports of Ghana, 1984, 2000 and 2010). In terms of the population less than 10 years, it
made up almost 33% of the population in 1984 but reduced to 29.3% and 26.5% in 2000 and
2010 respectively. Similarly, the proportion of the population up to 35 years has equally been
high and has represented more than two-thirds of the total population of Ghana recorded in
each of the censuses: 69% in 1984, 75.9% in 2000 and 75.3% in 2010.
The large size of the population of children below 10 years is indicative of a high dependency
ratio in the country. This is especially so when a majority of the adolescent population is
either in school or unemployed. This has implications for resource accumulation and
investment at the individual and household level, a situation that could largely affect poverty
reduction efforts of the country.
Quite clearly, children, adolescents and youth in Ghana constitute a huge proportion of the
population and are exposed to a number of physical, social and reproductive health risks and
challenges. Against this backdrop, this analysis provides answers to some fundamental
questions, including how we classify children, adolescents and youth in the country, the
varying challenges they face and the relevant policy and programme-specific interventions
that could address these challenges.
At the outset, however, it has to be pointed out that for the purposes of this analysis, there are
definitional overlaps regarding where childhood ends and when adolescents begins and again
at what point youthfulness commences after adolescence. For policy purposes, therefore,
there is the need to understand how the three groups are classified in order to address each
one with different interventions as their needs may vary depending on their age differences.
1
1.2 Rationale and Objectives
The needs of children are quite different from those of adolescents which also vary from the
interests of the youth although there may be overlaps. This large segment of the population
made up of children, adolescents and youth is very important in the social, economic and
political decision-making in Ghana today. This stems from the fact that considering their
large size and their diverse nature, major decisions cannot but take account of their interests
or risk reducing the relevance of the decisions.
Spatially, however, the children and youth population is not uniform and varies by region as
well as rural/urban locality of residence. The need to analyse them by their specific
characteristics in the context of the 2010 Population and Housing Census cannot be
underestimated as the dynamics of the population change. Further to this, young people
including children have been actively involved in internal and international migration flows
both within and outside the country. It is important, therefore, to analyse the children,
adolescents and youth of the country in terms of their characteristics, pointing out what
constitutes the challenges they face and the implications for policy action taking into
consideration their geographical and gender differences. Areas of critical interest in this
analysis include the demographic, economic and social characteristics of children,
adolescents and youth, the component often referred to as the future of the population.
Children below 10 years and young persons between 10 and 24 years everywhere are
confronted with a number of challenges which call for urgent policy attention. These
challenges are not different in Ghana. For example, there are challenges of infant and child
mortality due often to high rates of reproduction, access to food and nutrition, descent shelter,
education, health, employment and enjoyment of their fundamental human rights. These
challenges should be adequately analysed and their implications for the growth and
development of the Ghanaian young people presented to guide policy interventions.
Children, adolescents and youth are quite diverse by age and spatial distribution and,
therefore, there cannot be one uniform set of policies or programmes that can sufficiently
address the challenges they face. This calls for a critical analysis of their variation by gender
and geographical location in the country.
An analysis of these three groups is relevant as it attempts to bring out a clearer distinction
among them for policy intervention purposes. This is because the analysis presents a vivid
description of each group not only by age but by spatial location in the country. Again,
considering the obvious overlaps, the analysis would enable us understand how institutions,
agencies and departments involved in addressing issues pertaining to the three groups of
young people could coordinate their efforts to complement each other while avoiding
unnecessary duplication and waste of scarce resources.
Furthermore, the three groups are confronted with diverse challenges and problems and
where they are similar, they are of different magnitudes which are not always well
2
appreciated and understood in order to consider them for policy and programme
interventions. In addition, the classification of the three groups and analysis of their
associated characteristics and challenges would enable us segment national sensitization and
advocacy programmes to make them target-specific to each group in order to achieve
expected results.
Government is embarking on several policy initiatives that affect different segments of the
population particularly young people differently. The implementation of these policy
initiatives such as the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), and those in
educational and health sectors would require evidence-based analysis and information to
ensure effectiveness. This means that the distribution of the three groups of young people in
the country by age and sex, region and type of locality as well as education, marital status and
economic activity would be of critical importance.
Against this backdrop, the analysis has the overall objective of presenting a comprehensive
socio-demographic and economic description of children, adolescents and youth in the
country, pointing out their critical needs and their geographical spread in order to recommend
appropriate policy interventions. Under this general objective, the analysis specifically seeks
to:
(i) classify children, adolescents and youth in the country and differentiate them
based on their respective challenges;
(ii) examine the composition of the three groups of the population in relation to the
total population and highlight implications for the socio-economic development of
the country;
(iii) assess the variation of the three groups with respect to their demographic, social
and economic characteristics in the country;
(iv) study the extent to which the social set-up in the Ghanaian society affects the
development of children, adolescents and youth in Ghana;
(v) examine the gaps that exist in the legal framework in relation to the growth and
development of children, adolescents and youth in the country;
(vi) present policy recommendations to address the implications of the situation of
children, adolescents and youth in Ghana.
1.3 Definition of Concepts of Children, Adolescents and Youth

There are overlaps in the definition and classification of the three target groups: children,
adolescents and youth. According to the 1992 Constitution of Ghana (Republic of Ghana,
1992), a child is any person below the age of 18 years i.e., the age of majority at which one is
entitled to vote in national and local elections. The term child or children based on the 1992
Constitution of Ghana, therefore, refers to individuals from birth to the age of 17 years which
is consistent with international definition in most democracies worldwide. By the time they
are 18 years, young persons are expected to have developed sufficient intellectual, emotional
3
and physical skills and resources to fend for themselves and to make a successful transition
into adulthood. Until then they require care from adults, support, guidance and protection.
Demographically, the population is often classified into children, working population and the
elderly or older persons in order to compute age dependency ratios. In this context, persons
less than 15 years are classified as children and as such are dependent on the working age
population 15-64 years. On the other hand, the term “adolescent” is often used synonymously
with “teenager” that ranges from 13 to 19 years. In the demographic and health surveys, data
are collected on persons 15-49 years with respect to fertility where the 15-19 year-olds are
taken as representing the adolescents because persons below the age of 15 years are not
surveyed.
From this presentation, and as earlier pointed out, there may not be a neat line drawn as to
where the classification of children by age ends and that for adolescents begins. At the same
time, the period of transition from childhood into adulthood may not necessarily depend on a
person’s age.
The definition of youth varies from country to country. Generally, the period between
childhood and adulthood is called either adolescence or “Youth”. During this period a person
prepares himself/herself to be an active and full responsible member of the society. It is also
the period of transformation from family-dependent childhood to independent adulthood and
integration into the society as a “responsible” citizen.
The United Nations defines the youth to encompass all persons 15-24 years. This appears to
be a universal definition. However, due to differences in national policies, this may vary. In
Ghana, the National Youth Policy classifies all persons 15-35 years to constitute the youth of
the country (Republic of Ghana, 2010). This means, the youth overlap adolescents and
children between 15 and 19 years and beyond the 24 year-old cut-off used by the United
Nations.
In the light of this foregoing overlap of the groups, and in an attempt to conform to national
policy, the analysis in this monograph operationally classifies all persons less than 10 years
as children while those aged 10-19 years are defined to constitute the adolescent population.
On the other hand, the population considered as youth is classified at two levels: first, 15-24
years, to conform to the international definition and second, 15-35 years, in accordance with
the National Youth Policy definition. In the analysis, however, the age categorization is 0-9
years for children; 10-14 and 15-19 years for adolescents and 20-24 and 25-35 years for
youth. It should be noted further that this categorization does not overlook the obvious
overlap of the 15-19 year-group between the adolescents and youth.
4
CHAPTER TWO
POPULATION SIZE, AGE-SEX AND HOUSEHOLD
STRUCTURE
2.1 Introduction
The spatial distribution of Ghana’s population has since independence been uneven as a
result of differences in reproduction, mortality and migration flows. With respect to the
population of young people, migration plays a major role determining where their
concentration may be due to migration selectivity which usually affects young people more
than the aged. This Chapter presents distribution of children, adolescents and youth in Ghana
by age and sex as well as by region and type of locality. It also examines the household
structure, and household headship and relationship of young people to the head of household.
2.2 Population Size and Age-Sex Composition

As earlier pointed out, Ghana’s population has remained youthful and this is reflected in all
the national censuses conducted in the country since independence. Table 2.1 presents the
distribution of the population of children, adolescents and youth in Ghana as reported in the
2010 Population and Housing Census.
Table 2.1: Population distribution of young persons by age-sex and locality as percent
of total national population
Age group All Localities Urban Rural
Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female
0-4 13.8 14.4 13.2 12.3 13.0 11.6 15.4 15.8 15.0
5-9 12.7 13.2 12.2 11.1 11.6 10.6 14.4 14.9 13.9
10-14 11.8 12.3 11.4 11.1 11.2 11.0 12.6 13.4 11.8
15-19 10.6 10.9 10.3 10.9 10.8 10.9 10.3 11.0 9.6
20-24 9.4 9.2 9.7 10.8 10.7 10.9 8.0 7.6 8.3
25-35 13.8 14.4 13.2 12.3 13.0 11.6 15.4 15.8 15.0
Total % 75.3 76.2 74.5 75.1 75.9 74.4 75.5 76.5 74.6
Total Ghana 24,658,823 12,024,845 12,633,978 12,545,229 6,016,059 6,529,170 12,113,594 6,008,786 6,104,808
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census
Children: A little more than one person in four (26.5%) in Ghana was a child less than 10
years. This shows how young Ghana’s population is, despite the declining fertility the
country has seen in recent years. Comparing them by sex and locality, it is clear from Table
2.1 that the proportion of the male population classified as children is higher than that for
females in urban areas (i.e., 24.6% versus 22.2%). In the rural areas, a reverse is the case
where 31.7% and 38.9% were reported respectively for males and females. This further
shows that the proportion of the population classified as children in the rural areas is by far
higher than in the urban areas either for the male or female children. This is obviously a
reflection of a higher rural than urban fertility in Ghana recorded over the years.
5
Adolescents: A little less than a quarter of all persons in Ghana in 2010 were adolescents
aged 10-19 years. This is made up of about 12% and 11% respectively of the 10-14 and 15-19
year olds and is a further confirmation of how young the Ghanaian population is. It is also
noted that the proportion of the male population classified as adolescents is higher than that
for females. The urban-rural variation shows that in the rural areas, 24.4% of the male
population was represented by adolescents aged 10-19 years compared to 21.4% of the
females. This compares with almost 22% of the urban population being classified as
adolescents either among the males or females.
Youth: Almost one out of every four people in Ghana was reported to be aged 20-35 years.
However, persons 15-35 years, who form the youth according to the National Youth Policy,
constitute about a third of the population of Ghana. There is some variation between the
youth aged 20-24 and 25-35 years irrespective of type of place of residence. For example,
from Table 2.1, the proportion of the population classified as male youth aged 20-24 years is
slightly lower compared to their female counterparts either in the urban or rural area. The
reverse is the case with respect to the youth 25-35 years where the proportion of the
population classified as male youth is higher compared to the female group.
The distribution of the population of young persons in Ghana by urban-rural residence
classified by sex ratio is presented in Table 2.2.
Children: Table 2.2 shows that a higher proportion of the children’s population in Ghana is
made up of males relative to females, the sex ratio being 103.5 and 103.3 among the 0-4 and
5-9 years respectively. Similar results are shown for the urban and rural areas. The difference,
however, is that in the urban areas, there is a higher sex ratio for the children aged 0-4 years
compared to their counterparts aged 5-9 years. The reverse, however, is the case in the rural
areas where the sex ratio is higher among the 5-9 year group than those aged 0-4 years. This
is, however, contrary to expectation since on account of the higher sex ratio at birth, one
expects to have a higher sex ratio among very young children compared to older children.
This could be the result of errors in age reporting in the rural areas where the level of literacy
is far lower than in the urban areas.
Adolescents: Table 2.2 shows that just like the children, a higher proportion of adolescents in
Ghana was made up of males. This translated into a sex ratio of 102.7 and 100.9 respectively
for the 10-14 and 15-19 adolescent groups. However, in the urban areas, females out-number
males but in the rural areas, the reverse is the case where high sex ratios of 111.7 and 112.4
were recorded among the adolescents aged 10-14 and 15-19 years respectively compared to
93.7 and 91.5 in the urban areas. It may appear, therefore, that there is higher migration of
females from the rural areas to the urban areas.
6
Table 2.2: Sex Ratio and Percent distribution of population of young persons
by age-sex and locality
Age All localities Urban Rural
group Total Percent Sex Total Percent Sex Total Percent Sex
population M F ratio population M F ratio population M F ratio
0-4 3,405,406 50.9 49.1 103.5 1,541,391 50.8 49.2 103.2 1,864,015 50.9 49.1 103.7
5-9 3,128,952 50.8 49.2 103.3 1,389,660 50.2 49.8 100.6 1,739,292 51.3 48.7 105.4
10-14 2,916,040 50.7 49.3 102.7 1,391,229 48.4 51.6 93.7 1,524,811 52.8 47.2 111.7
15-19 2,609,989 50.2 49.8 100.9 1,364,124 47.8 52.2 91.5 1,245,865 52.9 47.1 112.4
20-24 2,323,491 47.4 52.6 90.0 1,356,838 47.3 52.7 89.8 966,653 47.4 52.6 90.3
25-35 4,189,947 46.6 53.4 87.2 2,380,388 47.0 53.0 88.9 1,809,559 46.0 54.0 85.1
Youth: The distribution of the population of youth by rural and urban residence shows that
unlike the children and adolescents, a higher proportion of the youth aged 20-24 and 25-35
years was represented by females. The same situation is true for the urban or rural areas with
sex ratios relatively lower in the urban than rural areas in the country. This could be a
reflection of the general population in the country where females out-number males.
2.3 Spatial Distribution: Geo-political Regions

The analysis is presented to compare the results by region of residence as a way to bring out
the regional variations in the proportion of the population that is made up of children,
adolescents and youth in Ghana. Separate tables are used to discuss each category under
study.
Children: The population of children less than 10 years presented in Table 2.3a shows that a
substantial proportion of each region was classified as children in 2010. It ranges from a low
of 21.6% in Greater Accra to almost a third in Northern Region. The Upper East and Upper
West regions also recorded 28.5% and 28.4% respectively of their population to be children.
These results are a reflection of the variation in fertility in Ghana where Greater Accra
consistently has recorded the lowest fertility in the country while the Northern, Upper East
and Upper West regions have also recorded the highest fertility in all the demographic and
health surveys so far conducted in the country. The results also indicate that children in each
region were dominated by males compared to the females. High sex ratios were, therefore,
recorded in all the regions with the exception of Brong Ahafo where the sex ratio for children
was 99.4. Usually, high sex ratios are expected at very young ages due to the high sex ratio at
birth. It is, therefore, quite difficult to explain the situation in the Brong Ahafo Region
except to speculate the possibility of the region receiving more female child migrants from
the three regions in the north.
7
Table 2.3a: Distribution of Population of Children 0-9 years by region and sex
Region Total Population <10 years % of Population <10 % of Sex
Population of years population Ratio
Region Male Female Male Female <10 years of
total
Population
Western 2,376,921 325,361 314,020 50.9 49.1 26.8 103.6
Central 2,201,863 302,291 293,994 50.7 49.3 27.0 102.8
Greater Accra 4,010,054 436,790 430,560 50.4 49.6 21.6 101.4
Volta 2,118,252 285,381 278,107 50.6 49.4 26.6 102.6
Eastern 2,633,154 351,313 336,177 51.1 48.9 26.1 104.5
Ashanti 4,780,380 623,122 603,629 50.8 49.2 25.6 103.2
Brong Ahafo 2,310,983 310,415 312,281 49.9 50.1 26.9 99.4
Northern 2,479,461 415,197 401,421 50.8 49.2 32.9 103.4
Upper East 1,046,545 152,810 144,745 51.4 48.6 28.4 105.6
Upper West 702,110 102,780 98,005 51.2 48.8 28.5 104.9
Adolescents: The distribution of the population of adolescents 10-14 and 15-19 years is
presented in Tables 2.3b and c. The results indicate that the proportion of adolescents aged
10-14 years is lowest in Greater Accra Region while the highest were recorded in both Upper
East and Upper West regions. The other regions reported similar proportions of their
population being young adolescents aged 10-14 years. Information presented in Table 2.3b
indicates that once again Greater Accra reported the smallest proportion (9.7%) of their
population recorded as adolescents aged 15-19 years. The other regions each recorded
between 10% and 11% of their population to be 15-19 years with Upper East, Upper West
and Central regions recording the highest proportion of around 11%.
In terms of the classification by gender, it is observed from Table 2.3b that males out-number
females in all the regions except in Greater Accra and Ashanti regions where the reverse is
the case among adolescents 10-14 years. Similarly, the population of adolescents aged 15-19
years has more males than females in each region apart from three regions namely Volta,
Greater Accra and Brong Ahafo regions where the male proportions fell below 50% in each
case. This is reflected in the sex ratios presented for each region for the two adolescent age
groups 10-14 and 15-19 years. Differences in fertility and migration flows among young
persons and fertility in the regions could account for these gender variations cross the
regions.
8
Table 2.3b: Distribution of Adolescent Population 10-14 years by region and sex
Region Total Population 10-14 % of Population % of Sex
Population of years 10-14 years population Ratio
Region Male Female Male Female 10-14 years
of total
Population
Western 2,376,021 145,176 141,957 50.6 49.4 12.1 102.3
Central 2,201,863 139,658 135,891 50.7 49.3 12.5 102.8
Greater Accra 4,010,054 183,246 203,036 47.4 52.6 9.6 90.3
Volta 2,118,252 128,578 120,759 51.6 48.4 11.8 106.5
Eastern 2,633,154 167,665 155,899 51.8 48.2 12.3 107.5
Ashanti 4,780,380 287,944 289,223 49.9 50.1 12.1 99.6
Brong Ahafo 2,310,983 150,551 143,485 51.2 48.8 12.7 104.9
Northern 2,479,461 154,824 139,171 52.7 47.3 11.9 111.2
Upper East 1,046,545 71,453 65,611 52.1 47.9 13.1 108.9
Upper West 702,110 48,430 43,483 52.7 47.3 13.1 111.4
Table 2.3c: Distribution of youth population 15-19 years by region and sex
Region Total Population 15-19 years % of Population % of Sex
Population 15-19 years population Ratio
of Region Male Female Male Female 14-19 years
of total
Population
Western 2,376,021 1,311,112 1,298,877 50.2 49.8 10.6 103.2
Central 2,201,863 127,632 123,672 50.8 49.2 11.1 95.3
Greater Accra 4,010,054 119,095 124,925 48.8 51.2 9.7 86.5
Volta 2,118,252 180,173 208,230 46.4 53.6 10.5 108.3
Eastern 2,633,154 115,697 106,856 52.0 48.0 10.6 106.6
Ashanti 4,780,380 144,066 135,168 51.6 48.4 10.8 96.7
Brong Ahafo 2,310,983 253,131 261,672 49.2 50.8 11.0 107.1
Northern 2,479,461 131,054 122,395 51.7 48.3 10.6 112.9
Upper East 1,046,545 138,919 123,016 53.0 47.0 11.1 108.4
Upper West 702,110 60,310 55,642 52.0 48.0 11.2 110.0
Youth: Among the population classified as youth, Tables 2.3d and e show that with respect
to the population 20-24 years, all the regions recorded less than 10% of their population in
this group except the Greater Accra Region which recorded 11.4% of the region’s population
to be aged 20-24 years (Table 2.3d). A higher rate of migration of the youth into the Greater
Accra Region compared with the other regions could account for this situation. It is also
interesting to note that the population of the youth 20-24 years is skewed in favour of females
in each of the regions, thus translating in sex ratios below 100 in all regions. Table 2.3e also
shows a wide variation among the regions with respect to the youth aged 25-35 years. The
proportion of this population ranges from a low of 13.9% in Upper East Region to a high of
21.6% in Greater Accra Region. Once again, differences in inter-regional migration flows
where Greater Accra happens to receive the highest number of migrant population from the
9
other regions may account from these variations. At the same time, the females are more than
the males in each region, thus recording a low sex ratio in each region. This could possibly be
the result of a combination of internal and international out-migration which could be higher
for the male youth in each region.
Table 2.3d: Distribution of youth population 20-24 years by region and sex
Population of years 20-24 years population Ratio
Region Male Female Male Female 20-24 years
of total
Population
Western 2,376,021 1,100,727 1,222,764 48.2 51.8 9.6 93.0
Central 2,201,863 110,460 118,795 47.1 52.9 8.9 89.0
Greater Accra 4,010,054 92,178 103,551 47.1 52.9 11.4 89.1
Volta 2,118,252 215,803 242,272 48.0 52.0 8.5 92.1
Eastern 2,633,154 86,049 93,400 47.2 52.8 8.4 89.3
Ashanti 4,780,380 104,571 117,053 46.9 53.1 9.9 88.3
Brong Ahafo 2,310,983 222,112 251,410 47.7 52.3 9.2 91.3
Northern 2,479,461 102,007 111,687 46.7 53.3 8.5 87.5
Upper East 1,046,545 98,318 112,364 48.7 51.3 7.9 95.1
Upper West 702,110 40,214 42,298 49.2 50.8 8.4 96.9
Table 2.3e: Distribution of youth population 25-35 years by region and sex
Population years 25-35 years population Ratio
of Region Male Female Male Female 25-35 years
of total
Population
Western 2,376,021 196,541 210,558 48.3 51.7 17.1 93.3
Central 2,201,863 151,050 181,127 45.5 54.5 15.1 83.4
Greater Accra 4,010,054 423,285 453,636 48.3 51.7 21.9 93.3
Volta 2,118,252 144,255 174,291 45.3 54.7 15.0 82.8
Eastern 2,633,154 186,584 212,764 46.7 53.3 15.2 87.7
Ashanti 4,780,380 388,813 444,654 46.7 53.3 17.4 87.4
Brong Ahafo 2,310,983 174,796 198,733 46.8 53.2 16.2 88.0
Northern 2,479,461 176,635 224,692 44.0 56.0 16.2 78.6
Upper East 1,046,545 64,848 80,819 44.5 55.5 13.9 80.2
Upper West 702,110 45,062 56,804 44.2 55.8 14.5 79.3
2.4 Living Arrangements

Analysis of young persons based on their living arrangements includes their relationship to
the head of household and by extension, household headship. This examines the young
people regarding their status particularly as heads of household or as a spouse or partner to
the head of household. Table 2.4 shows the distribution of young persons aged 0-35 years in
Ghana by relationship to head of household, sex and type of locality.
10
Table 2.4: Distribution of population aged 0-35 years by relationship to head of
household, sex and type of locality
Relationship to Head Total Urban Rural
of Household Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female
Head 10.5 14.3 6.8 12.7 16.7 8.9 8.3 12.0 4.5
Spouse (wife/husband) 6.8 0.7 12.7 6.6 0.9 12.0 7.0 0.6 13.5
Child (son/daughter) 53.4 55.7 51.2 49.2 50.7 47.8 57.7 60.7 54.7
Son/Daughter in-law 0.7 0.3 1.1 0.5 0.3 0.8 0.9 0.3 1.5
Grandchild 10.6 10.7 10.5 10.0 10.1 9.9 11.2 11.3 11.1
Brother/Sister 4.3 5.0 3.6 4.9 5.6 4.4 3.7 4.5 2.9
Step child 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.2 1.2 1.1
Adopted/Foster child 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5
Other relative 7.6 6.9 8.3 8.5 7.9 9.0 6.8 5.9 7.7
Non-relative 2.0 2.1 1.9 2.7 2.8 2.7 1.2 1.5 1.0
Group
quarters/Outdoor 2.5 2.7 2.3 3.4 3.7 3.0 1.6 1.6 1.5
sleeper
All relationships 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
At the national level, the analysis of Table 2.4 shows that more than half of the young
persons in Ghana were living with their parents as sons or daughters, the proportion being
higher among the males than females. Also, in the urban areas, the females that were
daughters to the heads of household were less than 50%, a situation which could be due to
earlier age at marriage for females than males. In line with this explanation, a much higher
proportion of the females than the males were recorded as being a spouse or partner to the
head of household. Here, the variation is even higher between the males and females whether
in the rural or urban localities. It is also important to note that overall, about one in 10 of the
households was headed by a young person not more than 35 years old with a higher
proportion recorded among the males than the females. This is to be expected because in
Ghana, the likelihood of a head of household being a male is higher than being a female. This
is because, traditionally, males are often recognized as heads of families and, by extension,
households. Furthermore, one in 10 young persons is staying with their grandparents.
It is also noteworthy to point out that about three percent of the young persons were in group
quarters or spent the night in the open, suggesting that they did not belong to any specific
households in a housing facility. As expected, the proportion of people classified as such was
higher in urban than rural areas. It is not uncommon to find some young persons who live
their lives entirely on the street in some of the cities and large towns in the country, a
phenomenon that has negative implications for the health of the young people involved.
Children: In Table 2.5, children less than 10 years are examined in terms of their
relationship to the head of household, comparing them by urban-rural place of residence. As
expected, the results indicate that more than two in three of children in Ghana were reported
as sons/daughters of their heads of household. Not much variation exists between the urban
and rural areas. About 18% of the children were also recorded as grandchildren of the
11
household head in both urban and rural areas and about six percent of them were classified as
other relative, the proportion being slightly higher in the urban than rural areas in the country.
As expected, none of the children was a head of household and none of them was also
married on account of the young ages.
Table 2.5: Percent distribution of population of children aged 0-9 years
by relationship to head of household, sex and type of locality
Relationship Total Urban Rural
Head 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Spouse
(wife/husband) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Child (son/daughter) 70.7 71.1 70.3 69.6 70.1 69.1 71.6 71.9 71.2
Son/Daughter in-law 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Grandchild 17.7 17.6 17.9 17.6 17.5 17.8 17.8 17.7 18.0
Brother/Sister 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.2
Step child 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.4 1.4 1.4
Adopted/Foster child 0.5 0.4 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.6
Other relative 6.4 6.2 6.7 7.3 7.0 7.6 5.7 5.5 5.9
Non-relative 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.8 0.7 0.9 0.4 0.4 0.5
Group
quarters/Outdoor
sleeper 1.5 1.6 1.4 1.8 1.9 1.7 1.3 1.3 1.2
All relationships 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
A further analysis of relationship of young persons to heads of household is presented in

Table 2.6 with particular reference to the person being either the head of household or spouse
of the head of household. The purpose is to examine the extent to which young persons are in
charge of households and how early marriages take place among young people in the country.
The analysis is limited to persons aged 15-35 years. This is because none of the adolescents
below age 15 years was recorded to be either a head of household or spouse to the head of
household.
Table 2.6: Percent Distribution of population of young persons by relationship
to head of household, sex and type of locality
Relationship Total Urban Rural
15-19
Head 3.3 3.8 2.9 3.8 4.4 3.4 2.8 3.2 2.3
20-24
Head 14.6 18.7 10.9 16.0 19.6 12.8 12.6 17.4 8.2
25-35
Head 36.4 54.1 20.9 38.8 54.3 25.1 33.2 54.0 15.4
12
Adolescents: Table 2.6 indicates that quite negligible proportions of adolescents aged 15-19
years were heads of household. Overall, less than 3% of this group of adolescents was
recorded as head of household with a variation by sex and urban-rural place of residence. As
expected, relatively higher proportion of the males was head of household compared to their
female counterparts in either the urban or rural areas. A comparison of the urban and rural
areas, however, shows that adolescents aged 15-19 years are more likely to be heads of
household in urban than in rural areas in Ghana for either males or females. These
adolescents are most likely single persons who constitute single-person households in the
cities and towns.
Youth: Analysis of the youth groups indicates much higher proportions recorded as heads of
household and as spouses of the head of household. From Table 2.6, a higher proportion of
the males than females were heads of their households in either the urban or rural areas. For
example, overall, we have about 19% of the youth aged 20-24 years as heads of household:
about 20% of the urban male dwellers verses 13% among the females. In the rural areas, 17%
of the males compared to 8% of the females were heads of household. Similarly, among the
youth aged 25-35 years, we have 54% of the males in urban areas as heads of household
compared to 25% of the females and in the rural areas, the same proportion of males was
reported to be heads of household compared to 15% of their female counterparts. It has to be
noted also that a higher proportion of female youth are more likely to be heads of household
in urban than rural areas perhaps due to their migration status in the urban areas where they
may form single-member households. This situation could also arise upon the out-migration
or death of husbands resulting in their widows or spouses left behind becoming heads of
household in the urban areas.
With respect to spouses of heads of household, the results suggest higher proportions of the
female youth being reported as such compared to the males. This is true for either the urban
or rural areas in the country as reflected in Table 2.6 where the proportion of females that
reported to be spouses to the head of household was far higher in the rural areas than in the
urban areas. This is to be expected because women especially in rural areas tend to marry
earlier than males and are, therefore, more likely than their male counterparts to be spouses to
their respective heads of household.
Table 2.7 presents the results of the analysis of whether young persons are heads of
household or spouses to the head of household by region.
Adolescents: The data indicate that a very small proportion of the adolescent population aged
15-19 years was recorded as heads of their individual households in all regions and it is
highest in Central Region where about four percent of these adolescents were heads of
household. The lowest proportion recorded as heads of household was in the Northern Region
with just about one percent as heads of household in the region among this group of
adolescents. Indeed, the other two regions in the north (Upper East and Upper West) also
recorded very low proportions as being heads of their households. Adherence to tradition
13
could explain these very negligible proportions being heads of household in the three
northern regions in the country. The traditional compound house living arrangements makes
it possible for several adolescents to refer to their father as the head of household although
they may be married and have separate house-keeping arrangements within their father’s
compound houses.
In terms of being a spouse of the head of household, the proportions are still low, in most
cases below two percent, suggesting that an insignificant proportion of the adolescent
population in all the regions is married. Further analysis of marital status among the
adolescents in Chapter Five is consistent with the observations made here. Similar but much
lower proportions of the adolescents aged 15-19 years are also recorded to be spouses of the
heads of household in all the regions.
Table 2.7: Percent distribution of population by relationship to head of household,

age and region
Relationship
with head of Greater Brong Upper Upper
household Total Western Central Accra Volta Eastern Ashanti Ahafo Northern East West
15-19
Head 3.3 3.7 4.1 3.9 3.3 3.7 3.7 3.6 1.3 1.6 1.9
Spouse
(wife/husband) 1.7 2.3 1.5 1.3 1.9 1.6 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.1 1.7
20-24
Head 14.6 16.8 17.0 15.7 14.6 16.5 16.3 14.2 5.5 8.4 9.5
Spouse
(wife/husband) 10.4 13.1 10.4 7.9 11.9 10.7 9.5 11.1 11.5 12.3 10.6
25-35
Head 36.4 40.0 41.1 38.7 36.4 38.9 39.9 36.4 19.9 27.0 25.7
Spouse
(wife/husband) 23.4 26.3 23.7 20.9 24.2 23.8 22.4 24.0 24.9 26.2 25.1
Youth: The results presented in Table 2.7 indicate that overall, about 15% of the youth aged
20-24 years were heads of household in Ghana with one in 10 of them being spouses to the
head of household. In terms of regional differences, we find that Central Regions reports the
highest proportion (17%) to be heads of household with the least proportion recorded in the
Northern Region (about 6%). On the other hand, the highest proportion of the youth aged 20-
24 years who were spouses of head of household was found in the Western Region (13%)
with Greater Accra recording the lowest (8%). The situation in the Greater Accra Region is to
be expected because as the most migrant-attraction region in Ghana, many of the youth in the
region may constitute single-person households looking for jobs. For these people, marriage
may be postponed until a later date, thereby making a high proportion of them not to be
married at the time of the census. This may explain why a very small proportion of the youth
was reported as spouses to their heads of household compared to the situation in the other
regions.
14
Turning to the youth aged 25-35 years, we find that more than a third of them were heads of
household compared to close to one in four of them being spouses to the heads of household.
So far, the Central (41%) and Western (40%) regions recorded the highest proportions of the
youth in this age category to be heads of household while the lowest was reported in the
Northern Region (20%). In the Northern Region, it could be related to the traditional
compound system of living arrangement where a married youth still staying in the compound
house of his father may still regard his father as the head of the household. This could affect
the proportion of persons like this as heads of household particularly for the males.
Furthermore, among the youth aged 25-35 years, the Western Region recorded the highest
proportion (23%) of their members to be spouses of their heads of household and the lowest
proportion (21%) was reported in the Greater Accra Region.
2.5 Summary and Conclusions

Children: The proportion of the population classified as children in the rural areas is by far
higher than in the urban areas either for the male or female. A higher proportion of the
children’s population in Ghana is made up of males relative to females. There are more male
children than females in the Ghanaian population. Also, there is a higher sex ratio for the
children aged 0-4 years compared to their counterparts aged 5-9 years. The reverse, however,
is the case in the rural areas where the sex ratio is higher among the 5-9 year group than those
aged 0-4 years.
The results also indicate that children in each region were dominated by males compared to
the females. High sex ratios were, therefore, recorded in all the regions with the exception of
Brong Ahafo where the sex ratio for children was the lowest. The results indicate that more
than two in three children in Ghana were reported as sons/daughters of their heads of
household and not much variation was found to exist between the urban and rural areas.
Adolescents: A little less than a quarter of all persons in Ghana as at the 2010 Population and
Housing census were adolescents aged 10-19 years, revealing the youthfulness of the
Ghanaian population. It is also noted that the proportion of the male population classified as
adolescents is higher than that for females, and it is higher in the rural areas than the urban.
This translates into a higher sex for the adolescent groups.
There appears to be higher migration of females from the rural areas to the urban areas. The
results indicate that the proportion of adolescents aged 10-14 years is lowest in Greater Accra
Region and highest in the Upper East and Upper West regions.
Males outnumber females in all the regions except in Greater Accra and Ashanti regions
where the reverse is the case among adolescents 10-14 years. Regional differences in fertility
in the general population and migration flows among young persons could account for the
gender variations across the regions. As expected, relatively higher proportion of the males
were heads of households compared to their female counterparts in either the urban or rural
areas and across all the regions in the country.
15
Youth: Almost one out of every four persons in Ghana was reported to be aged 20-35 years.
A higher proportion of the youth aged 20-24 and 25-35 years was represented by females.
The same situation is true for the urban and rural areas with sex ratios relatively lower in the
urban than rural areas. The proportion of the population classified as male youth aged 20-24
years is slightly lower compared to their female counterparts either in the urban or rural area.
The reverse is the case with respect to the youth 25-35 years where the proportion of the
population classified as male youth is higher compared to the female group. It is also
interesting to note that the population of the youth 20-24 years is skewed in favour of females
in each of the regions, thus translating into sex ratios below 100 in all regions.
16
CHAPTER THREE
HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS
3.1 Introduction
Housing is a basic need for every household. The 2010 PHC collected data from households
on different characteristics of their housing facilities. These include the type of dwelling
occupied by households, ownership and tenancy arrangement, materials used for the
construction of the structure that houses the household, main sources of lighting, drinking
water, bathing and toilet facility used by household and method of disposal of solid and liquid
waste. All these characteristics of the household have some effect on the health of the
household members especially children and largely depict the poverty situation of each
household. This is because the richer households are more likely to dwell in housing facilities
with access to better household facilities including potable drinking water, use improved
sources of lighting and toilet facilities as well as use modern methods of waste disposal
which measure up to sanitation standards.
3.2 Type of Dwelling

The type of dwelling young people in Ghana were found to be resident in do not vary too
significantly by the different age groups of interest in this analysis – children, adolescents and
youth. This may be due to the fact that all the three categories of young people in the country
live together in the same households. In spite of this, it is instructive to examine the situation
not only by the different age groups but also by region to see if at all there are variations.
Children: Children (0-9 years) in the country were recorded to be mainly resident in
compound houses with about 53% of all children reported to be in compound houses as is
shown in Figure 3.1. It is also to be noted that 29% of the children were resident in separate
houses and about 7% were recorded in semi-detached housing facilities. A similar result is
shown at the regional level with some interesting variations (Figure 3.2). From the results
presented, the proportion of children the census recorded from compound houses varied from
a low of about 42% in the Volta Region to a high of almost 68% in the Northern Region.
Compound house accommodation is generally more common in the three regions in the north
relative to the south.
It has to be pointed out that in the south, Greater Accra stands out in the proportion of
children reported to live in compound houses. This could be due to rapid urbanization where
accommodation in the cities tends to be more affordable in compound houses. This means
there is a lot of sharing among the households with respect to facilities in the compound
houses where these children live. While this could be positive in terms of the bigger space
that is open to children to learn from, it could breed friction and social cohesion challenges
such as in the sharing of water and electricity bills for services provided to the compound
house in the absence of separate metres for each household in the compound house.
17
In contrast, the smallest proportion of children aged 0-9 years found to be resident in a
separate house was in the Northern Region (14%) compared to the highest proportion of
about 45% of the children in the Volta Region. However, it is conspicuous from Figure 3.2
that more than one in 10 children was reported to live in a hut in both the Upper East and
Northern regions. Interestingly, only about 4% of their counterparts in the Upper West
Region were recorded to be resident in a hut, making this region quite different from the
other two northern regions in terms of the use of huts as a dwelling place for children. It
would be interesting to find out what accounts for this difference between the Northern and
Upper East regions on one hand and the Upper West Region on the other.
Figure 3.1: Percent of young persons by age group and type of dwelling
100.0
4.8 4.2 3.9 3.6 3.7
90.0
80.0
Other
70.0 completed house

52.8 52.2 53.0 53.7 53.6 Living quarters
60.0 Kiosk
Tent
50.0
Hut/different house
Huts/same compound
40.0
Compound house
6.6 7.0 7.1
30.0 7.3 7.2 Flat/Apartment
Semi-detached
20.0
Separte House
28.8 29.4 28.0 25.9 26.1
10.0
0.0
0-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
18
Figure 3.2: Percent distribution of children aged 0-9 years by type of dwelling
and region
100.0 3 2 4.1 3.9 2.9 6 4.1
90.0 1.4 12.1 Other
13.5
80.0 completed house
70.0 44.1 41.9
52 51.3 50.7 48.4 55.3 Living quarters
60.0 57.7
50.0 67.6 59.5 Kiosk
6.8
40.0 8.6 5.2 Tent
6.8 6.6
30.0 7.9 8.1
8 44.6 Hut/different house
20.0 38.0 34.3 36.4 3.2
33.5 27.1 3.4 28.9
10.0 18.7 Huts/same compound
14.3 16.5
0.0 Compound house
Flat/Apartment
Semi-detached
Adolescents: The distribution of the adolescents in the different dwellings does not show
much variation from the pattern shown by the children in Figure 3.1. There is also not much
variation between the young adolescents 10-14 and older adolescent 15-19 years as depicted
in Figure 3.1 by type of dwelling occupied by the adolescents. In terms of regional
comparison, Figures 3.3 and 3.4 reveal only small differences between the 10-14 and 15-19
adolescent age groups by region regarding the type of dwelling they were enumerated in.
Once again, compound houses are still more prominent as dwelling places for the adolescents
just like the children. For either age group, Volta Region stands out as recording the lowest
and highest proportion of adolescents dwelling in compound houses and in separate houses
respectively. The contrast to the Volta Region is the Northern Region which once again
recorded the highest proportion of adolescents in compound houses and the least proportion
in separate houses.
19
Figure 3.3: Percent distribution of children aged 10-14 years by type of
dwelling and region
100.0 2.6 1.8 3.6 3.4
1.4 2.5 5.0 11.3 3.6
90.0 13.4 Other
80.0
70.0 44.3 51.1 41.3 completed house
51.2 50.5 49.8 55.9
60.0 56.4 Living quarters
50.0 67.3 59.3
7.1
8.8 Kiosk
40.0 6.9 7.0 5.4
30.0 8.1 8.1 Tent
20.0 8.5 45.3
37.0 34.0 34.2 27.3 35.5 3.6 3.3 28.9 Hut/different house
10.0 20.2 15.1 16.5
0.0 Huts/same compound
Compound house
Flat/Apartment
The Greater Accra recorded the highest proportion of 3.2% and 4.5% respectively among
adolescents 10-14 (Figure 3.3) and 15-19 years (Figure 3.4). The region that is closest to
Greater Accra with respect to accommodation in kiosks is Ashanti but even in that region, the
proportion is still less than one percent (0.8% and 0.4% among the 10-14 and 15-19 year
groups). It is also to be noted that in all regions, the proportion of adolescents living in kiosks
was insignificant (less than one percent). Residence in huts is again showing almost the same
as was the case with children where the Northern and Upper East regions stand out more
prominently in both Figure 3.3 and 3.4. The results of the analysis further show that residence
in uncompleted houses is very low in all regions except in Greater Accra and Ashanti which
recorded almost 3% and 2% respectively for the 10-14 age group and about 2% in both
regions among adolescents 15-19 years.
20
dwelling and region
100.0
2.5 1.8 3.6 3.4 2.2 4.5 3.3
1.3 11
90.0
12.8
80.0 Other
45.8 42.9 completed house
70.0 52 51.2 50.8 51.4 57.1
54.6 Living quarters
60.0
Kiosk
68.5
50.0 60
7.1 Tent
40.0 8.8 Hut/different house
6.9 7.0 5.5
30.0 8.4 8.6 Huts/same compound
8.9
20.0 43.5 Compound house
34.7 32.4 34.2 34.1 3.6 3.4
25.7 27.4 Flat/Apartment
10.0 20.5 16.3
14.2 Semi-detached
0.0
Separte House
Youth: At the national level, the type of dwelling unit of the youth (15-19, 20-24 and 25-35
years) show only slight variations as shown in Figure 3.1. The comparison by region is
presented in Figures 3.5 and 3.6. The pattern of distribution as shown in the two figures is
similar and consistent with those of the children and adolescents. Compound houses are the
most common dwelling units with some variations across the regions, depicting socio-cultural
differences in housing construction or different degrees of economic status of the different
households. It must be pointed out that the proportion of persons reported to live in kiosks
was much higher in Greater Accra among these age groups (about 7% for the 20-24 and 5%
among the 25-35 age groups). It is followed by Ashanti Region but with a much smaller
proportion (2% and 1.5% respectively in the two age groups). These two regions are the most
urbanized in Ghana with Accra and Kumasi as the leading urban centres where
accommodation is a challenge for many unemployed or low-income earning groups who may
be forced to find accommodation in kiosks and uncompleted houses.
21
dwelling and region
100.0
2.6 1.8 3.5 3.2 4.4 3.3
2 11.3
90.0 1.1 12.1 Other
80.0
completed house
70.0 47.1 45.1
53.6 55 51.9 52.5 Living quarters
56.1
60.0 53.3
Kiosk
50.0 69 60.7
7.1 Tent
40.0
9 5.5 Hut/different house
7.3 6.8 9.4
30.0 8.3
8.7 Huts/same compound
20.0 41.4
32.7 29.6 30.1 32.8 3.6 3.9 Compound house
23.7 26.8
10.0 19.4
0.0
Semi-detached
Separte House

dwelling and region
100.0
2.7 1.7 3.5 3.2 5.0 3.6
2.3 11.4
90.0 1.1
12
80.0 Other
45.9 45.1 completed house

70.0 53.1 54.7 51 50.9 55.6 Living quarters
60.0 55.3
Kiosk
50.0 68.6 60.8
6.9 Tent
40.0 8.8 Hut/different house
5.4
7.3 6.8 8.4
30.0 8.3 Huts/same compound
8.7 41.5
20.0 Compound house
34.4 30.4 30.7 33.9 3.8
3.6 28.3
18.5
13.5 15.9
0.0 Semi-detached
Separte House
22
3.2 Type of Holding/Tenancy Arrangement and Ownership of Dwelling
Children: Analysis of tenancy arrangement and ownership reveals interesting results. As
shown in Table 3.1, close to two-thirds of all children aged 0-9 years were living in
households whose dwelling places were owned by a member of the household. Thirteen per
cent of them were in dwellings owned by a relative who was not a member of the household
and close to one in five of them lived in dwellings owned by other private individuals.
Adolescents: The pattern shown with respect to tenancy arrangement for the adolescents is
similar to that of children: 66% and 65% respectively among the 10-14 and 15-19 age groups
were living in dwelling places owned by a member of their households. Like the children,
13% of either the 10-14 or 15-19 year adolescents were resident in dwellings that were
owned by a relative who was not a member of the household and 17% and 18% respectively
were living in dwellings owned by other private individuals.
Youth: For the youth groups aged 20-24 and 25-35 years, a relatively smaller proportion
were living in houses owned by a member of the household: 58% and 55% respectively for
the 20-24 and 25-35 age groups. It is also observed from Table 3.1 that ownership of
household dwelling by other private individuals and a relative who is not a member of the
household are the other important categories. Compared to the children and adolescent
groups, a higher proportion (23% and almost 27% respectively) of the youth aged 20-24 and
25-35 years were living in dwellings that were owned by other private individuals. On the
other hand, no significant difference is found between the youth on one hand and children
and adolescents on the other, with respect to ownership of dwellings by a relative who was
not a member of the household.
It has to be noted, however, that the results in Table 3.1 appear to be quite inconsistent with
the earlier result that a high proportion of the three groups enumerated in the country in 2010
were resident in compound houses. This is because households located in compound houses
do not usually own the dwelling units but occupy them on tenancy arrangement basis. It will,
therefore, be quite contradictory to have a majority of each of the three groups reporting that
their household dwelling units were owned by a member of their households and at the same
time have more than 50% of the households to be located in compound houses as was
recorded in Figure 3.1. Data errors, therefore, could possibly account for the inconsistency
that has been observed.
23
Table 3.1: Percent of young persons by age group and ownership of dwelling
Age Ownership of dwelling
group Relative Other Total
Owned not a private Other Public/ % No.
by hh house individu Private private government
member Mortgage member al employer agency owned Other
0-9 63.6 0.7 13.3 19.2 1.2 0.3 1.4 0.3 100.0 6,436,281
10-14 66.0 0.7 12.6 17.3 1.1 0.3 1.8 0.3 100.0 2,860,976
15-19 65.2 0.7 12.7 17.6 1.2 0.3 2.0 0.4 100.0 2,527,298
20-24 58.4 0.8 13.3 23.0 1.6 0.4 2.2 0.4 100.0 2,208,351
25-35 54.9 0.8 13.1 26.6 1.6 0.4 2.1 0.4 100.0 4,078,544
In terms of present holding tenancy arrangement, the results are presented in Table 3.2 for
children, adolescents and youth.
Children: A higher proportion of the children were recorded to be resident in owner

occupied dwellings in Ghana. A little more than a quarter of them were in rented premises
while another 18% were in rent-free housing facilities. There were negligible numbers who
were reported to be either perching or squatting.
Adolescents: Compare to children, a slightly higher proportion of adolescents (62%) was

reported in dwellings identified as owner occupied. Not much difference is visible in Table
3.2 between the younger (10-14 years) and older adolescents (15-19 years). At the same time,
about 21% of the adolescent groups were resident in rented premises and about 16% recorded
in rent-free dwellings.
Youth: The proportion of the youth reported to be in owner occupied dwelling places was
much lower compared with their counterparts who were children or adolescents: about 54%
and 49% respectively were resident in dwellings that were owner occupied for the youth 20-
24 and 25-35 years. In contrast, higher proportions of the youth were reported to be in rented
housing facilities and in rent-free ones compared to the children and adolescents. The
difference may be due to the fact that after 19 years, a higher proportion of the youth
compared to adolescents may be working and may live independent of parents’ residence,
thereby increasing the numbers that find rented accommodation, unlike children and
adolescents who are more likely to be resident with their parents or other relations.
24
Table 3.2: Present of young persons by age group and type of
holding/tenancy arrangement
Age Type of Holding/tenancy Arrangement
group Owner Total
occupied Renting Rent-free Perching Squatting Others % No.
0-9 59.4 22.4 17.5 0.3 0.2 0.1 100.0 6,436,281
10-14 62.4 20.9 16.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 100.0 2,860,976
15-19 61.6 21.3 16.5 0.3 0.2 0.2 100.0 2,527,298
20-24 53.6 27.4 18.1 0.4 0.3 0.2 100.0 2,208,351
25-35 49.5 31.5 18.1 0.4 0.3 0.2 100.0 4,078,544
3.3 Main Construction Material for Household Structure

The material used in constructing the structure that houses each of the households in Ghana is
of interest in this section. The analysis is done to assess the differences in the quality of
material used for the construction of the housing structure of households within which
children, adolescents and youth were living. The results of the analysis are presented in
Figure 3.6.
Children: The results in Figure 3.6 indicate that the most commonly used material for the
construction of the housing facilities are cement block and mud brick/earth and these were
used for about 47% and 46% respectively of the dwelling units. The remaining 7% of the
houses were constructed using other materials including wood, bamboo and burnt bricks, etc.
Adolescents: A similar picture is presented among the adolescents just like the children.
About 43 percent of the adolescent group aged 10-14 and 39 percent of their counterparts 15-
19 years were in households whose housing facility was constructed with mud brick/earth.
Compared to the children, relatively higher proportions of the adolescents were recorded in
households with outer wall of their house constructed with cement block. Like the children,
the other materials used for the outer wall of facilities housing the adolescents were not
significant.
Youth: Again, a similar result is produced among the youth of the two different age groups
of 20-24 and 25-35 years. The difference is that as age increases, the proportion of household
dwellings constructed with mud bricks/earth reduces while the use of cement blocks
increases. This suggests that there is a higher likelihood that relatively younger persons are
more likely to live in households whose outer wall of the dwelling was constructed with mud
brick/earth compared to their older counterparts. In contrast, as age increases, there is a
higher likelihood that higher proportions of the population of young persons would be housed
in structures constructed with cement blocks. This may be due to the fact that the older ones
do so by choice while the reverse is the case for the younger ones particularly the children
who have no choice but have to make do with housing arrangements of their parents.
25
Figure 3.6: Percent distribution of young persons by age group and
main construction material for outer wall of household structure
100.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
90.0
Other
80.0
Palm leaf
46.9 50.3
70.0 52.9 57.0 57.1 Bamboo
60.0 Landcrete
50.0 0.6 Cement block

0.2
2.5 0.6
0.2
2.3 0.6
0.2 Burnt bricks
40.0 2.7 0.6
0.2 0.6
0.2
3.8 3.4 Stone
30.0
Metal sheet/slate
45.6 42.5
20.0 39.4
34.4 34.8 Wood
10.0 Mud brick/earth
0.0
0-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
Figure 3.7 shows the type of roofing materials used for the housing structures that
accommodated young persons in the country. Overall, metal sheet/slate and slate/asbestos are
the main roofing materials used by a majority of the different groups of young persons in the
country.
Children: About 70 percent of the children were enumerated in households with metal
sheet/slate roofing materials. This is followed by slate/asbestos that is used by almost one in
10 of the households the children belonged.
Adolescents: Figure 3.7 does not reveal too much variation between children and
adolescents. About the same proportion (72%) of adolescents aged 10-14 and 15-19 years
were recorded in households with metal sheet/slate compared to one in 10 and a slightly
higher proportion respectively among the same groups of adolescents.
Youth: Housing arrangement in terms of roofing among the youth groups is similar to
children and adolescents. While 71 percent and 70 percent of the youth groups 20-24 and 35-
35 years respectively had the roofs of their dwelling roofed by metal sheet/slate, about the
same proportion of 13 percent were in households with housing structure roofed by
slate/asbestos.
26
main roofing material for household structure
100.0
13.3 11.0 10.1 9.2 9.8
90.0 0.4 0.6 0.6
0.4
2.0 2.1 2.5 2.5
0.4
1.8
80.0 10.4 11.2 12.7 13.1 Other
9.9
70.0 Thatch/palm
Bamboo
60.0
Roofing tile
50.0
Cement/concrete
40.0 71.5 71.8 Slate/Asbestos
69.7 71.1 69.9
30.0 Metal sheet/slate
20.0 Wood
Mud brick/earth
10.0
0.0 0.8
2.1 0.8
2.1 0.8
1.9 0.9
1.5 0.8
1.5
0-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
Children: The results in Figure 3.8 indicate that more than two-thirds of children in Ghana
were living in dwellings whose main floor construction was made of cement/concrete. At the
same time, one in five of them was reported to be resident in homes with floors constructed
with earth. Less than five percent of the children were in households whose dwellings had
materials other than cement/concrete and earth used for its construction.
Adolescents: A relatively higher proportion of adolescents were reported to be from

households with cement/concrete floors for the dwelling. It is also observed that the
proportion of older adolescents (15-19 years) was reported in households with
cement/concrete floors was higher than their younger counterparts aged 10-14 years (about
77% and 76% respectively). On the other hand, almost 20 percent of the younger adolescents
(10-14 years) were reported to be resident in households with earth as the main material for
the housing floor. This compares with about 18% among their older counterparts (15-19
years).
Youth: The distribution of the youth by the main floor material used for construction is not
very different from that shown by the adolescents. However, with respect to the use of earth
for the construction of the floor of their dwellings, the proportion is much smaller compared
to that found among households with adolescents and children.
27
main floor construction material for household structure
100.0 1.0 1.2 1.6 1.9 1.8
0.7
0.4
0.1
0.6 0.8
0.3
0.1
0.6 1.0
0.1 1.2 1.2
0.6 1.1
0.1
0.6 0.9
0.1
0.6
90.0
80.0 Other
70.0 Terrazo
Ceramics/Mable
60.0 74.3 75.8 76.7 Tiles
77.2 76.6
50.0
Wood
40.0 Burnt brick
30.0 Stone
20.0 Cement/concrete
Earth
10.0 21.2 19.5 17.6 16.6
15.9
0.0
0-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
3.4 Household Facilities and Utilities

3.4.1 Main Source of Lighting for Dwelling
The availability of improved household facilities and utilities at the household level is
important for the welfare of children and young persons. The 2010 PHC collected
information on the main source of lighting for the dwelling, main source of drinking water,
cooking fuel and cooking space as well as type of bathing and toilet facility and method of
solid and liquid waste disposal for all households in the country.
Children: Table 3.3 presents the results of analysis of the main source of lighting for
dwelling among young persons in Ghana. The main source of lighting for dwelling housing
children 0-9 years is electricity (main), which supplies lighting to about 54 percent of the
household dwellings hosting the children. The other two major sources of lighting for
children are kerosene (24%) and flashlight (21%). Compared to adolescents and youth
groups, it appears children are worse off with respect to the main source of lighting for
dwelling.
Adolescents: It is clear from Table 3.3 that just like the results for the children, the three
main sources of lighting for dwellings housing adolescents in Ghana are electricity, kerosene
and flashlights, the other sources forming less than 3 percent altogether. There is however,
some variation between young adolescents (10-14 years) and their older counterparts (15-19
years). While 57 percent of the younger adolescents reported to use electricity as the main
source of lighting, that for adolescents 15-19 years is about 61 percent. Conversely, the
28
proportion that was reported to use kerosene and flashlight was lower among adolescents
aged 15-19 years than that for their counterparts aged 10-14 years. Comparing adolescents
and the children, adolescents tend to have relatively better sources of lighting for their
dwellings.
Youth: Table 3.3 further reveals that close to two in three of the youth aged 20 – 24 and 25 –
35 years were living in dwellings with electricity as the main source of lighting, which is
higher compared to that recorded among the adolescents and children. On the other hand, a
relatively lower proportion of the youth was reported to use kerosene and flashlight compared
to adolescents and children.
Table 3.3: Percent of young persons by age group and main source of lighting
Age Main source of lighting
group Electri- Electri Total
city c (pr. Kero- Gas Solar Flash- Fire- Crop others % No.
(main) gene) sene lamp energy candle light wood residue
0-9 53.7 0.7 23.6 0.2 0.2 0.5 20.5 0.3 0.1 0.2 100.0 6,436,281
10-14 57.1 0.7 22.1 0.2 0.2 0.4 18.7 0.3 0.1 0.2 100.0 2,860,976
15-19 60.8 0.7 20.1 0.2 0.2 0.5 16.9 0.3 0.1 0.2 100.0 2,527,298
20-24 65.6 0.7 16.6 0.2 0.2 0.8 15.4 0.2 0.1 0.2 100.0 2,208,351
25-35 64.8 0.7 16.9 0.2 0.2 0.7 16.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 100.0 4,078,544
3.4.2 Main Source of Drinking Water for Household

The source of drinking water is particularly important for children. This is because when
drinking water is not treated before use, it poses a lot of health risks to children in particular,
including diarrhea related infections. Figure 3.9 shows the results of the analysis of the main
source of drinking water for young persons in Ghana.
Children: According to the results in figure 3.9, less than 30% of children in Ghana were
living in households with pipe borne water as their main source of drinking water. This was
made up of about 17% with pipe borne outside dwelling and 12% using public tap. Just one
in 10 of the children were resident in households with pipe borne inside their dwelling. By
far however, the borehole happens to be the most patronized source of drinking water for the
children and it is the main source of drinking water for about 29% of the children. It should
also be pointed out that about 13% of the children depend on rivers and streams as their
source of drinking water in the country.
Adolescents: It is shown in Figure 3.9 that a higher proportion of adolescents than children
were in living in households whose main source of drinking water was piped water either
inside or outside dwelling unit.. The proportions were 41% and 44% respectively for
adolescents aged 10-14 and those aged 15-19 years. The breakdown of this again suggests
that the adolescents are better served with pipe borne water of any kind compared to the
children. However, just like among children, borehole is the most common source of
drinking water among the adolescents, 28% and 26% respectively for the 10-14 and 15-19
29
adolescent groups. The stream or river as a source of drinking water is also used by about
one in 10 of the adolescents.
Youth: Among the youth groups, a much higher proportion is reported to use pipe borne
water as a main source of drinking. Forty six percent and 45% of the youth groups 20-24 and
25-35 years respectively were reported to use pipe borne water from inside the dwelling,
outside dwelling or from public tap. These are better results compared to the adolescents and
children. In addition, the observation from figure 3.9 is that unlike the children and
adolescents, less than 10% of the youth groups were reported to use rivers and streams as
their main source of drinking water. It is also noted that the borehole is still a very popular
source of drinking water for the youth although compared to the children and adolescents, a
much smaller proportion of the youth was using borehole as the main source of drinking
water. The analysis, therefore, appears to show that access to portable drinking water is
lowest among children and increases with higher age among young persons in Ghana. This
may be due to choice adolescents and youth are able to make by virtue of their relatively
higher age compared to children who may have no choice of their own regarding their source
of drinking water.

main source of drinking water
100.0
11.5 10.3 9.1 9.6 Other
90.0 12.8
Pond
80.0 5.3 6.1 8.9 9.5 River/stream
5.3 0.2
0.6 0.2
0.6 0.3
0.2
0.6 6.7 0.6 0.4
0.5
6.6 6.8 6.1 5.9 Unprotected spring2
70.0
Unprotected spring
60.0 Tanker supply
26.4 23.0 23.1
28.8 28.3
50.0 Sachet water
Bottled water
40.0 12.3 11.8
12.8 Protected spring
12.1 12.5
30.0 Rain water
18.8 18.5 Protected well
20.0 17.2 17.8
16.7 Borehole
10.0 Public tap
11.5 13.3 15.2 14.9
10.0
0.0 Pipe-borne outside dwelling
0-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35 Pipe borne inside dwelling
3.4.3 Main Source of Cooking Fuel and Cooking Space for Household
Table 3.4 presents the results of the analysis of the main source of cooking fuel for
households of young persons in Ghana by age groups. The results reveal three main sources
of cooking fuel for each of the three groups. It is clear from the table that overall a higher
30
proportion of households (more than 70%) depended directly on the environment for their
source of cooking fuels.
Children: The results indicate that almost 57% of the children (0-9years) live in households
using wood as the main source of cooking fuel. This is followed by the use of charcoal as the
main source of cooking fuel representing almost 30% of households having children 0–9
years. At the same time, about 12% of households were using LPG as the main source of
cooking fuel.
Adolescents: A slightly lower proportion of adolescents aged 10-14 years (55%) and others
15-19 years (51%) were reported to belong to households using wood as the main source of
cooking fuel. In contrast, a higher proportion of the adolescents than the children were in
households that were using LPG and charcoal as the main sources of cooking fuel.
Youth: The results in Table 3.4 do not show great variation from the pattern reported for
children and adolescents. The difference, however, is that a relatively smaller proportion of
the youth than children and adolescents live in households using wood as the main source of
cooking fuel. For example, 42% and 41% of the youth groups 20-24 and 25-35 years
respectively were in households using wood as the main source of cooking fuel. In contrast,
a higher proportion of the youth groups are shown to use charcoal and LPG compared with
the children and adolescents. This suggests a higher likelihood that as age increases, the use
of LPG in particular increases.
Table 3.4: Percent of young persons by age group and main source of cooking
fuel for household
Age Main source of cooking fuel
group None (no Fire- Elec- Kero- Char- Crop Saw Animal Total
cooking) wood Gas tricity sene coal residue dust waste Others % No.
0-9 0.6 56.6 11.8 0.3 0.3 28.9 1.2 0.1 0.0 0.1 100.0 6,436,281
10-14 0.7 55.2 12.2 0.4 0.3 29.6 1.3 0.1 0.0 0.1 100.0 2,860,976
15-19 1.9 50.7 13.5 0.5 0.4 31.5 1.2 0.1 0.0 0.2 100.0 2,527,298
20-24 4.4 41.6 17.5 0.6 0.4 34.2 0.9 0.2 0.0 0.2 100.0 2,208,351
25-35 3.9 40.7 20.6 0.5 0.4 32.7 0.8 0.2 0.0 0.2 100.0 4,078,544
Children: Regarding cooking space for households, Figure 3.10 shows that it is more
common for households to have separate rooms exclusively for use as cooking space. This
makes up 37% of all households having children of age 0-9 years. Also noteworthy is the use
of open space in the compound which is represented by one in four of the households while
about 17% reported to use the veranda. While households using separate rooms are more
likely to be resident in self-contained houses, the open space in compound and the veranda
used for cooking could be more associated with compound house conditions.
31
Adolescent: The results (Figure 3.10) show that about 41% of households with adolescent
membership aged 10-14 and 15-19 years have separate rooms for their exclusive use as
cooking space. This is higher than that recorded among the households with children
membership. The use of open space in compound veranda is also quite common among
households with adolescents although the percentages as presented in figure 3.10 are lower
compared with that for children. Furthermore, about 8% of the adolescents were in
households that were using a structure with roof but without a wall as cooking space.
Youth: A similar pattern is shown with respect to households containing the youth groups
with some variations in the proportions using the different types of cooking space. The three
most common types of cooking space that were used by households with children or
adolescents (i.e., separate room, veranda and open space in compound) were still prominent
among the households with youth membership. A third of the households hosting the youth
were using separate rooms exclusively as cooking space (about 36% among 20-24 and 34%
for 25-35 year groups) which is lower compared with that recorded in respect of households
with children and adolescents. On the other hand, a much higher proportion of youth
households were using the veranda as cooking space than either that of children and
adolescents but about the same proportions made use of open space in the compound just like
the adolescents. It must also be noted that quite a noticeable proportion of the youth
households (6% and 5% respectively among the 20-24 and 25-35 age groups) had no cooking
space compared to less than 3% for the adolescents aged 10-14 and children 0-9 years.
Perhaps these households depended on food cooked and sold in the streets, restaurants or in
the open market.
Figure 3.10: Percent of young persons by age group and cooking space for household
100.0
Other
90.0 22.9 22.7 22.4 22.1
25.1
Open space in compound
80.0
70.0 15.5 15.7 Veranda
16.7 19.1 21.4
60.0 0.5 0.5 Bedroom
0.6 8.4 7.7 1.2 1.3
8.3 2.7 6.3 6.1
50.0 2.9 2.2
2.9 6.5 6.4 6.7 2.3 Structure with roof
6.7 6.7 without wall
40.0
Enclosure without roof
30.0
40.7 40.5 35.9 34.4 Separate room shared
20.0 37.1
10.0 Separate room exclusive
5.9 5.4 for household
0.0 2.2 2.3 3.5 No cooking space
0-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
32
3.4.4 Bathing and Toilet Facility used by Household
Table 3.5 shows the distribution of the young persons by the type of bathing facility used by
household. The pattern of distribution shows slight variation among the three groups of
young persons.
Children: Close to a third of children less than 10 years live in households that use their own
bathrooms while almost 30 percent shared separate bath rooms in the same house. Table 3.5
also shows that less than one in five of the households (17%) shared open cubicles as
bathrooms. It is also to be noted that about 9 percent and 8 percent of the households
respectively were using private open cubicles and open space around the house as their
bathing facility.
Adolescents: Compared to children, a little more than a third of the households with
adolescents were reported to use their own bath room (i.e. 34%), about 29 percent shared
separate bath room in the same house and another 16 percent shared open cubicles. On the
other hand, a little less than 10 percent of the households made use of private open cubicles
while about 7 percent of them used open space around the house.
Youth: The proportion of youth living in households having their own bathroom facilities
was about the same as that for children (Table 3.5). However, the percentage of youth living
in households using shared separate bathroom in the same house was slightly higher in
comparison with either children or adolescents. Again, quite a sizeable proportion of youth
(17% and 18% respectively for the 20-24 and 25-35 year groups) shared open cubicles as
bathing facility which is not too different from the percentages for children and adolescents.
Furthermore, around 6 percent of youth were resident in households using open spaces
around the house to have their bath.
Table 3.5: Bathing facility used by household by type of locality and age group
Age Bathing facility used by household
group Shared Total
Own sep. Open River/ % No.
bath bath Private Shared Public Bath in space pond/
(eluc. (same open open open another around lake/
use) hse) cub. cub. cub. hse hse dam others
0-9 31.2 29.1 8.6 17.3 2.1 3.2 7.9 0.2 0.3 100.0 6,436,281
10-14 33.7 28.6 8.8 16.4 1.9 2.8 7.2 0.2 0.3 100.0 2,860,976
15-19 34.0 29.2 8.3 16.4 2.3 2.7 6.6 0.2 0.3 100.0 2,527,298
20-24 31.3 31.8 7.1 17.2 3.0 2.8 6.3 0.2 0.3 100.0 2,208,351
25-35 30.2 32.4 6.9 17.8 2.8 2.8 6.7 0.2 0.3 100.0 4,078,544
Table 3.6 shows the results of the analysis of type of toilet facility used by households for
children, adolescents and youth. The results reveal some interesting pattern among the three
groups.
33
Children: About 30 percent of children less than 10 years live in households that did not
have toilet facility and thus made use of the bush. Interestingly, this is higher compared with
the proportions of adolescents and youth living in such households. Only one in 10 of
children live in households which had access to water closet toilet facility; one in five live in
households using the pit latrine and a little less than a third used public toilet. Table 3.6 also
indicates that about 9 percent of children were in households using the Kumasi Ventilated
Improved Pit (KVIP) toilet facility. This situation is not good enough since in most cases, the
likelihood of the children not washing his/her hands with soap may be higher which could
trigger infections and put the health of the children at risk.
Adolescents: One-third of adolescents (32%) live in households that use public toilet.
Besides, 26 percent and 24 percent of 10-14 and 15-19 year old adolescents respectively
reported living in households that have no toilet facility just like the children. For
adolescents in these households, the use of the bush becomes inevitable. Compared to the
children, a slightly higher proportion of adolescents (12% and 14% respectively for 10-14
and 15-19 year groups) were living in households that were using the water closet. In
addition, about one in five of adolescents used pit latrine and almost one in 10 accessed the
KVIP toilet facility. The situation of the adolescents is not too different from the children,
except with respect to the use of the water closet.
Youth: The proportion of youth living in households with no toilet facility is the lowest
compared to children and adolescents. However, about one in five of youth (22%) live in
households having no toilet facility. The proportion in household using the water closet was
much higher (16%) among the youth compared to children and adolescents. At the same
time, about a third of youth were residents in households that used public toilets, 18% in
households using pit latrines and one in 10 of youth accessed KVIP facility. Overall, the
analysis shows that quite a huge proportion of housing structures in Ghana do not have toilet
facilities which is in contravention of bye laws that enjoin landlords and landladies to make
sure toilet facilities are included in their building plans.
Table 3.6: Percent of young persons by age and type of toilet facility used
among households
Age Toilet facility used by household
group No Water Total
facility Closet Pit Bucket/ Public Others % Number
(bush) (W.C) Latrine KVIP pan toilet
0-9 28.5 10.0 20.4 8.8 0.5 31.3 0.4 100.0 6,436,281
10-14 25.6 11.7 20.7 9.6 0.6 31.5 0.4 100.0 2,860,976
15-19 24.1 13.6 19.4 9.9 0.6 32.0 0.4 100.0 2,527,298
20-24 21.5 16.1 18.2 10.0 0.7 33.1 0.4 100.0 2,208,351
25-35 22.1 16.3 18.4 10.1 0.7 32.0 0.4 100.0 4,078,544
34
3.4.5 Method of Waste Disposal by Household
The 2010 PHC collected information on waste disposal in two parts: solid (rubbish) and
liquid waste. The results of the analysis are presented in Figures 3.11 and 3.12 respectively
for solid and liquid waste.
Children: The results shown in both figures 3.11 and 3.12 are not good for children. In terms
of method of solid waste disposal, as high as 42 percent of children below 10 years live in
households that disposed their solid waste in a public dump or open space while almost one
in five were in households that put solid waste in a container at a public dump. An additional
13 percent of children live in households that dumped their waste indiscriminately. It is also
observed that only about one in 10 of children reside in households that had arranged for their
solid waste to be collected or was burned by the household itself. Such practices of
indiscriminate dumping of solid waste and dumping in open spaces obviously have
challenges for the health of the households especially the children who in most cases are the
ones most likely to be sent to dispose the waste.
In Figure 3.12, another disturbing picture is shown relative to method of disposal of liquid
waste. 76 percent of children live in households that dispose of their liquid waste through
unhygienic methods. For example, 39 percent of children were in households that throw their
liquid waste onto the compound, a third in dwelling units that throw it onto the street and 14
percent in household that throw liquid waste into the gutter. Only small percentages of
children live in households that were using the sewerage system and drainage into pit or
soak-away. The health risks associated with such practices of liquid waste disposal are quite
high most especially when the gutters into which the liquid waste is discharged are most
often also choked with solid waste, making them breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other
reptiles.
Figure 3.11: Percent of young persons by age group and method of rubbish
disposal for household
100.0 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.9
3.8 3.8 3.6 3.3 3.4
90.0 13.2 11.8 10.9 9.8 10.2
80.0
Other
70.0 36.0 35.6
39.3 Burried by household
60.0 41.8 41.2
Dumped indiscriminately
50.0
Public dump (Open space)
40.0 24.3 23.4
22.3 Public dump (container)
30.0 18.7 20.2
Burned by household
20.0 10.6 10.9
10.9 10.9 10.8 Collected
10.0 15.6
10.5 10.9 12.2 15.0
0.0
0-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
35
Adolescents: The picture presented for adolescents is not very different from that of the
children. Forty-one percent of adolescents aged 10-14 and 39 percent of those aged 15-19
years live in households that used the open space at public dump to dispose of their solid
waste. At the same time, one in five of adolescents were resident in households that dumped
their solid waste in containers at a public dump while about one in 10 live in households
which dumped their waste indiscriminately, although this was slightly lower than the
percentage reported for children. Similar to the proportions for children, about 11 percent of
adolescents were in households which burned their solid waste and between 10 percent and
12 percent of were members of households which had their solid waste collected.
A more worrying picture is shown in figure 3.12 with respect to adolescents and the method
of liquid waste disposal for their households. The results show that as high as 85 percent and
73 percent of adolescents aged 10-14 and 15-19 years respectively were living in households
that throw their liquid waste onto the compound, into gutters and onto the street. In contrast,
only a small proportion of adolescents live in households using the sewerage system (3%-
4%) and drainage into pit or soak-away (3%). Obvious, these practices are not good health
wise and need to be discouraged by strict adherence to building policies in the country.
Figure 3.12: Percent of young persons by age group and method of liquid waste
disposal for household
100.0 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7
90.0
35.8 33.7 34.3
80.0 39.0 38.0
70.0 Other
Thrown onto compound
60.0
16.3 18.5 17.9 Thrown into gutter
14.2 15.0
50.0
Thrown onto the street
40.0 Drainage into pit (soak away)
31.0 28.7 28.8
30.0 32.9 32.0 Drainage system into gutter
20.0 Sewage system

3.3 3.5 3.5
2.9 3.0
10.0 9.8 11.4 11.1
7.8 8.6
0.0 2.5 2.7 3.1 3.7 3.8
0-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
Youth: The results in Figure 3.11 show that a much higher proportion of youth than children
and adolescents live in households where solid waste was collected (15% vs. 12%).
Between 45 percent and 46 percent of youth aged 20-24 and 25-35 years live in households
that either dumped their solid waste in an open space or dumped indiscriminately. These are
environmentally unfriendly methods of solid waste disposal.
36
In terms of liquid waste disposal, figure 3.12 shows that four in five of all youth live in
households that engaged in practices which posed health risks to people. These are
households that throw their liquid waste onto the compound, into the gutter or onto the street.
The proportion of youth living in households that used the sewerage system was still quite
low (about 4%) but slightly higher than the percentage for children and adolescents in such
households.

Children: Children (0-9 years) in the country were mainly resident in compound houses and
the proportion was highest in the Greater Region. At the same time, most children live in
owner-occupied dwellings. Also, most children live in dwellings which had metal sheet/slate
roofing materials while two in three of children were resident in dwelling units whose main
floor was made of cement/concrete. More than half (54%) of children live in dwellings with
electricity as the main source of lighting.
Borehole happens to be the most patronized source of drinking water for the children in the
country. Almost 57 percent of the children were in households using wood as the main source
of cooking fuel and about a third of children were reported living in households that use their
own bathrooms and another 30 percent shared separate bath rooms in the same house.
Interestingly, a little less than a third children live in households that did not have toilet
facility and made use of the bush. In addition, three in four children resided in households
that did not dispose their liquid waste by hygienic means.
Adolescents: Compound houses were still more prominent as dwelling places for the
adolescents just like the children and youth. Apart from the Greater Accra and Ashanti
regions, living in kiosks was quite insignificant among the adolescents. Also, the percentage
of adolescents residing in uncompleted houses was very small in all regions except in Greater
Accra and Ashanti. Majority of adolescents live in households with electricity, kerosene and
flashlights as the main sources of lighting. The main source of drinking water for adolescents
was the borehole just like among children. . Furthermore, most adolescents irrespective of
their age live in households using wood as the main source of cooking fuel. About a third of
adolescents belonged to households that use their own bath room.
Youth: The percentage of youth living in households using kerosene and flashlights as the
main source of lighting is lower than the percentage of children and adolescents living in
such households. Just like in the case of children and adolescents, the borehole was the main
source of drinking water for the youth. A higher percentage of youth than either children or
adolescents were resident in households that use LGP as the main source of cooking fuel.
37
CHAPTER FOUR
LITERACY AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
4.1 Introduction
Education and literacy levels are important characteristics of the population and reflect the
human resource development potential particularly among young persons in the country. An
analysis of education and literacy, therefore, throws light on the challenges that affect the
capacity of the population as a vital human resource for the country’s socio-economic
development. This is because the level of education of young people is an indication of the
quality of the population in terms of their knowledge, skills and expertise in the production of
goods and services in the country. This chapter, therefore, presents the analysis of young
people by levels of literacy which is the ability to read or write in any language. In addition, it
analyses the level of education attained among children, adolescents and youth. Throughout
the analysis in this chapter, a comparison is made by sex and region to show the variations in
order to highlight gaps as a basis for directing policy action in addressing possible challenges
that may be observed. The 2010 Population and Housing Census collected information on
literacy of respondents 10 years and above and educational attainment for persons three years
and above. The data on literacy, thus, exclude children less than 10 years and as a result, the
analysis is limited to adolescents and youth but includes children 3-9 years with regard to
educational attainment.
4.2 Literacy Levels

Table 4.1 presents the distribution of the population of young persons in Ghana by literacy
level, age and sex. Literacy level was categorized by literacy in English only, Ghanaian
language only, English and Ghanaian language, English and French, English, French and
Ghanaian language and other languages. As it was earlier explained, the 2010 Population and
Housing Census (PHC) collected information on literacy levels of only persons 10 years and
above and so Table 4.1focuses only on adolescents and youth.
Adolescents: As is reflected in Table 4.1, half of all adolescents (male or female) was found
to be literate in English and Ghanaian language. The percentage is slightly higher among
older adolescents (15-19 years): (59% and 55% respectively among males and females
compared to 52% and 50% among young adolescents aged 10-14 years). As expected, it is
recorded that among either age group of adolescents, the proportion that indicated that they
were literate in English and Ghanaian language was relatively higher among males than
females. We also find that literacy in English only is higher among younger adolescents (10-
14 years) compared to their older counterparts aged 15-19 years. This shows that the younger
generation of adolescents is relatively more likely to be literate in English language other
than Ghanaian languages.
38
It must also be pointed out that a relatively higher proportion of the adolescent females
reported to be literate in English only compared to their male counterparts who were aged
either 10-14 or 15-19 years. Literacy in English only could arise from the practice of some
parents especially in the middle class in urban areas, interacting with their children only in
the English language. Such a practice when continued could deny quite a substantial
proportion of young persons a good knowledge of their traditions and practices since they
cannot interact with the older generation in their local Ghanaian language. For example, a
third of the adolescents aged 10-14 years are reported in Table 4.1 to be literate in no other
language apart from English. This compares with one in four of older adolescents 15-19 years
either among the males or females. This suggests a likelihood of English as the only language
of communication increasing among younger adolescents in the future, a practice which may
make many children lose their Ghanaian identity as far as knowledge in any local Ghanaian
language is concerned.
It is, however, refreshing to note that less that 10 percent of the adolescents (in some cases
less than five percent) are literate only in a Ghanaian language. This may have risen from the
fact that many children are increasingly attending formal schooling where at least one foreign
language is used as the medium of instruction in addition to a local Ghanaian language. It is
also seen that with respect to literacy in Ghanaian language only, the proportion was
relatively higher among the females than the males. It is again noteworthy to point out that
the proportion of adolescents that are not literate is lower among those aged 10-14 years than
their counterparts of 15-19 years. A relatively higher proportion of the females in either age
group were, however, non-literate compared to the males although at younger ages (10-14
years), there appears to be virtually no differences between the males and females.
Table 4.1: Percent distribution of young persons by age-sex and literacy level
Literacy Level 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
None (Not literate) 7.6 7.5 10.0 12.2 13.7 21.6 20.9 32.8
English only 33.2 34.0 25.5 25.7 21.9 21.9 20.4 18.9
Ghanaian language
only 6.6 7.0 4.3 4.9 4.5 6.4 6.5 9.1
English & Ghanaian
language 51.6 50.4 58.8 55.4 58.1 48.6 50.7 38.4
English & French 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.3
English, French &
Ghanaian language 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.4 1.2 1.2 0.9 0.6
Other 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Total % 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Total Number 1,104,629 1,079,801 1,311,112 1,298,877 1,100,727 1,222,764 1,951,869 2,238,078
Youth: The variation between the sexes in literacy appears higher among the youth
compared to the adolescents whether it is with reference to the 20-24 year group or those
aged 25-35 years. It is quite clear that the variation between males and females who are not
literate in any language is much higher among the youth aged 25-35 years compared to that
39
for the 20-24 year group. While the females aged 25-35 years were about 11 percentage
points less literate than their male counterparts of the same age, females of 20-24 years were
reported to be about eight percentage points less literate compared with their male
counterparts of the same age. This shows that although female youth are less literate
compared to their male counterparts, the gender gap is wider among the older youth aged 25-
35 than their younger counterparts of 20-24 years. This suggests that there have been some
improvement in literacy among females in particular over the years. It is also noteworthy to
mention that while a little more than 20% of the youth are literate in English only, a higher
proportion of the adolescents (almost 30%) reported literacy in English only. This means that
increasingly, a higher proportion of the younger generation is limiting their literacy to
English language only, thereby abandoning their local Ghanaian language. This is a practice
which may not be good since the Ghanaian culture is also linked to knowledge in local
languages spoken in the country. Efforts should be made to emphasize knowledge in our
local languages at young ages.
There is a huge difference between rural and urban areas of Ghana with respect to literacy.
This is evident from the results presented in Table 4.2.
Adolescents: As earlier indicated, literacy rate is higher among adolescents in urban than in
the rural areas. Among adolescents of 10-14 years in the urban areas, less than five percent
was reported to be non-literate and this compares with a higher proportion of about 12% of
their counterparts in the rural areas. Similarly, while just about 6% of older adolescents aged
15-19 years were recorded to be non-literate, almost 17% of others in the rural areas were not
literate. It is also seen that in terms of literacy in English only, higher proportions of the
adolescent groups in the urban areas were recorded than in the rural areas in the country. At
the same time, a higher proportion of the 10-14 and 15-19 year-old adolescent groups had
literacy in English and Ghanaian language in the urban areas than in the rural communities.
In contrast, a relatively higher proportion of adolescents in the rural areas reported to be
literate in Ghanaian language only than that recorded in the urban areas. This obviously is
due to a higher level of formal schooling in the urban compared to the rural areas in Ghana.
Furthermore, although quite insignificant proportions of the adolescents in either urban or
rural areas reported to be literate in English and French as well as English, French and
Ghanaian language, the proportions are relatively higher in the urban areas which is a
reflection of the relatively higher importance placed on the two foreign languages in the
urban relative to the rural areas.
40
Table 4.2: Distribution of young persons by age-sex, literacy level and type of locality
Type of None English Ghanaian English English English, Other Total
Locality only language and French French &
% Number
only Ghanaian Ghanaian
language Language
Urban
10-14 3.2 36.1 4.2 54.7 0.3 1.4 0.0 100.0 1,063,784
15-19 5.8 27.4 3.2 61.3 0.5 1.9 0.0 100.0 1,364,124
20-24 9.9 25.4 4.4 58.1 0.6 1.7 0.0 100.0 1,356,838
25-35 15.5 24.7 7.1 51.1 0.5 1.0 0.0 100.0 2,380,388
Rural
10-14 11.7 31.2 9.2 47.4 0.1 0.3 0.0 100.0 1,120,646
15-19 16.9 23.7 6.2 52.5 0.2 0.5 0.0 100.0 1,245,865
20-24 29.0 17.1 7.0 46.1 0.2 0.5 0.0 100.0 966,653
25-35 42.7 12.8 9.0 35.0 0.2 0.3 0.0 100.0 1,809,559
Youth: The pattern of literacy by language groupings as shown in Table 4.2 is similar to that
exhibited by the adolescent groups. It is, however, important to emphasize that illiteracy is
much higher among the youth groups where almost 30 percent and 43 percent respectively
aged 20-24 and 25-35 years in the rural areas were non-literate compared to about 10 percent
and 16 percent of their counterparts in the urban areas. On the other hand, a higher proportion
of these youth groups in the urban areas had literacy in English language only compared to
those in the rural areas. We also find that while higher proportions of the youth groups in the
urban areas were literate in English and Ghanaian language than their counterparts in the
rural areas, the reverse was the case with respect to literacy in Ghanaian language only. It has
to be understood that the higher levels of literacy among the youth groups compared to the
adolescents is an indication of increasing literacy rates among the younger generation
compared with the older generation. This also suggests that much progress has been made in
the area of literacy in the country over the years although much more needs to be done
particularly in the rural areas.
4.3 Literacy Status by Age-Sex and Region of Residence

Literacy rates tend to vary spatially due to a variety of factors. These include the importance
different groups of people spatially located in the country attach to education in general and
their willingness to support their children and young ones to attend schooling, availability of
educational facilities and the ability of the population to afford the cost of schooling for their
children. Obviously, these factors are also dependent on the spatial differences in the level of
development so far as socio-economic indicators are concerned. In this section, we attempt to
compare literacy levels in Ghana by region to highlight the spatial variations that exist among
adolescents and youth groups by sex.
Adolescents: Table 4.3a presents level of literacy and region of residence of adolescents and
youth by age groups for the males. From the results, it is found that literacy rates are lowest
in the northern regions. Northern Region has the highest proportion of adolescents who were
not literate. One third (31% and 35%) of adolescents aged 10-14 and 15-19 years respectively
41
in the Northern Region were not literate. Comparing the literacy rates of the male to the
female adolescent groups presented in Table 4.3b, we find that literacy rates are higher
among males in all the regions compared with their female counterparts. This is to be
expected because in Ghana, female education has lagged behind males until in the recent past
when policies including the one calling on families to send their girl children to school have
begun showing signs of improvement. For example, in the Northern Region where the lowest
literacy rates were reported, about 33 percent of the female adolescent group 10-14 and about
43 percent of their counterparts aged 15-19 years (Table 4.3b) not literate compared to lower
rates recorded for their male counterparts in Table 4.3a.
It is interesting to point out that the proportion of adolescents with literacy in English only is
extraordinarily high in the Upper East Region either among the males or females. From
Tables 4.3a and b, we find that 65 percent and 58 percent among the males aged 10-14 and
15-19 years respectively were literate in English only in the Upper East Region. This
compares with 68 percent and 57 percent respectively among their female counterparts of
same age groups. Further investigations may be necessary because it is difficult to speculate
why such a high proportion of the adolescent population in a region which is largely
traditional in character would be literate in English language only without any knowledge in
any local language. Perhaps, this may have something to do about the poor development of
local languages in the Upper East Region. On the other hand, it is understandable to find that
about half of the male and female adolescent groups aged 10-14 years in Greater Accra
Region reported literacy in English only in view of Accra’s migrant status ad emphasis that is
put on spoken English in many schools at the basic level especially the private ones. It is,
however, clear that in all the regions, younger adolescents (10-14 years) report lower rates of
illiteracy compared to the their older counterparts (15-19 years). Furthermore, the Ashanti
and Greater Accra regions respectively recorded the lowest proportion of younger and older
adolescents respectively who are non-literate in the country among the male groups while
among the female adolescent groups, the lowest proportion was from the Central Region
among either the 10-14 and 15-19 age groups. There are indications of higher levels of
literacy in three regions: Ashanti, Greater Accra and Central regions among the adolescents.
Literacy in Ghanaian language only is also particularly high in the Volta Region among male
and female adolescents aged 10-14 years among whom 13% and about 15% were
respectively recorded in Tables 4.3a and b to be literate in Ghanaian language only with other
regions recording far lower proportions.
42
Table 4.3a: Percent distribution of population of young males by language
of literacy, region and age
None English Ghanaian English & English English, Other Total
only language Ghanaian and French &
Region only language French Ghanaian % Number
Language
10-14
Western 3.6 36.6 5.6 53.2 0.2 0.7 0.0 100.0 108,886
Central 2.8 35.5 6.1 54.8 0.2 0.6 0.0 100.0 105,337
Gt. Accra 2.5 50.0 1.8 42.7 0.7 2.3 0.0 100.0 139,155
Volta 7.8 23.1 13.4 54.6 0.4 0.6 0.0 100.0 96,723
Eastern 4.8 26.7 8.7 59.0 0.2 0.6 0.0 100.0 126,740
Ashanti 2.3 20.3 8.9 67.3 0.2 0.9 0.0 100.0 219,024
B. Ahafo 6.4 27.8 6.9 58.5 0.1 0.4 0.0 100.0 113,169
Northern 30.6 37.1 3.2 28.9 0.1 0.1 0.0 100.0 106,858
U/East 14.0 64.7 2.4 18.7 0.1 0.1 0.0 100.0 53,256
U/West 21.3 39.0 3.9 35.6 0.1 0.1 0.0 100.0 35,481
15-19
Western 6.7 26.7 3.8 61.6 0.3 0.9 0.0 100.0 127,629
Central 4.3 25.9 4.0 64.6 0.3 0.9 0.0 100.0 119,095
Gt. Accra 3.4 40.3 1.9 50.9 0.9 2.6 0.0 100.0 180,165
Volta 9.0 16.4 8.4 64.9 0.4 0.9 0.0 100.0 115,696
Eastern 5.6 19.3 5.9 68.3 0.2 0.8 0.0 100.0 144,066
Ashanti 4.3 14.2 5.8 74.2 0.2 1.3 0.0 100.0 253,131
B. Ahafo 10.4 19.3 4.1 65.5 0.2 0.5 0.0 100.0 131,054
Northern 34.9 29.3 2.4 33.3 0.1 0.1 0.0 100.0 138,908
U/East 18.1 58.4 1.8 21.5 0.2 0.1 0.0 100.0 60,307
U/West 22.5 32.8 2.7 41.4 0.1 0.5 0.0 100.0 41,033
20-24
Western 12.4 23.2 3.8 59.4 0.4 0.8 0.0 100.0 110,460
Central 7.4 22.3 3.9 64.5 0.5 1.4 0.0 100.0 92,178
Gt. Accra 4.9 36.6 2.8 52.3 1.3 2.1 0.0 100.0 215,803
Volta 13.2 11.9 7.4 65.7 0.6 1.2 0.0 100.0 86,049
Eastern 8.9 17.1 6.9 65.9 0.3 0.9 0.0 100.0 104,571
Ashanti 7.9 13.8 6.7 69.8 0.3 1.5 0.0 100.0 222,112
B. Ahafo 17.3 14.3 4.2 63.2 0.3 0.8 0.0 100.0 102,007
Northern 44.5 19.7 1.9 33.7 0.1 0.2 0.0 100.0 98,318
U/East 28.3 43.0 1.6 26.5 0.1 0.4 0.0 100.0 40,214
U/West 29.5 22.0 1.9 45.2 0.2 1.3 0.0 100.0 29,015
25-35
Western 20.9 20.4 6.5 50.7 0.5 0.9 0.0 100.0 1,951,872
Central 13.9 22.2 6.7 55.9 0.5 0.9 0.0 100.0 151,058
Gt. Accra 6.3 35.2 3.9 51.9 1.2 1.5 0.0 100.0 423,286
Volta 21.1 10.1 10.3 56.4 0.7 1.4 0.0 100.0 144,255
Eastern 13.7 16.6 10.3 58.2 0.4 0.7 0.0 100.0 186,584
Ashanti 13.1 14.1 10.2 61.5 0.3 0.9 0.0 100.0 388,813
B. Ahafo 28.3 12.7 6.2 51.9 0.3 0.5 0.0 100.0 174,807
Northern 61.3 12.9 1.4 24.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 100.0 176,638
U/East 49.6 28.4 1.5 20.1 0.2 0.2 0.0 100.0 64,850
U/West 52.8 15.5 1.4 29.7 0.1 0.5 0.0 100.0 45,062
43
Youth: Literacy rates among the youth groups just like that among the adolescents depict the
three Northern regions to be behind the other regions. The Northern Region stands out as the
region with the lowest rate of literacy with as high as 44% and 65% of the males and females
respectively aged 10-14 years and 61% and 81% respectively among the male and female
aged 15-19 years were non-literate. In contrast, the Greater Accra Region recorded the lowest
proportion of youth with no literacy among the male and female youth groups aged 20-24 and
25-35 years in the country. Once again, the Upper East Region recorded one of the highest
proportions of youth groups with literacy in English only particularly among the females
aged 20-24 years. It is also to be noted that among the youth groups, literacy in Ghanaian
language only is peculiar in three regions (Volta, Eastern and Ashanti) where one in 10 of the
male youth group 25-35 years were reported in each of the three regions (Table 4.3a). A
similar picture is presented among the female youth group aged 20-24 years in the Volta and
Eastern regions in Table 4.3b. This means that in these regions, the likelihood that the young
person would be literate only in the dominant local language of the region was higher than in
the other regions. This situation is, however, changing as depicted by the lower proportions
of the younger age groups recorded to have literacy in Ghanaian language only in all the
regions except in the Volta Region.
Table 4.3b: Percent distribution of population of young females by language of literacy,

region and age
None English Ghanaian English & English English, Other Total
only language Ghanaian and French &
Region only language French Ghanaian % Number
Language
10-14
Western 4.3 37.3 6.1 51.2 0.2 0.8 0.0 100.0 106,814
Central 3.0 36.4 6.5 53.3 0.2 0.6 0.0 100.0 102,725
Gt. Accra 3.7 49.1 2.3 41.9 0.7 2.4 0.0 100.0 156,750
Volta 7.0 23.6 14.6 53.9 0.3 0.5 0.0 100.0 90,388
Eastern 3.7 27.3 9.2 59.0 0.2 0.7 0.0 100.0 117,869
Ashanti 3.3 20.7 9.5 65.3 0.2 1.0 0.0 100.0 221,782
B. Ahafo 7.0 28.3 7.7 56.4 0.2 0.4 0.0 100.0 107,592
Northern 32.9 37.8 3.0 26.2 0.1 0.1 0.0 100.0 95,338
U/East 12.0 68.2 2.2 17.4 0.1 0.1 0.0 100.0 48,914
U/West 15.8 44.7 3.9 35.3 0.1 0.2 0.0 100.0 31,681
15-19
Western 9.4 27.0 4.2 58.1 0.3 1.0 0.0 100.0 123,672
Central 5.7 26.6 4.4 59.7 0.4 3.2 0.0 100.0 124,924
Gt. Accra 6.5 39.1 2.5 48.0 0.9 3.0 0.0 100.0 208,226
Volta 11.0 16.2 9.4 62.2 0.3 0.9 0.0 100.0 106,850
Eastern 6.0 19.7 6.9 66.2 0.3 1.1 0.0 100.0 135,168
Ashanti 7.3 14.9 6.7 69.5 0.2 1.4 0.0 100.0 261,672
B. Ahafo 12.8 19.7 5.3 61.6 0.2 0.5 0.0 100.0 122,395
Northern 42.5 27.7 2.0 27.6 0.1 0.1 0.0 100.0 123,011
U/East 20.8 57.3 1.5 20.2 0.2 0.1 0.0 100.0 55,641
U/West 21.6 35.5 2.5 39.9 0.1 0.5 0.0 100.0 37,301
20-24
Western 20.2 24.2 5.4 49.1 0.4 0.8 0.0 100.0 118,795
44
Central 13.2 25.4 5.8 53.8 0.3 1.4 0.0 100.0 103,551
Gt. Accra 9.5 36.4 3.8 46.8 1.0 2.4 0.0 100.0 242,272
Volta 21.8 12.2 10.4 54.3 0.4 0.9 0.0 100.0 93,400
Eastern 12.7 18.8 10.1 57.3 0.3 0.9 0.0 100.0 117,053
Ashanti 14.1 14.4 9.9 60.2 0.2 1.2 0.0 100.0 251,410
B. Ahafo 25.2 15.2 6.6 52.2 0.2 0.6 0.0 100.0 111,687
Northern 64.7 14.5 1.2 19.4 0.1 0.1 0.0 100.0 112,364
U/East 43.7 36.9 1.2 17.9 0.1 0.1 0.0 100.0 42,298
U/West 45.7 20.0 1.4 31.7 0.1 1.0 0.0 100.0 29,934
25-35
Western 33.2 21.9 7.1 37.2 0.3 0.4 0.0 100.0 210,559
Central 26.3 22.6 8.5 41.9 0.2 0.5 0.0 100.0 181,131
Gt. Accra 13.1 35.0 6.4 43.5 0.7 1.3 0.0 100.0 453,642
Volta 33.6 8.9 14.4 42.1 0.4 0.6 0.0 100.0 174,291
Eastern 22.7 16.7 14.3 45.7 0.2 0.4 0.0 100.0 212,764
Ashanti 21.4 13.5 15.2 49.2 0.2 0.5 0.0 100.0 444,654
B. Ahafo 38.3 12.4 9.3 39.6 0.2 0.2 0.0 100.0 198,738
Northern 80.6 8.2 0.8 10.4 0.1 0.1 0.0 100.0 224,693
U/East 69.7 19.3 1.1 9.8 0.1 0.0 0.0 100.0 80,799
U/West 52.8 15.5 1.4 29.7 0.1 0.5 0.0 100.0 45,062
4.4 Educational Attainment

Education of young persons in Ghana faces a serious challenge. According to World Bank
(2000), 200,000 students graduate from the Junior Secondary School every year in Ghana but
only 30% gain admission to Senior Secondary School. Again, of 72,000 students that
graduate from Senior Secondary School each year, only 25% were reported to find space in
post-secondary institutions in 2003 (Chronicle, Thursday April 10, 2003, Vol. 3 # 45).
Anecdotal evidence from several districts in the country also paints quite a gloomy picture of
huge drop-out rates from primary school to junior high school which affect both males and
females equally. These high drop-out rates undermine the smooth development of the young
persons’ human development capacities.
Notwithstanding these challenges, education remains a key measure of the level of human
development in the country. The 2010 PHC collected information on the educational
attainment of persons three years and above. Consequently, the analysis presents results for
the population of children (3-9 years), adolescents (10-14 and 15-19 years) and the youth
groups spanning 20-35 years. The analysis is both at the national and regional levels with a
comparison between the sexes. The comparison between the educational attainment of males
and females reveal interesting patterns as one moves from childhood through adolescence to
youth status.
Table 4.4 shows the results of the analysis of educational attainment of young persons by sex
and age groups. The general picture shown in the table is that of progress made in
educational attainment over the years. This is evidenced by the higher proportion of persons
with no education in older age groups compared to counterparts in relatively younger age
groups.
45
Adolescents: From Table 4.4, we find a high proportion of adolescents aged 10-14 years with
primary level of educational attainment among either males or females. For example, there is
about 70% of the male and 68% of the female adolescents in this age group with primary
level of education. There is also virtually no difference between the males and females with
no education which is around 8% in either case. What is interesting, however, is that a
slightly higher proportion of the female adolescents in this age group had attained
JHS/JSS/Middle school level of education compared to their male counterparts which is a bit
contrary to the general situation in Ghana where males usually tend to have relatively higher
level of education compared to females. This may be the result of recent policy efforts
towards promoting female education throughout the country.
Among older adolescents (15-19 years), the results do not suggest big gender gap at all levels
of education. However, it has to be noted that females with no education were more than two
percentage points higher compared to their male counterparts. There is some gender parity at
post-secondary and tertiary level of education where the proportion that is reported for males
and females is the same.
Youth: Unlike the adolescent groups, the results in Table 4.4 reveal big gender gaps in
educational attainment among the youth. For example, about 14 percent of the male youth
aged 20-24 years were recorded to have no education compared to about 22 percent of their
female counterparts. Similarly, while 21 percent of the male youth aged 25-35 years had no
education, about a third of their female cohort reported same. Also, a relatively higher
proportion of the males than the females had attained post-secondary and tertiary levels of
education. This is a clear evidence of gender imbalance in the level of educational attainment
among the youth groups. With time, however, this gap is fast closing when notice is taken of
the situation of adolescents especially those aged 10-14 years.
Table 4.4: Distribution of population of young persons by educational attainment

and age-sex
10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
Educational Attainment Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
No education 8.2 8.0 10.0 12.2 13.7 21.6 20.9 32.8
Pre-school 0.6 0.6 - - - - - -
Primary 69.9 68.5 17.9 16.5 9.3 11.6 9.2 12.7
JHS/JSS/Middle 20.6 22.1 48.9 47.7 32.9 33.1 35.5 33.1
SHS/SSS/Secondary 0.7 0.8 21.3 21.7 28.5 21.3 17.4 10.6
Vocational/Technical/Commercial 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.6 2.4 2.4 3.0 2.8
Post-secondary 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.6 7.6 6.8 8.3 5.0
Tertiary 0.0 0.0 0.7 0.7 5.5 3.3 5.6 2.6
Total % 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Total Number 1.477,525 1,438,515 1,311,112 1,298,877 1,100,727 1,222,764 1,951,869 2,238,078
46
Table 4.5 presents a comparison of the educational attainment of young persons in Ghana by
urban-rural residence and sex.
Children: The results show that there is a huge gap in educational attainment between the
urban and rural areas. For example, only 8 percent of urban-dwelling children (male or
female) had no education while almost one in four of their rural counterparts had no
education. It has to be noted also that not much variation exists between the male and female
children within the urban and rural areas.
Adolescents: Similar to the results for children, Table 4.5 reveals a higher level of
educational attainment among the urban-dwelling adolescents compared to their rural
counterparts. For example, about 3 percent and 4 percent of the urban male adolescents
respectively among the 10-14 and 15-19 age groups had no education compared to about 4
percent and 7 percent of their female counterparts. At the same time, among the females,
about 4 percent and 7 percent respectively of adolescents 10-14 and 15-19 years had no
education in the urban areas compared to 12 percent and 18 percent of their rural-dwelling
counterparts. We also find that a slightly higher proportion of female adolescents had no
education either within the urban or rural places of residence. About the same proportion of
urban male (2%) or female (1.8%) adolescents had attained tertiary level of education. These
may, however, be persons who were perhaps enrolled at tertiary institutions of learning and
may not have attained that level of education at the time of the census.
Youth: The proportion of the youth with no education happens to be the highest compared to
children and adolescents. Furthermore, among the youth, the proportions having no
education are highest in the rural areas. Again, within the urban or rural areas, female youth
tend to have higher proportions with no education compared to the males. For example, from
Table 4.5, almost half of the female rural youth aged 25-35 years were reported to have no
education compared to about 35 percent of their male counterparts. Furthermore, a higher
proportion of the urban male youth (17%-18%) proceed to attain tertiary level of education
compared to 9 percent -12 percent among their female counterparts. It is therefore, quite
clear that not only do the male youth have relatively higher education compared to the female
youth, progression to tertiary level of education is higher among the males than the female
youth.
47
Table 4.5: Percent distribution of population of young persons by educational
attainment, type of locality and age-sex
Type of No Pre- Primary JHS/JSS/ SHS/SSS Voc/Tec/ Post- Tertiary Total
Locality educ. school Middle Sec. Comm. secondary % No.
Male
Urban
3-9 7.6 47.0 45.5 - - - - - 100.0 999,077
10-14 2.8 0.5 68.1 27.6 1.0 - - - 100.0 672,906
15-19 4.2 - 12.9 48.9 30.8 0.9 0.2 2.0 100.0 651,829
20-24 6.8 - 7.2 30.7 33.1 3.1 1.9 17.2 100.0 642,140
5-35 10.7 - 7.6 35.9 21.8 4.2 2.2 17.6 100.0 1,119,930
Rural
3-9 23.2 40.2 36.6 - - - - 1.4 100.0 1,286,468
10-14 12.6 0.8 71.4 14.7 0.5 - - - 100.0 804,619
15-19 15.6 - 22.9 48.8 12.0 0.4 0.1 - 100.0 659,283
20-24 23.4 - 12.2 36.0 22.1 1.4 1.0 0.2 100.0 458,587
25-35 34.7 - 11.4 34.8 11.5 1.5 1.4 3.9 100.0 831,939
Female
Urban
3-9 7.8 45.4 46.8 - - - - 100.0 986,267
10-14 3.9 0.4 65.8 28.9 1.1 - - 100.0 718,323
15-19 7.2 - 12.9 47.2 29.8 0.8 0.3 1.8 100.0 712,295
20-24 12.7 - 9.7 32.5 27.1 3.2 3.3 11.5 100.0 714,698
25-35 19.8 - 11.9 37.6 15.0 4.1 2.3 9.3 100.0 1,260,458
Rural
3-9 22.7 40.3 37.0 - - - - - 100.0 1,227,833
10-14 12.2 0.8 71.3 15.3 0.5 - - - 100.0 720,192
15-19 18.2 - 20.8 48.3 11.9 0.4 0.1 0.2 100.0 586,582
20-24 34.2 - 14.2 33.8 13.1 1.3 1.1 2.4 100.0 508,066
25-35 49.4 - 13.8 28.3 4.9 1.1 0.8 1.7 100.0 977,620
4.5 Educational Attainment by Age-Sex and Region of Residence

This section discusses differences in educational attainment by region of residence. Table 4.6
reveals that educational attainment in Ghana tends to vary by region.
Children: A comparison of educational attainment among children 3-9 years is presented in

Table 4.6. From the table, we find that for either the male or female children, the Northern
Region has the highest proportions of children with no education (36% among males and
38% among females). In contrast, Greater Accra Region has the lowest proportions of
children with no education (less than 8% for either males or females). While the Northern,
Upper East and Upper West regions each had more than 20 percent of their children without
education, in other regions, the proportion without education is less than 20 percent making
children in the three northern regions the most disadvantaged with regard to education
attainment. A comparison between male and female children in educational attainment in
each region also shows an interesting observation. Apart from the Greater Accra and Ashanti
and to some extent Brong Ahafo regions, the proportion of children with no education is
higher among the male than female children. While this is quite unexpected, it could be the
result of the policy dabbed “send your Girl child to school” the country has embarked upon
that may be having some negative effect on the boy child in these regions.
48
Table 4.6: Distribution of children aged 3-9 years by educational attainment,
region and sex
Region Male Female
No Pre- Primary Total No Pre- Primary Total
educ. school % No. educ. school % No.
Western 12.9 47.8 39.3 100.0 223,818 12.4 46.8 40.9 100.0 216,183
Central 11.9 48.2 39.8 100.0 205,857 11.2 47.7 41.1 100.0 201,418
Gt. Accra 7.4 46.7 46.0 100.0 288,041 7.6 45.0 47.4 100.0 286,172
Volta 18.8 42.6 38.6 100.0 195,475 18.0 43.0 39.0 100.0 189,991
Eastern 14.2 45.7 40.1 100.0 242,491 13.0 45.7 41.4 100.0 231,216
Ashanti 8.1 46.3 45.6 100.0 422,427 8.1 45.1 46.8 100.0 410,553
B. Ahafo 16.1 46.3 37.5 100.0 225,762 16.0 45.8 38.3 100.0 215,546
Northern 36.4 29.6 34.1 100.0 297,212 37.9 29.5 32.6 100.0 287,218
U/East 23.8 34.8 41.4 100.0 110,045 22.3 35.3 42.4 100.0 104,937
U/West 35.2 33.0 35.7 100.0 74,417 28.9 33.8 37.3 100.0 70,866
Adolescents: Table 4.7 shows the results of the analysis on educational attainment among
adolescents aged 10-14 years by region and sex. From the results, we find a concentration of
the adolescents at the primary and JSS/SHS/Middle levels of educational attainment in all the
regions.
Table 4.7: Distribution of adolescents aged 10-14 years by educational attainment,
region and sex
Region No Pre- Primary JHS/JSS/ SHS/SSS Voc/Tec/ Post- Tertiary Total
educ. school Middle Sec. Comm. secondary % No.
Male
Western 3.8 0.8 73.6 21.1 0.7 - - - 100.0 145,176
Central 3.1 0.8 74.9 20.6 0.6 - - - 100.0 139,658
Gt. Accra 2.8 0.4 64.1 31.3 1.3 - - - 100.0 183,246
Volta 8.4 0.9 72.7 17.3 0.7 - - - 100.0 128,578
Eastern 5.2 0.7 73.8 19.8 0.6 - - - 100.0 167,665
Ashanti 2.5 0.5 70.1 26.2 0.8 - - - 100.0 287,944
B. Ahafo 6.9 0.9 75.3 16.4 0.5 - - - 100.0 150,551
Northern 30.7 0.5 56.3 11.9 0.6 - - - 100.0 154,824
U/East 14.5 0.5 73.7 10.8 0.4 - - - 100.0 71,453
U/West 22.0 0.5 65.2 11.8 0.6 - - - 100.0 48,430
Female
Western 4.5 0.7 71.5 22.5 0.8 - - - 100.0 141,957
Central 3.2 0.8 73.4 22.0 0.7 - - - 100.0 135,891
Gt. Accra 3.9 0.4 62.2 32.0 1.4 - - - 100.0 203,036
Volta 7.5 1.0 72.6 18.2 0.7 - - - 100.0 120,759
Eastern 4.0 0.6 73.1 21.7 0.6 - - - 100.0 155,899
Ashanti 3.4 0.4 67.7 27.5 0.9 - - - 100.0 289,223
B. Ahafo 7.2 0.9 74.2 17.2 0.5 - - - 100.0 143,485
Northern 32.8 0.6 54.7 11.4 0.6 - - - 100.0 139,171
U/East 12.3 0.5 73.4 13.3 0.5 - - - 100.0 65,611
U/West 16.6 0.5 69.3 13.1 0.6 - - - 100.0 43,483
49
Again, in all the regions, less than one percent of either males or females had attained
SHS/SSS or secondary level of education with the exception of Greater Accra Region where
it is a little higher. Also very visible is the comparatively higher proportion of adolescents
with no education in the three Northern regions among either males or females. The
Northern Region once again stands out as the region where educational attainment is the
lowest countrywide. It also has to be noted that apart from four regions: Volta, Eastern,
Upper East and Upper West, a higher proportion of the females had no education compared
to their male counterparts in each of the other regions.
Table 4.8 reveals a picture that is indicative of a higher proportion of adolescents aged 15-19
years attaining SHS/SSS level of education and beyond compared to their younger
counterparts of 10-14 years. Among adolescents with no education, the results depict
Northern as recording the highest proportion of older adolescents with no education either
among the males or females. As high as 35 percent of the males and 42 percent of the
females in the Northern Region had no education compared to 3 percent of the males in
Greater Accra and about 6 percent of the females in Central Region which had the lowest
proportion of adolescents with no education. In contrast to the younger adolescents aged 10-
14 years, the proportion of older female adolescents in Table 4.8 with no education in all the
regions was lower than their male counterparts with the exception of the Upper West Region
where the reverse is recorded.
Table 4.8: Distribution of youth aged 15-19 years by educational attainment,
region and sex
Male
Western 6.7 - 16.2 53.7 21.3 1.2 0.1 0.8 100.0 127,632
Central 4.2 - 17.8 55.9 19.3 0.6 0.1 2.0 100.0 119,095
Gt. Accra 3.4 - 12.3 45.6 34.7 1.2 0.2 2.7 100.0 180,173
Volta 9.0 - 25.0 49.1 16.0 0.6 0.1 0.3 100.0 115,697
Eastern 5.5 - 19.2 55.1 18.9 0.7 0.1 0.6 100.0 144,066
Ashanti 4.2 - 12.2 52.6 29.0 0.4 0.1 1.5 100.0 253,131
B. Ahafo 10.4 - 19.7 51.7 17.4 0.4 0.1 0.4 100.0 131,054
Northern 34.8 - 19.7 33.9 11.0 0.3 0.2 0.3 100.0 138,919
U/East 18.0 - 31.2 40.2 9.7 0.4 0.1 0.4 100.0 60,310
U/West 22.4 - 28.3 37.0 10.6 0.5 0.2 1.0 100.0 41,035
Female
Western 9.3 - 15.1 52.8 21.2 0.8 0.2 0.5 100.0 123,672
Central 5.6 - 15.8 52.3 23.3 0.6 0.2 2.3 100.0 124,925
Gt. Accra 6.4 - 13.3 44.2 32.2 0.9 0.3 2.7 100.0 208,230
Volta 10.9 - 23.0 48.9 16.2 0.5 0.2 0.2 100.0 106,856
Eastern 6.0 - 18.2 54.7 19.8 0.8 0.2 0.5 100.0 135,168
Ashanti 7.2 - 12.3 50.3 28.3 0.4 0.3 1.2 100.0 261,672
B. Ahafo 12.8 - 19.0 50.4 16.7 0.4 0.2 0.4 100.0 122,395
Northern 42.4 - 17.0 30.4 9.6 0.3 0.2 0.2 100.0 123,016
U/East 20.7 - 23.8 43.8 10.9 0.5 0.1 0.2 100.0 55,642
U/West 21.5 - 25.2 41.3 9.8 0.8 0.2 1.1 100.0 37,301
50
Youth: Educational attainment among the youth is presented in tables 4.9 and 4.10 by region
and sex. In Table 4.9, the highest proportion of females with no education among the youth
group 20-24 years is in the Northern Region (65%) and the lowest (about 10%) in the Greater
Accra Region. In contrast, the results for males indicate that Upper East and Volta regions
have the highest and lowest proportions of youth without education. At the tertiary level of
education male youth aged 20-24 years in the Volta Region recorded the highest proportion
(19%) and is followed by Greater Accra Region (17%). There is, however, a huge contrast
between the sexes in the Volta Region as only three percent of the female youth aged 20-24
years in the region had attained tertiary level of education compared to almost 19 percent of
their male counterparts. Another big contrast is depicted in the Brong Ahafo Region where
about 14 percent of the male youth aged 20-24 years in the region had attained tertiary level
of education relative to just 5 percent of their female counterparts. It is also noteworthy to
state that in all regions, the proportion of the youth aged 20-24 years that had attained tertiary
level of education was higher among males than females except in Eastern, Ashanti and
Upper West regions where the reverse was the case.
Table 4.9: Percent distribution of youth aged 20-24 years by educational

attainment, region and sex
Male
Western 13.7 - 9.3 32.9 28.5 2.4 1.5 11.7 100.0 110,460
Central 12.4 - 8.5 35.8 28.4 3.6 1.3 10.0 100.0 92,178
Gt. Accra 7.4 - 8.4 37.2 26.6 2.4 1.3 16.6 100.0 215,803
Volta 4.9 - 7.5 32.3 31.5 3.8 1.4 18.5 100.0 86,049
Eastern 13.2 - 13.2 36.8 27.8 2.2 1.8 5.0 100.0 104,571
Ashanti 8.9 - 11.5 41.6 26.6 2.0 1.5 7.8 100.0 222,112
B. Ahafo 7.9 - 7.9 35.1 31.9 1.9 1.7 13.6 100.0 102,007
Northern 17.3 - 10.1 30.6 30.4 1.5 1.3 8.7 100.0 98,318
U/East 44.5 - 8.9 18.6 21.5 0.9 1.6 3.9 100.0 40,214
U/West 28.3 - 13.6 24.3 23.8 1.7 1.9 6.4 100.0 29,015
Female
Western 20.2 - 11.3 36.7 20.5 2.8 2.4 6.1 100.0 118,795
Central 13.2 - 12.3 40.6 19.9 2.3 2.2 9.6 100.0 103,551
Gt. Accra 9.5 - 10.0 32.5 26.8 4.0 2.6 14.5 100.0 242,272
Volta 21.8 - 15.2 36.7 19.0 1.9 2.2 3.2 100.0 93,400
Eastern 12.7 - 15.2 43.3 19.0 2.4 2.3 5.2 100.0 117,053
Ashanti 14.1 - 11.1 36.6 24.7 2.0 3.3 8.3 100.0 251,410
B. Ahafo 25.2 - 12.6 32.5 21.1 1.6 1.7 5.4 100.0 111,687
Northern 64.7 - 8.1 11.5 11.8 0.9 1.2 2.0 100.0 112,364
U/East 43.7 - 12.5 19.2 17.6 2.0 2.0 3.0 100.0 42,298
U/West 45.7 - 10.1 17.2 13.3 2.9 2.1 8.7 100.0 29,934
Among youth aged 25-35 years, the Northern Region is shown as having the highest
proportion with no education of 61 percent and 81 percent respectively among males and
females. Equally high proportions with no education are recorded in Upper West and Upper
51
East regions for either males or females. The region with the least proportion with no
education is Greater Accra where just six percent of the male and 13 percent of female youth
aged 25-35 years had no education. This is in marked contrast with the situation in the other
regions. At the other end of the educational continuum at the tertiary level, the youth in
Greater Accra again show a much higher proportion with tertiary education than in other
regions. This is the case for both male and female youth aged 25-35 years. Apart from the
Greater Accra Region, the male youth in Central, Ashanti and Upper West recorded more
than one in 10 of them attaining tertiary level of education while in the other regions the
proportion was less than 10 percent. Among the females, we have six percent or less of the
older youth progressing to tertiary level of education in all the regions with the exception of
Greater Accra where about 13 percent of them were recorded to have reached this level of
education.
Table 4.10: Percent distribution of youth aged 25-35 years by educational

attainment, region and sex
Male
Western 20.5 - 9.5 40.5 15.4 3.0 1.6 9.4 100.0 196,541
Central 13.9 - 10.2 44.0 14.0 3.0 1.4 13.5 100.0 151,050
Gt. Accra 6.3 - 7.3 35.3 23.9 5.8 1.6 19.9 100.0 423,285
Volta 21.1 - 12.6 37.4 16.3 2.3 2.5 7.7 100.0 144,255
Eastern 13.7 - 12.4 47.0 14.0 2.3 1.6 8.9 100.0 186,584
Ashanti 13.1 - 8.4 43.2 18.3 2.4 1.7 12.9 100.0 388,813
B. Ahafo 28.3 - 10.1 34.0 15.6 1.9 1.8 8.3 100.0 174,796
Northern 61.3 - 6.6 8.7 13.7 1.1 2.4 6.3 100.0 176,635
U/East 49.6 - 12.2 11.6 14.1 1.8 2.8 7.8 100.0 64,848
U/West 52.8 - 8.5 10.4 12.7 2.1 2.9 10.7 100.0 45,062
Female
Western 33.2 - 12.5 36.4 9.1 2.8 1.5 4.4 100.0 210,558
Central 26.3 - 15.5 39.9 8.7 2.4 1.4 5.9 100.0 181,127
Gt. Accra 13.1 - 12.0 37.1 17.7 5.4 2.0 12.7 100.0 453,636
Volta 33.6 - 16.0 34.8 8.9 2.0 1.7 3.0 100.0 174,291
Eastern 22.7 - 17.9 43.3 8.2 2.2 1.5 4.2 100.0 212,764
Ashanti 21.4 - 13.1 42.9 11.7 2.6 2.0 6.4 100.0 444,654
B. Ahafo 38.3 - 12.6 34.5 8.8 1.7 1.1 3.0 100.0 198,733
Northern 80.6 - 6.2 4.7 5.1 0.7 0.9 1.7 100.0 224,692
U/East 69.7 - 10.4 8.1 6.4 1.3 1.5 2.6 100.0 80,819
U/West 71.6 - 7.7 8.1 5.9 2.0 1.8 3.0 100.0 56,804

Children: The results on educational attainment show a huge gap between urban and rural
areas. This implies that most children in the urban areas have acquired some form of
education as compared to those in the rural areas. At the regional level, the Northern Region
recorded the highest proportion of children with no education among either males or females
52
in contrast to Greater Accra Region which had the lowest proportion of children with no
education.
Adolescents: Most of adolescents (males or females) were found to be literate in English

and Ghanaian language. It was also realized that, among the two age groups of adolescents,
10-14 and 15-19 years, the proportion literate in English and Ghanaian language was
relatively higher among males than females. Literacy in English only was higher among
younger adolescents compared to their older counterparts. Overall, literacy rate was higher
among adolescents in urban areas than among those in the rural areas. At the regional level,
adolescents in the Southern half of the country were relatively more literate in any language
than those in the Northern half.
In terms of educational attainment, there was a concentration of adolescents aged 10-14 years
at primary level of educational attainment. As the age increases, however, the results did not
suggest any big gender gap at any level of education. Gender parity was recorded at post-
secondary and tertiary level of education where the proportion that was reported for males
and females was the same. Similar to the results for children, there was a high level of
educational attainment among the urban-dwelling adolescents than their rural counterparts.
The Northern sector was more disadvantaged with respect to educational attainment among
the adolescents.
Youth: In comparison with the adolescents, the variation between the sexes in literacy
appeared to be higher among the youth aged 20-24 and 25-35 years. Most of the youth were
literate in English language only and were deficient in the local languages. Literacy rates
among the youth, just like the adolescents, depicted the three Northern regions to lag behind
with regard to English and other languages with the Northern Region recording the highest
rate of illiteracy either among the male or female youth in comparison with the other regions.
With regard to educational attainment, there were big gender gaps in educational attainment
among the youth unlike the adolescents. This depicts a clear gender imbalance in the level of
educational attainment among the youth. The proportion of the youth with no education was
also higher compared to children and adolescents. This, however, is an indication of progress
made over the years in educational attainment among young persons in Ghana.
53
CHAPTER FIVE
MARITAL STATUS, FERTILITY AND REPRODUCTIVE
HEALTH
5.1 Introduction
There has been a steady decline in fertility in Ghana since 1988 when the first demographic
and health survey was conducted. Fertility is associated with marital status particularly the
proportion of the population that is married at any given point in time. This is because
fertility of women in marital unions tends to be higher than among those not married. It is,
therefore, important to examine fertility against the backdrop of an analysis of the marital
status of the population. Such an analysis is particularly relevant when discussing young
people because at young ages, there is an expectation that a majority of them would be in
school and, therefore, would not contribute to fertility. However, this expectation is not
always met on account of either early marriage or early birth that often results in school
dropouts particularly among adolescents. Involvement in and contribution to fertility by
adolescents also occur due to the low usage of modern family planning methods among
young sexually active persons. In situations where unplanned pregnancies occur, some of the
young people in an attempt to ensure that they continue their schooling undertake to
terminate the pregnancies using all kinds of methods including some which put their lives
even at risks. Such practices also could have long lasting implications for their reproductive
health even in situations where they survive induced abortion.
Against this background, this section examines the population of young people in Ghana by
their marital status and their contribution to fertility in the country. It also analyses them with
regard to their contraceptive knowledge and use, abortion, HIV/AIDS and sexually
transmitted infections and reproductive health in general.
5.2 Marital Status

The questions in the 2010 Population and housing census on marital status were limited to
those persons aged 12 years and older. There were, therefore, no data on children less than 10
years. Consequently, the discussion in this section is limited to adolescents and youth.
Table 5.1 presents the distribution of the population of young people by age and sex.
According to the results from Table 5.1, it is clear that at the national level, as age increases,
the proportion of people who report being never married reduces while the percentage of
persons who get married increases.
Adolescents: A quick look at Table 5.1 reveals that among those aged 12-14, a relatively
higher proportion of the males (5.6%) than females (5.2%) were reported to be married. Thus,
while 94% of the females were never married, a slightly lower proportion of the males had
never married. This is quite unexpected because it is not a usual occurrence for boys of such
54
young ages to get married and could be the result of errors in the reporting in the data. The
small proportion of persons who reported to have ever been married within ages 12-14 years
is to be expected since at these ages, adolescents are expected to be in school and therefore,
even the small proportion that was reported to have ever been married is something that is not
only interesting but could be avoided. This is especially so when in Ghana, the age at married
by law is fixed at 18 years. In contrast, nine percent of adolescent females aged 15-19 years
were married compared to about 5 percent of their male counterparts. This is consistent with
findings from all the GDHS that have been conducted in Ghana from 1988 to 2008 (See GSS
et al, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009). Equally important is the result suggesting that three
percent of the adolescent females aged 15-19 years were living together. Strangely, although
quite negligible, some of the adolescents in these ages were reported to be divorced,
separated or widowed.
Youth: A much higher proportion of the youth were married compared to the adolescents. It
is, however, quite visible that the proportion of the youth reported to be married were higher
among the females than the males either for the 20-24 or 25-35 age groups. For example,
while about one in 10 of the males aged 20-24 years were married, as high as a third of their
female counterparts were reported to be married. Again, among the older youth of age 25-35
years, 64 percent of the females and 47 percent of the males were recorded as married. For
the youth described as living together, males and females of age 25-35 years recorded the
same proportion (about 9%). In contrast, one in 10 of the younger female youth of 20-24
years had married relative to only about four percent of their male counterparts. We also find
a similar result among the population of 15-24 years just like in the case of the adolescents.
Again, as expected, relatively higher proportions of the females than males were reported to
have ever been married and i.e., classified as divorced, widowed or separated. By age 35
years only one in five of the females and two in five of the males had never been married in
the country. This suggests marriage is almost universal in Ghana.
Table 5.1: Distribution of population of young persons by marital status and age-sex
Marital Status 12-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Never married 93.9 94.2 94.2 86.8 84.3 54.7 41.2 19.7
Living
together 0.5 0.6 0.7 3.2 3.9 10.0 8.9 8.9
Married 5.6 5.2 4.8 9.2 11.0 32.5 46.8 64.2
Separated 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.4 0.4 1.4 1.3 2.6
Divorced 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 1.1 1.4 3.3
Widowed 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.4 0.3 1.3
Total % 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Number 846,580 831,301 1,311,112 1,298,877 1,100,727 1,222,764 1,951,869 2,238,078
55
In Table 5.2, a comparison is made between young persons in urban and rural areas with
respect to marital status. The results present interesting scenarios across gender and urban-
rural residence.
Adolescents: In the urban areas, the results of the analysis indicate that a slightly higher
proportion of the male adolescents aged 12-14 years reported to be married compared to the
females, which as earlier pointed out is quite unexpected at that young age for the males. In
contrast, male and female adolescents of the same ages behave similarly in that we have the
same proportion indicating that they were married. By urban rural residence, however, there
is a clear difference between adolescents of 12-14 years who were married in urban areas and
their counterparts in the rural areas. For example, about six percent of the males in the rural
areas were married compared to five percent of their counterparts in the urban areas. The
gender gap increases even higher comparing the females in urban to rural areas. Here, about
twice the proportion of the rural-dwelling females aged 15-19 years were reported to be
married compared to their counterparts in the urban areas. In the rural areas, more than twice
of the females as males were married. The differences are influenced by variations in
education which is higher in the urban than rural areas and also higher among the males than
the females.
Youth: A similar pattern is shown in Table 5.2 with respect to marital status among the youth
as was with the adolescents. The older youth recorded a higher proportion of their members
to be married than their younger counterparts and this is true for either males or females.
From Table 5.2, we find once again that higher proportions of the youth groups in the rural
than urban areas were married. For example, while 16% of the rural male youth aged 20-24
years were married, 45 percent of the female counterparts were reported to be married. In a
similar vein, as high as 73 percent of the females of age 25-35 years were married in the rural
area compared to 56 percent of the males in the same age group. In the urban area, we also
find that while less than 10 percent of the male youth aged 20-24 years were reported to be
married, the figure among their female counterparts in the same urban area was 23 percent.
Among urban-dwelling youth aged 25-35 years, on the other hand, two in five of the males
and almost 60 percent of the females were married. The gender and spatial variation seen
among the adolescents regarding marital status is equally valid among the two youth groups
between the urban and rural areas in the country.
56
Table 5.2: Distribution of population of young persons by marital status,
type of locality and age-sex
Type of Male
Locality Never Living Married Separated Divorced Widowed
married together
Urban
12-14 94.1 0.6 5.4 - - -
15-19 95.0 0.7 4.1 0.1 0.1 0.0
20-24 88.8 3.4 7.3 0.3 0.2 0.1
25-35 48.7 8.9 40.0 1.0 1.1 0.2
Rural
12-14 93.7 0.5 5.7 - - -
15-19 93.5 0.7 5.6 0.1 0.1 0.1
20-24 78.1 4.6 16.3 0.5 0.4 0.1
25-35 31.1 9.0 56.0 1.6 1.9 0.4
Female
Urban
12-14 94.7 0.6 4.8 - - -
15-19 90.4 2.6 6.4 0.3 0.2 0.2
20-24 65.5 9.1 23.3 1.1 0.8 0.3
25-35 26.7 8.8 57.4 2.6 3.3 1.2
Rural
12-14 93.7 0.7 5.7 - - -
15-19 82.5 3.9 12.6 0.5 0.3 0.2
20-24 39.5 11.3 45.4 1.8 1.4 0.5
25-35 10.7 9.0 72.9 2.6 3.3 1.5
At this stage, the analysis further examines the regional differences in marital status between
the males and females who are adolescents and youth in Ghana. The results have been
presented in Tables 5.3 to 5.6.
Adolescents: Table 5.3 presents marital status of adolescents aged 12-14 years by region.
The table shows some results that are quite difficult to expect where in all the regions we
have between four and seven percent of the adolescent males of 12-14 years reported to be
married at the time of the census, the highest being recorded in the Northern Region while the
lowest was in Brong Ahafo. Similarly, the highest proportion of the females adolescents
aged 12-14 years reported to be married were in the Northern Region and the lowest in Brong
Ahafo. It is also interesting to note that with the exception of the three northern regions
where the proportion of young adolescents who were married was higher for the female than
the male, in the rest of the regions, the reverse was the case, a finding which defies the known
reality where women are more likely to be married than males at very young ages in the
country.
57
Table 5.3: Distribution of population aged 12-14 years by marital status, region and sex
Male
Region Never Living Married Separated Divorced Widowed
married together
Western 92.9 0.4 6.7 - - -
Central 93.5 0.7 5.8 - - -
Greater Accra 92.5 0.9 6.6 - - -
Volta 94.0 0.5 5.5 - - -
Eastern 94.7 0.7 4.6 - - -
Ashanti 94.6 0.7 4.7 - - -
Brong Ahafo 95.6 0.5 3.9 - - -
Northern 92.4 0.2 7.4 - - -
U/East 95.1 0.1 4.8 - - -
U/West 92.6 0.1 7.3 - - -
Female
Western 93.4 0.5 6.1 - - -
Central 94.3 0.8 5.0 - - -
Greater Accra 93.6 0.7 5.6 - - -
Volta 94.1 0.7 5.3 - - -
Eastern 95.0 0.8 4.2 - - -
Ashanti 95.1 0.7 4.2 - - -
Brong Ahafo 95.6 0.6 3.8 - - -
Northern 91.6 0.2 8.2 - - -
Upper East 95.0 0.1 4.9 - - -
Upper West 92.3 0.2 7.5 - - -
With reference to adolescents aged 15-19 years, Table 5.4 shows that as expected, females
were more likely to be married compared to males in each of the regions in the country. The
three northern regions have the highest proportions of married adolescents 15-19 years
compared to other regions either for males or females. As high as almost 18 percent of the
females aged 15-19 years in the Northern Region were married compared to just 6 percent in
Greater Accra. Equally high proportions were married in Upper East, Upper West, Volta and
Western regions where 10 percent or higher of the female adolescents aged 15-19 years were
reported to be married. It must also be pointed out the interesting picture where the
proportion of male adolescents aged 12-14 years reported to be married was higher than their
counterparts aged 15-19 years in all regions except in the three northern regions. This is
unexpected because older adolescents are naturally expected to be married more than their
younger counterparts. There is, therefore, a strong reason to believe that this could have
resulted from some data errors with regard to adolescents 12-14 years.
58
Male
Region Never Living Married Separated Divorced Widowed
married Together
Western 93.7 0.7 5.4 0.1 0.1 0.1
Central 94.6 0.9 4.3 0.1 0.1 0.0
Greater Accra 94.4 0.8 4.6 0.1 0.1 0.0
Volta 93.9 0.7 5.1 0.2 0.1 0.1
Eastern 94.8 1.0 3.9 0.1 0.1 0.1
Ashanti 95.5 0.8 3.5 0.1 0.1 0.0
Brong Ahafo 95.4 0.8 3.6 0.1 0.1 0.0
Northern 91.2 0.3 8.3 0.1 0.0 0.0
Upper East 94.1 0.2 5.5 0.1 0.0 0.1
Upper West 92.0 0.2 7.6 0.1 0.1 0.1
Female
Western 85.6 3.2 10.2 0.5 0.4 0.2
Central 87.2 4.3 7.6 0.5 0.3 0.2
Greater Accra 90.7 2.3 6.3 0.3 0.2 0.2
Volta 83.8 3.2 11.9 0.6 0.2 0.2
Eastern 86.2 5.1 7.8 0.5 0.3 0.2
Ashanti 89.0 3.7 6.5 0.3 0.3 0.1
Brong Ahafo 86.6 4.8 7.8 0.4 0.3 0.1
Northern 81.1 0.9 17.6 0.2 0.1 0.2
Upper East 85.3 0.6 13.3 0.3 0.2 0.3
Upper West 84.4 0.6 14.3 0.2 0.1 0.3
Youth: The distribution of population aged 20-24 and 25-35 years shows a much higher
proportion reporting to be married at the time of the census compared with adolescents
discussed earlier. Also, as expected, higher proportions of the older youth 25-35 years in all
regions were married compared to their younger age group 20-24 years. Once again, a
relatively higher proportion of females than males were recorded as married in all regions in
Tables 5.5 and 5.6. It is observed that among either the 20-24 or 25-35 year-groups, the
Northern Region has the highest proportion of married males or females with Greater Accra
recording the lowest proportion married in each case. The reason for the disparity between
the Greater Accra and Northern Region could stem from the predominantly agrarian economy
(made up largely of crop farming and animal husbandry) in the north which requires more
hands, thereby influencing early marriages in Northern Region. This compares with the case
of Greater Accra Region which is the industrial and commercial hub of the country attracting
more educated youth who are more likely to postpone marriage until they are in a position to
properly cater for a family in the city.
The very high proportion of the youth groups particularly in the three northern regions that
were married could also be the result of low educational attainment particularly among the
females which at times is often caused by early marriage that tends to deny many young
59
women higher education. It is, however, not too strange to find a high proportion of youth
groups 25 years and over to be married since by then a majority of them would have
completed higher levels of schooling, and therefore, making marriage less of an interference
in the pursuit of their educational career goal.
It has to be pointed out that in the three northern regions where the proportion of married
youth was highest, the practice of “living together” or being in “consensual unions” does not
appear to be common compared to the other regions. Just about one percent of the youth
aged 25-35 years in the three northern regions were recorded as “living together” with a
sexual partner compared to as high as between 13% and 14% in the Eastern Region among
males and females respectively.
Male Female
Never Living Married Separated Divorced Widowed Never Living Married Separated Divorced Widowed
Region married Together married Together
Western 82.3 4.0 12.8 0.4 0.4 0.1 51.1 8.7 36.5 1.6 1.8 0.4
Central 83.7 5.3 10.2 0.4 0.3 0.1 52.7 13.3 30.5 1.5 1.5 0.5
Greater
Accra 89.3 3.3 6.8 0.3 0.2 0.1 70.0 8.4 19.7 1.0 0.6 0.3
Volta 80.9 3.6 14.5 0.6 0.4 0.1 46.0 9.2 41.1 2.1 1.1 0.6
Eastern 82.3 6.3 10.6 0.5 0.3 0.1 51.1 15.7 29.8 1.9 1.1 0.4
Ashanti 87.2 4.6 7.6 0.3 0.2 0.1 58.9 12.7 25.6 1.3 1.1 0.4
Brong
Ahafo 84.6 5.1 9.5 0.4 0.3 0.1 49.8 14.2 32.8 1.5 1.4 0.3
Northern 76.7 1.1 21.5 0.3 0.2 0.2 39.3 1.8 57.0 0.8 0.6 0.5
U/East 80.6 0.7 17.6 0.5 0.4 0.2 44.7 1.5 51.3 1.2 0.7 0.7
U/West 81.6 0.7 17.1 0.3 0.2 0.1 48.3 1.9 48.1 0.7 0.4 0.7
Male Female
Never Living Married Separated Divorced Widowed Never Living Married Separated Divorced Widowed
Region married Together married Together
Western 36.2 7.1 53.0 1.4 2.0 0.3 16.6 6.4 68.7 2.5 4.6 1.2
Central 36.0 11.2 49.1 1.3 2.0 0.3 16.7 11.1 62.8 3.0 5.0 1.5
Greater
Accra 51.6 9.2 37.1 1.1 0.9 0.2 32.6 9.0 52.0 2.8 2.7 0.9
Volta 35.3 7.9 52.7 2.0 1.7 0.4 14.4 8.3 69.4 3.4 2.9 1.5
Eastern 37.6 13.3 45.0 1.8 1.8 0.3 17.7 13.7 59.9 3.3 4.0 1.4
Ashanti 45.1 11.8 40.5 1.1 1.3 0.2 21.8 12.2 58.5 2.5 3.8 1.2
Brong
Ahafo 39.1 11.1 46.5 1.3 1.7 0.3 14.9 11.6 65.8 2.4 4.0 1.4
Northern 32.9 1.4 63.5 1.0 0.9 0.3 10.4 1.1 84.9 1.2 1.3 1.1
U/East 33.9 1.1 61.5 1.5 1.5 0.5 11.4 1.0 80.8 2.1 1.4 3.3
U/West 34.9 1.4 61.2 0.9 1.1 0.5 12.0 1.1 81.9 1.5 1.1 2.4
60
5.3 Trends in Adolescent and Youth Fertility in Ghana
According to the Guttmacher Institute (2004), 12 percent of adolescents 15-19 years and one
percent of their male counterparts have ever had a child in Ghana. The Institute further
reports that one in 10 births occurs among adolescent mothers. This is quite evident in all the
GDHS reports.
Linked to unplanned pregnancies among adolescents is abortion which may put the young
pregnant woman at reproductive health risks. According to the Guttmacher Institute (2004),
16 percent of women and 11 percent of men 12-24 years in Ghana who have ever had sex
have been involved in terminating a pregnancy. Furthermore, since a substantial proportion of
abortion among this group takes place outside modern health facilities without professionally
trained health officers, post-abortion complications, including even death in extreme cases,
cannot be downplayed. For example, as high as 30% of women and 39% of men 12-24 years
in Ghana reported that the last abortion they were involved in took place at home
(Guttmacher Institute, 2004).
According to UNICEF (2009), more than 2.6 million young people aged 10 to 24 years
worldwide die each year mostly due to preventable causes. About 16 million girls aged 15 to
19 years give birth every year while young people 15 to 24 years old accounted for 40
percent of all new HIV infections among adults in 2009. An estimated 150 million young
people use tobacco worldwide. On youth unemployment, UNICEF (2009) further notes that
with 81 million young people out of work globally in 2009, youth unemployment remains a
concern in almost every country. This is due to the development where the labour market is
increasingly requiring skills that many young people do not possess. This not only results in a
waste of young people’s talents, but also in a lost opportunity for the communities in which
they live. In many countries large teenage populations are a unique demographic asset that is
often overlooked. By investing in the education and training of adolescents, countries can
reap a large and productive workforce, contributing significantly to the growth of national
economies.
The Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys (GDHS) over the past two decades have shown
clearly that the fertility behaviour of the population is changing. The total fertility rate (TFR)
has declined from 6.4 in 1988 to 5.5 in 1993 and further down to 4.4 in both 1998 and 2003
and in 2008, it reached 4.0 (Figure 5.1).
61
Figure 5.1: Trend in Total Fertility Rate in Ghana, 1988-2008
7.0 6.4
5.5
6.0
5.0 4.4 4.4
4.0
4.0
TFR
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
1988 1993 1998 2003 2008
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, GDHS 1988-2008
Adolescents: The contribution of adolescents and youth to the total fertility rate cannot be
over emphasized. Figure 5.2 shows the percent contribution of adolescents and youth to the
total fertility rate (TFR) between 1988 and 2008. From the Figure, although the contribution
of adolescents to TFR increased from 9.7 percent in 1988 to 10.8 percent in 1993, it has since
seen a gradual reduction and came down to 8.2% in 2008.
Youth: Even though the percentage contribution by the youth to fertility is generally higher
than that by adolescents, it has over the years taken the same trend as the adolescent fertility.
The contribution of the youth aged 20-24 increased from 20.2% in 1988 to 21% in both 1993
and 2003 and declined slightly to 19.8% and further increased to 21.8% in 2008. Among
those aged 25-29 years, however, their contribution increased steadily from 21.7% to reach a
high of 25.6% in 2008 (Figure 5.2). It is also seen that the pattern of contribution of the youth
group aged 30-34 years is similar to their counterparts of age 20-24 years. The contribution of
the youth to fertility in Ghana has, therefore, been quite substantial in the past two decades.
This consistently high contribution of adolescents and youth to childbearing has potentially
negative demographic and social consequences. For instance, births to teenage mothers (age
15-19) have been found to have the highest infant and child mortality rate in Ghana (Ghana
Statistical Service et al, 1994 and 1999). This may be due to the fact that these young mothers
are more likely to experience complications during pregnancy and delivery than older
mothers, resulting in higher morbidity and mortality for both themselves and their children.
This high rate of adolescent and youth fertility is also attributable to factors including their
early entry into first sex, first birth and low contraceptive use.
62
Figure 5.2: Percent contribution to fertility by adolescents and youth in Ghana,
1988-2008
30.0
25.6
25.0 22.7 23.6
21.7 22.2
21.1 20.5 21.8
20.0 20.2 21.0
19.8 21.5 15-19
19.5 20.1
19.4
PERCENT
20-24
15.0
25-29
10.0 30-34
10.8
9.7 9.9
8.3 8.2
5.0
0.0
1988 1993 1998 2003 2008
5.4 Age at First Sex

Age at first marriage is sometimes used as a proxy for a woman’s first exposure to sexual
intercourse but these two events often may not happen at the same time due to pre-marital
sexual activity that many young people engage in prior to marriage. Age at first sex therefore
is a key factor in determining a woman’s exposure to sexual intercourse and has the potential
to influence one’s fertility.
Sexual debut in the country has been quite early. Median age at first sex was reported to be
18.4 years in Ghana and varies between the rural (17.9) and the urban (18.8) areas (See
GDHS Report for 2008). This means that first sex tends to take place among the Ghanaian
population when they are in their teens. It is also reported that sexual coercion is quite
common in Ghana with one in four sexually active young women reporting to have ever been
forced to have sex against their will (The Guttmacher Institute, 2004). Thus, as they are not
ready for such sexual encounters, the likelihood of being exposed to either an unwanted
pregnancy or infection by HIV or STIs is quite high since coerced sexual encounters often do
not benefit from any form of protection against these risks.
As already noted, early childbearing by youth or adolescent females has social, health and
economic costs which the adolescents in particular may not be able to cope with
physiologically by virtue of their young ages. Pregnancy of a still-growing girl means an
increase in nutritional requirements, not only for the growth of the foetus, but also for the
mother herself (Friedman, 1985). Figures 5.3a and b show the age at first sex among
adolescents and youth in Ghana in 1998 and 2008 respectively.
63
Figure 5.3a: Percent of adolescents and youth in Ghana having sex at exact ages, 1998
Age at First Sex 1998
100.0 93.1
86.5
81.4
80.0 87.3
15-19
56.7 76.3 89.9
60.0 76.1 20-24
53.6
40.0 25-29
50.4
30-34
20.0 10.4
7.3 9.4 11.4
0.0
15 18 20 22 25
Sex at exact age
Figure 5.3b: Percent of adolescents and youth in Ghana having sex at exact ages, 2008
Age at First Sex 2008

100.0 90.8
80.5
71.4 87.0
80.0
79.3
60.0 66.1 15-19
43.7 64.6
41.2 20-24
40.0
39.7 25-29
20.0 30-34
8.2
7.2 9.3
6.6
0.0
15 18 20 22 25
Sex at exact age
5.5 Age at First Birth

One of the factors that determine the level of fertility in a population is the age at first birth.
Women who marry early are typically exposed to the risk of pregnancy for a longer period,
especially when there is little or no contraceptive use. Thus, early childbearing generally
leads to a larger family size than later onset of childbearing. Figures 5.4a, b and c present
information on adolescents and youth in Ghana by age at first birth respectively in 1988,
1998 and 2008.
64
Figure 5.4a: Percent of adolescents and youth by age at first birth, 1988
30.0 28.0 27.2
25.0 23.4 22.6

22.3 22.6
20.0 15-19
17.7
PERCENT
15.4
15.0 17.1 20-24
20.6
25-29
14.5
10.0
6.4 12.6 5.7 7.0 30-34
5.0 4.8 4.4 4.7
2.4
1.1
0.0
<15 15-17 18-19 20-21 22-24 25+
AGE AT FIRST BIRTH
Figure 5.4b: Percent of adolescents and youth by age at first birth, 1998
25.0
21.3 23.1
20.0 18.9
20.7
19.4 15.7
18.8
15.0 16.9 15-19
11.7
17.9 20-24
PERCENT
10.0 25-29
7.2 14.9 30-34
5.2 14.8
4.2
5.0 7.8
2.6 5.5
2.0
0.3
0.0
<15 15-17 18-19 20-21 22-24 25+
AGE AT FIRST BIRTH
65
Figure 5.4c: Percent of adolescents and youth by age at first birth, 2008
80.0
77.1
70.0
59.0
60.0
69.4 15-19
50.0 40.5 20-24
PERCENT
51.8
40.0
36.7 25-29
30.0 24.7
32.2 30-34
20.0 17.5
15.8
10.0 2.2 4.9
2.3
0.0
15 18 20 22 25
BIRTH BY EXACT AGE
Figures 5.4a, b and c show a decline from 1.1 percent to 0.3 percent of women aged 15-19
that have had their first birth before age 15 between 1988 and 1998. Similar trend of
reduction in percent of women having their first birth is observed for most part of the younger
age groups between 1988 and 1998. On the other hand, Figures 5.4a & b indicate an increase
in the age at first sex reflected in the higher proportion of the older youth groups having their
first births later. For instance, first births at 25 years and more increased from 4.7 percent to
7.8 percent for women in the age group 25-29 years and from 7.0 percent to 11.7 percent for
women within the ages of 30-34 years between 1988 and 1998. Figure 5.4c also shows that a
higher proportion of the youth had their first births by exact age 25 years.
The 2010 Population and Housing Census collected information on births to women in the
past 12 months prior to the census. The information collected defines the current fertility
among women. Table 5.7 shows an analysis of the data on fertility regarding the contribution
of young persons to current fertility by age group.
Adolescents: From the table, it is seen that 6.6 percent of total fertility in the country was
contributed by adolescents of age 12-19 years. The breakdown by locality shows a relatively
higher contribution by adolescents to fertility in the rural than urban areas in the country. This
is on a low side compared to the results from the GDHS which indicated about 10% of
fertility in Ghana to be the contribution of adolescents. The difference between the urban and
rural areas is also influenced by differences in education and access to family planning
services which is higher in the urban compared to rural areas.
Youth: The contribution of the youth is higher compared to that for the adolescents as
depicted in Table 5.7. Overall, the youth contributed to as high as two-thirds of all births
reported in the last 12 months prior to the census. Not much variation, however, exists
66
between the urban and rural areas. The pattern shows that fertility reached its peak in the age
group 25-29 years as the age group that contributed the highest proportion of all births in the
country. A similar pattern exists between the urban and rural areas. However, the contribution
of the youth group aged 30-34 was higher than the 20-24 year-olds in the urban areas but the
reverse was the case in the rural areas.
Table 5.7: Percent contribution of young persons to births in last 12 months

Age group Total Urban Rural
Births % Births % Births %
12 - 14 917 0.1 343 0.1 574 0.2
15 - 19 40,307 6.5 14,919 5.1 25,388 7.7
20 - 24 126,417 20.3 52,137 17.8 74,280 22.5
25 - 29 167,306 26.8 82,006 27.9 85,300 25.8
30 - 34 130,724 21.0 67,100 22.9 63,624 19.3
Total Births 623,700 - 293,566 - 330,134 -
Adolescents: As Table 5.8 presents, the contribution of adolescents aged 12-19 years in
Central and Eastern regions was the highest, i.e., about 8 percent of current fertility in each of
these two regions was contributed by adolescents. This compares with about 4 percent
recorded in the Greater Accra Region as the lowest. Adolescents in the Northern Region
contributed the lowest to fertility after their counterparts in Greater Accra. The rest of the
regions recorded between five and eight percent of fertility in the past 12 months before the
census.
Youth: Among the youth, the highest contribution to fertility was among those aged 25-29
years in each region and ranges between 26 percent and 27 percent. Also, in all regions, the
contribution of adolescents to fertility among the youth group aged 20-24 years was higher
than among those of 30-34 years except in four regions namely, Greater Accra, Ashanti,
Northern and Upper West where the reverse was the case. Therefore, while the other six
regions demonstrate an early fertility peak, a late peak is exhibited by the youth in the four
regions.
Table 5.8: Percent contribution of young persons to births in last 12 months by region
Age Western Central Greater Volta Eastern Ashanti Brong Northern Upper Upper
group Accra Ahafo East West
12 - 14 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.2
15 - 19 6.8 8.7 3.7 8.2 8.7 5.7 7.3 5.1 7.0 5.4
20 - 24 21.3 22.5 15.4 22.0 21.9 20.1 21.6 19.7 21.9 19.7
25 - 29 27.2 26.2 27.8 25.6 25.7 27.8 26.9 26.4 26.0 25.6
30 - 34 19.5 19.6 24.1 19.9 18.9 21.9 20.6 21.0 19.9 21.4
Total
births 64,623 59,001 93,052 52,094 67,900 124,429 61,426 60,590 24,059 16,526
67
5.6 Children Ever Born
Information on children ever born was collected in the 2010 Population and Housing Census
from all women. This covered all births by women as at the time of the census. As expected,
the total number of births ever had in Ghana was higher in the rural areas than the urban
(Table 5.9).
Adolescents: An analysis of the results presented in the table suggests minimal contributions
of adolescents to overall number of children ever born. This is expected because adolescents
who had begun children were just at the beginning and could not have had many births to
demonstrate any significant contribution to all births by all women in the country.
Consequently, their contribution is less than one percent. Similarly, the mean number of
children ever born to adolescents is quite small: 1.3 and 1.5 respectively among adolescents
aged 12-14 and 15-19 years and there is virtually no variation by urban-rural residence.
Youth: Among the youth, Table 5.9 shows that as expected, the contribution to number of
children ever born by the youth increases with age and ranges from a low of about six percent
among the youth aged 20-24 through 12 percent among the 25-29 year-olds to 16 percent for
the 30-34 year group. The results further reveal some variations between urban and rural
areas. Here, the contribution of the youth among the 20-24 and 25-29 year groups is higher in
the rural areas compared to the urban. In contrast, however, the contribution of the 30-34
year-olds to children ever born in the urban areas was relatively higher than that in the rural
areas. This may imply possible postponement of births until later ages by women in the urban
areas compared with their counterparts in the rural areas. The mean number of children ever
born also increases with higher age of the youth reaching 4.2 children ever born among the
oldest youth aged 30-34 years which is higher in the rural (4.7) than the urban (3.6) areas.
Table 5.9: Contribution of young persons to children ever born and mean number
of children ever born
Percent contribution to CEB Mean CEB
Age group Total Urban Rural Total Urban Rural
12 - 14 0.03 0.03 0.03 1.3 1.3 1.2
15 - 19 0.9 0.8 1.0 1.5 1.4 1.5
20 - 24 5.6 5.1 6.0 2.2 2.1 2.4
25 - 29 11.8 11.6 12.0 3.1 2.7 3.4
30 - 34 16.0 16.3 15.8 4.2 3.6 4.7
Total Births 14,991,092 6,740,663 8,250,429 - - -
The regional variation in the contribution of adolescents and youth groups to the number of
children ever born is shown in Table 5.10. From the table, we find that the contribution of
adolescents to life-time fertility in each region is quite insignificant in that in each case we
have one percent or less of all life-time fertility contributed by adolescents aged 15-19 years
68
with virtually no contribution in percentage terms by those of age 12-14 years on account of
their very young ages.
Youth: In each region, as expected, the contribution of the youth to life-time fertility
increases with higher age of the youth. Among the youth 20-24 years, the highest
contribution to life-time fertility was recorded in the Northern Region (6.6%) and the lowest
was in Greater Accra and Upper East regions (5% each). At the same time, among older
youth aged 30-34 years, the Northern Region (18.8%) followed by Greater Accra (17.2%)
recorded the highest percent contribution to life-time fertility with the least contribution
reported in the Eastern Region (14.3%). There is slight variation by region and age of the
youth as shown in Table 5.10.
Table 5.10: Percent contribution of young persons to children ever born by region
Age Western Central Greater Volta Eastern Ashanti Brong Northern Upper Upper
group Accra Ahafo East West
12 - 14 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
15 - 19 1.0 1.0 0.7 1.1 1.0 0.8 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.8
20 - 24 6.1 5.5 5.0 5.7 5.6 5.3 5.8 6.6 5.0 4.7
25 - 29 12.5 11.0 12.2 11.1 10.9 11.7 11.9 14.0 10.7 10.6
30 - 34 16.0 14.6 17.2 14.9 14.3 16.1 16.0 18.8 15.5 16.5
Total
births 1,463,121 1,458,731 1,932,131 1,338,642 1,666,499 2,843,057 1,480,548 1,606,954 719,901 481,508
5.7 Contraceptive Use

Adolescent sexuality in most of sub-Saharan Africa has raised a lot of eyebrows in view of
low contraceptive use, unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections including
HIV/AIDS. One of the more serious challenges facing family planning programmes
particularly in sub-Saharan Africa is to address the reproductive health needs of adolescents
as they initiate sexual activity and are exposed to the risk of pregnancy (Blanc and Way,
1998).
Women aged 15-19 years in Ghana report the lowest contraceptive use. According to the
2008 GDHS, use of any modern of contraception was respectively 5.2 percent and 7.6
percent for all female adolescents and currently married adolescents of 15-19 years compared
to the national averages of 13.5 percent and 16.6 percent. The resultant challenge is that of
many unplanned or unwanted pregnancies which on account of their earlier occurrences, put
many of them at risk of maternal mortality. Contraceptive Use therefore remains another key
factor that determines the fertility of adolescents and youth in Ghana.
Contraceptive use among currently married women for any modern methods has seen some
improvement both for adolescents (15-19 years) and youth (20-24 years). The adolescent
contraceptive use even though decreased slightly from 5 percent in 1993 to 4.8 percent in
1998; it had increased to 14.8 percent by 2008. On the other hand, modern contraceptive
method usage among the youth group 20-24 years increased from 8 percent in 1993 to 10.4
percent and 13.6 percent respectively in 1998 and 2008 according to the GDHS reports.
69
Similarly, youth contraceptive use in Ghana has also seen some increase from 8.3 percent in
1993 to 13.6 percent in 2008. The Millennium Development Goal 5b aims at improving
maternal health and with a specific target of universal access to reproductive health. In order
for Ghana to achieve some of these targets conscious efforts should be made to address some
of the challenges that affect the fertility of the youth and adolescents like reducing unmet
needs and awareness creation on the need for contraceptive use.

Adolescents: Among adolescents of age 12-14 years, a relatively higher proportion of the
males than females were reported to be married. This was found to be unexpected and could
be attributed to data error. As age increases, more adolescent females got married than the
males and this is in line with GDHS reports that suggest that females marry earlier than
males. In the urban areas, the results of the analysis indicated that a slightly higher proportion
of the male adolescents reported to be married compared to the females. More than twice of
the females as their male counterparts living in rural areas were married. The highest
proportion of adolescents reported to be married was in the Northern Region while the lowest
was recorded in Brong Ahafo. Adolescents contribute to fertility in the country and yet, their
contraceptive use has been low compared with the rest of the population. This exposes them
to risks of early unplanned childbearing and sexually transmitted infections.
Youth: A much higher proportion of the youth were married compared to the adolescents.
However, the proportion of the youth groups that were reported to be married was higher
among the females than the males. The older youth recorded a higher proportion of their
members to be married than their younger counterparts and this is true for either males or
females. As expected, higher proportions of the older youth 25-35 years in all regions were
married compared to their counterparts who were younger. The contribution of youth to
current fertility in Ghana has been high quite high and was recorded to be 20% or higher in
all the youth groups. In contrast, their contribution to life-time fertility was below 10% in all
regions with the Northern Region recording the highest contribution while the lowest was in
Greater Accra and Eastern regions. Contraceptive use has seen some increases in the recent
past among the youth but the records indicate that use has been relatively lower compared
with older persons in the population with a variation across the regions.
70
CHAPTER SIX
HEALTH AND MORTALITY
6.1 Introduction
Children in Ghana are exposed to a high risk of death or disability resulting from poor
nutrition which put many of them in a vicious cycle of illness and under-nutrition (UNICEF,
2009). For example, the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) report shows
that 28 percent of children under-five are stunted or considered too short for their age and this
varies from a high of 38 percent in the Eastern Region to a low of 14 percent in the Greater
Accra Region (Ghana Statistical Service et al., 2009a). At the same time, anaemia prevalence
is reported to be quite high among children in Ghana with more than three of every four
children diagnosed to be anaemic in 2008.
Trends in infant, child and under-five mortality suggest that although Ghana has recorded
appreciable declines in these mortality indicators, further improvement is required both at the
national level and particularly in some of the regions where the results are quite bad. At the
national level, infant mortality is reported to have declined steadily from 77 per 1,000 live
births in 1988 to 50 in 2008 although there was a rise from 57 in 1998 to 64 in 2003 (Ghana
Statistical Service et al., 2009b). From the same report, we find a similar decline in under-
five mortality but with a rise in 2003.
Furthermore, trends in child health with respect to coverage of vaccination of children 12-23
months old according to the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) reports suggest
that although there has been substantial progress over the years, one in five children born in
Ghana does not receive full vaccination against childhood diseases (Ghana Statistical Service
et al., 2009a). The same report shows that about two in five births are not delivered by skilled
health personnel, a situation that presents dire consequences for both mother and infant
during deliveries outside a health facility or outside the purview of trained health service
providers.
6.2 Infant Mortality

Measures of mortality are used for a number of reasons. For instance, infant and childhood
rates are often used as broad indicators of social development or as more specific indicators
of the health status of the population. Studies of mortality such as its age pattern and socio-
economic and demographic differentials are used to highlight factors that promote child
survival as well as those that are detrimental to it. Consequently, mortality analyses are
helpful in identifying policy directions for health programmes and advancing child survival
efforts.
Figure 6.1 shows the trend in infant mortality between 1988 and 2011. Since 1988, Ghana’s
Infant Mortality Rate has seen a marked decline even though it is still high compared to rates
71
that found in some sub-Saharan African countries. The 1998 Ghana Demographic and Health
Survey (GDHS) showed a decline in this critical health indicator, dropping from a high of 77
infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 1988 to 66 infant deaths in 1993, then to 57 in 1998. In
2003, infant mortality increased again to 64 deaths per 1,000 live births until it dropped again
to 50 live births per 1,000 in 2008. Unfortunately, this has been reported to have increased
again to 53 infant deaths per 1,000 live births according to the 2011 Multiple Indicator
Cluster Survey (MICS).
Figure 6.1: Trend in Infant Mortality Rate, 1988-2011
90
80
77
70
66 64
60
57
53
50 50
40
30
20
10
0
1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 2011*
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, GDHS 1988-2008, MICS 2011
There are also variations in infant mortality by locality as shown in Figure 6.2. Infant
Mortality levels in rural areas are considerably and consistently higher than in urban areas.
For instance, in 2011, infant mortality in rural areas was 56 deaths per 1,000 live births
compared with 46 deaths per 1,000 live births in urban areas for the same period and this has
been the situation over the years.
72
Figure 6.2: Infant Mortality by Locality
100
90
86.6
80 82.2
Infant deaths per 1,000 live
70 67.5 70
66.9
60
54.9 55 56 56
50 49 46
40 42.6
30
20
10
0
1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 2011
Rural Urban
Infant mortality rates also vary substantially among regions in Ghana from 138.3 deaths per
1,000 live births in 1988 for Central Region compared to 57.7 per 1,000 live births in the
same year for Greater Accra (Figure 6.3). The 2011 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey
indicates that Central Region records an infant mortality rate of 55 deaths per 1,000 live
births whereas Greater Accra recorded 37 deaths per 1,000 live births. Some of these
differentials may also be attributed to cultural factors that vary in these regions.
Figure 6.3: Infant mortality by region, 1988-2011
140
Infant Mortality per 1000 live
120
100 1988
80 1993
60 1998
40 2003
2008
20
births
2011
0
73
6.3 Childhood Mortality
This is the probability of a child dying between the first and the fifth birthday. According to a
UN report (Levels and Trends in child mortality 2012), in 2011 6.9 million children under the
age of five died worldwide, with about half of these deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.
This situation poses a threat to national development. Child mortality in Ghana has witnessed
a significant decline over the years, from a high of 84 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1988 to
its current level of 31 per 1000 live births in 2011. Figure 6.4 shows the trend in child
mortality rate from 1988 to 2011.
Figure 6.4: Child mortality rate, 1988-2011
90
Child deaths per 1,00 live births
84
80
70
60 57
54
50 50
40
31
30 31
20
10
0
1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 2011
From Figure 6.4, the period between 1988 and 1993 was the period when Ghana witnessed a
relatively higher decline in child mortality, dropping from 84 per 1000 live birth to 57 per
1000 live births. The period 2003-2008 also witnessed a significant decline, from 50 per
1000 live births to 31 per 1000 live births. This figure, however, remained constant from
2008 to 2011. Over the 23 year period from 1988 to 2011, there has been a 63 percent decline
in child mortality rate in the country. This could largely be a result of health policy
interventions, like an increase in the rate of immunization against childhood killer diseases,
introduction of mosquito nets and extensive education on good hygiene practices and other
healthy practices to curb the leading child killers like malaria, diarrheal and pneumonia.
Available statistics (GDHS, MICS) show that rural children face a higher risk of dying than
their counterparts in the urban areas. This could be due to a host of factors such as differences
in parents’ level of education, economic status, etc. Over the years, there have been marked
differences in rural-urban child mortality rates in Ghana. Figure 6.5 shows the differences in
the level of child mortality in Ghana by locality of residence.
74
Figure 6.5: Child mortality rate by locality, 1988-2011
90
Child deaths per 1,000 live
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 2011
Rural Urban
Child mortality rate in rural Ghana has witness a consistent decline over the years, until the
period between 2008 and 2011, where there was a slight setback. It increased from 36 in 2008
to 40 per 1000 live births in 2011. Compared to urban Ghana, rural Ghana’s rate is higher and
kept reducing at a slower pace. For example, the highest rate of reduction was only in 2008
where it reduced by 16. Although urban Ghana witnessed significant changes, this has
fluctuated. In 1998, it reduced to 35.7 from 37 per 1000 live births, but went up to 40 per
1000 live births in the succeeding 5 year period (1998-2003). From the 2011 MICs data, child
mortality is reported to have gone up again from 27 in 2008 to 28 per 1000 live births in
2011.
There have been significant changes in child mortality rates among the various regions in
Ghana over the years. Figure 6.6 shows the regional variations in child mortality rate from
1988 to 2011.
Figure 6.6: Child mortality rate by region, 1988-2011
160 1988
Child Mortality per 1,000
140 1993
120
100 1998
80 2003
60
2008
40
20 2011
0
75
Child mortality has persistently been higher among the regions in the north, particularly
Northern Region compared to regions in the south. For example, the Greater Accra Region
has witnessed persistent reduction in child mortality until in 2011, when it increased from 14
to 36 per 1000 live births. These differences could largely be due to the rural nature of
regions in the north and higher poverty levels in these regions compared to the south. For the
year 2011, Western region recorded the lowest child mortality rate among the regions, even
though it increased from its previous figure of 14 per 1000 in 2008. Some of the regions like
Western Region, Greater Accra, Volta and Upper East also recorded setbacks with Ashanti
region recording the greatest setback, increasing from it 2008 number of 28, to 45 per 1000
live births in 2011. Overall about four regions performed well above the national average of
31 per 1000 live births, which is a good indication of the country making a head way in the
war against child mortality.
6.4 Under-Five Mortality

Under-five mortality rate is the probability per 1,000 live births that a newborn baby will die
before reaching age five, if subject to current age-specific mortality rates. Measures of under-
five mortality are useful in population projections. It is an important indicator of a
community’s social development. Estimates of under-five mortality are important for
targeting interventions to reduce under-five mortality and to monitor progress. Under-five
mortality trend is presented in Figure 6.7.
Figure 6.7: Under-five mortality rate, 1988-2011
180
Deaths per 1,000 live births
160 155
140
119 111
120 108
100 80 82 Under-5 mortality
80
60
40
20
0
1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 2011
Ghana’s under-five mortality rate has been reducing over the years even though on a few
occasions there were some slight increases. For instance in 1988 the total rate was 155 per
1000 live births, this reduced significantly to 119 in 1993, and 108 in 1998. However, the
under-five mortality rate rose to 111 per 1000 live births in 2003, and again saw a significant
decline to 80 per 1000 live births in 2008. Unfortunately, there has been a slight increase to
76
82 per 1000 live births according to the 2011 Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS,
2011). Ghana’s fight against under-five mortality is not encouraging and consistent; there is
therefore the need to adopt more effective measures and interventions if the country is to
succeed in the fight against under-five mortality.
There are variations in under-5 mortality by locality (rural/urban) and regional basis. Ghana’s
under-5 Mortality levels in rural areas are significantly higher than in urban areas. Figure 6.8
shows that in 2011, under-five mortality in rural areas was 94 deaths per 1,000 live births
compared with 72 deaths per 1,000 live births for urban areas for the same period. Various
factors such as lack of access to health facilities, malnutrition, low mother’s education, and
other socio-cultural practices also contribute to the variation in under-five mortality by
locality. People in the urban areas tend to have more access to health care, exposure to
information in the mass media, while the influence of socio-cultural factors and barriers are
minimal. All these could be factors that have accounted for the variations in under-five
mortality between rural and urban localities.
Figure 6.8: Under-five mortality rate by locality, 1988-2011
180 162.5
160 149.2
140 122
118
120 131.1 90 94
100
80 89.9 93
60 76.8 75 72
40
20
0
1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 2011
Rural Urban
Under-five mortality rates vary among regions in Ghana (Figure 6.9). In the Northern Region,
under-five mortality in 1998 was 221.8 per 1000 live births and later declined to 124 deaths
per 1,000 live births in 2011. The Upper West Region also recorded 221.8 in 1988 and saw a
decline to 108 deaths per 1,000 live births. However, Upper East Region recorded the highest
rate of decline from 221.8 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1988 to 98 deaths in 2011. This
significant decline could be attributed to the presence of the Navrongo Health Research
Centre which has over the years undertaken series of research to promote health education
and also educate women on their health.
77
Furthermore, the Greater Accra Region which has seen consistent decline in under-five
mortality over the years recorded an increase from 50 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008 to
56 deaths in 2011 even though it falls below the national average of 82 per 1000 live births.
The Brong Ahafo region recorded a very high rate of 104 deaths in 2011 compared to 76
deaths in 2008, which is a very significant increase and therefore not a very good sign of
progress in the region. These variations in the rates of mortality may be attributed to such
factors as social and economic factors, education and beliefs that are inimical to child health.
Figure 6.9: Under-five mortality rate by region, 1988-2011
250
200
1988
150
1993
100 1998
2003
50
2008
0 2011
6.5 Adolescent and Youth Mortality

The 2010 Population and Housing Census collected data on deaths in the past 12 months by
age and sex. It also elicited information on deaths that were related to pregnancy or birth to
find out the possible magnitude of maternal mortality. The data collected in respect of young
persons are presented in Table 6.1.
Adolescents: From the table, we find a higher proportion of all deaths reported in the census
in the country to be made up of males. However, among the adolescent groups, more than
half of the deaths were made up of females with a little over a third recorded for the males.
For example, among the 12-14 year group, 63% of the reported deaths were made of females
while 37% is for males. A similar result is reflected among adolescents aged 15-19 years
among whom 60% of the deaths were females and 40% males. This is also reflected in the
very low sex ratios for the deaths among the adolescent groups. It is possible that the high
rate of deaths pertaining to females relative to the males may be related to additional deaths
occasioned by maternal deaths that affect the young women. As shown in the table, four
percent of deaths among females aged 12-14 years and about 9% of others of age 15-19 years
were pregnancy-related.
78
Youth: Just like the results shown among the adolescents, the proportion of deaths recorded
among the youth groups was higher among females compared to the males. Once again, the
sex ratios that reflect the deaths are lower, suggesting that deaths among the youth groups
aged 20-24 and 25-34 years were more among the females than the males. Again, maternal
mortality could contribute to this pattern of deaths between the sexes at these young ages.
With regard to the percent of deaths to women that were pregnancy-related, Table 6.1 further
indicates that 14% and about 15% respectively of deaths among youth groups aged 20-24 and
25-34 years were related to maternal deaths. This compares to a low figure of 9% of all
deaths to women in Ghana. Against this reasoning, the low sex ratios recorded with respect to
deaths in the 12 months before the census among the youth groups is very much to be
expected.
Table 6.1: Percent of total and pregnancy-related deaths among young persons
by age and sex
No. of deaths past Percent Pregnancy-related deaths (women)
Age 12 months
group Male Female Male Female Sex Total No. pregnancy %
Ratio deaths related
12-14 757 1,311 36.6 63.4 57.7 1,311 52 4.0
15-19 1,752 2,647 39.8 60.2 66.2 2,647 228 8.6
20-24 5,913 8,630 38.7 61.3 63.2 3,350 480 14.3
25-34 2,516 3,809 40.7 59.3 68.5 8,630 1,266 14.7
Total 9.1
Country 84,214 79,320 51.5 48.5 106.2 33,347 3,026
Table 6.2 also provides further analysis of deaths recorded in the 2010 Population and
Housing Census that were the result of accidents, violence, homicide and suicide in Ghana.
The interesting revelation from the table is that overall, about 12% of deaths recorded in the
census were due to accidents, violence, homicide or suicide in the whole of Ghana. However,
we find much higher proportions of deaths among the adolescents and youth groups that were
the result of one of these causes referred to in the table.
Table 6.2: Percent of deaths due to accident, violence, homicide

and suicide among young persons by age
Age group Total Due to %
deaths accidents,
violence, etc
12-14 2,068 384 18.6
15-19 4,399 721 16.4
20-24 5,467 1,067 19.5
25-34 14,543 2,367 16.3
Total Country 163,534 18,938 11.6
79
Quite specifically, we find that close to one in five deaths pertaining to young adolescents 12-
14 years was due to accidents, violence, homicide and suicide. This compares with 16% of
their counterparts aged 15-19 years. Among the youth groups, similar proportions of the
reported deaths were reported to be associated with one of these causes (about 20% and 16%
respectively for the 20-24 and 25-35 year groups). This is quite to be expected because these
causes of death are associated with youthful exuberance. This explains why in the whole
population, the proportion of deaths that is associated with accidents, violence, homicide and
suicide is by far lower compared to that recorded for each of the adolescent and youth groups.

Children: Infant, child and under-five mortality have witnessed declines in the last two
decades but further decreases would be expected. There are variations across regions but
overall, it appears that infant and child mortality rates are higher in the northern regions
compared to the southern half of the country. More work would have to be done to ensure
appreciable declines in the mortality indicators pertaining to children.
Adolescents: The analysis on recorded deaths in the past 12 months before the 2010 PHC
showed a higher proportion of the deaths to have occurred among female adolescents
compared to the males. Consequently, the sex ratios pertaining to reported deaths in the 12
months preceding the census was below 70. At the same time, deaths during the same period
that were related to pregnancy were recorded at 4 percent and about 9 percent among
adolescent females aged 12-14 and 15-19 years. These are maternal-related deaths which
could be avoided if pregnancies at these young ages were avoided. Finally, deaths resulting
from accidents, homicide and suicide represented between 16 percent and 19 percent of all
deaths among the adolescents in the past 12 months before the census.
Youth: Similar results pertaining to deaths were recorded among the youth just like among
the adolescents. The proportion of recorded deaths among the youth was higher for females
than males and much higher among the youth than the adolescents. Again, the proportion of
pregnancy-related deaths pertaining to the youth (14%-15%) was higher than the national
average of 9 percent, suggesting that younger persons are more at risk of maternal mortality
than older persons in the population. The analysis further shows that causes of death such as
accidents, violence, homicide and suicide associated with youthful exuberance account for
almost 20 percent and about 16 percent of all reported deaths 12 months prior to the census
among the youth groups 20-24 and 25-35 years which is higher than the national average of
about 12 percent.
80
CHAPTER SEVEN
ECONOMIC AND EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS
7.1 Introduction
Employment and job creation are fundamental objectives for leaders of every nation
especially in developing countries. The size of the labour force is determined by the structure
of the population which also shows the number of people who graduate each year into the
labour force. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), everyone is eligible
for employment at age 15 years and above. Yet, there are situations where children below age
15 years engage in all kinds of economic activities some of which have negative implications
not only for their health but most importantly for their education. This Chapter examines the
employment characteristics of young persons in the country, makes deductions on the extent
of child labour in Ghana and examines its variation by region. In addition, it presents an
analysis of the employment status and the sectors and industry of employment of young
people in the country and brings out the implications for the development of the country.
Legally, child labour is prohibited under the Child Labour Act. In spite of this, child labour
has been found to be quite high in Ghana. While it is normal and even encouraged that
children participate in some form of work at the household level as part of their socialisation,
some children are made to work in areas that are hazardous, abusive and exploitative.
Children who find themselves in such work environments are often either exposed to health
hazards or are unable to attend school.
According to the 2003 National Child Labour Study, one in five of all children 5-17 years
were engaged in some form of child labour in Ghana (Ghana Statistical Service, 2004). The
same study reports that some children numbering over 200,000 were actively engaged in
mining and quarrying, hotels and restaurants, and fishing. While these types of work
engagements were hazardous to the health of the children, in some cases, the children were
required to work for more than four hours and in the night which are prohibited under the
Child Labour Act. Cases of child trafficking for conscription into child labour in fishing
communities along the Volta Lake have also been reported but often the magnitude of such
hazardous work engaged in by some unfortunate children is not known as they are often
shrouded in secrecy and not talked about.
7.2 Employment Status

The questions on the type of economic activity engaged in by persons were asked of only
respondents aged five years and above. In this section, the target population is examined to
find out the kind of work engaged in at the time of the census i.e., employment status, type of
occupation and the type of industry within which persons were engaged for their livelihood.
Throughout, a comparison is made by gender and region among children, adolescents and
youth.
81
Table 7.1 presents the distribution of the population of young people by their employment
status. For children, the analysis is limited to persons 5-9 years since in the 2010 Population
and Housing Census questions on employment were only posed to those 5 years and above.
Children: The results from Table 7.1 show that among the children, two-thirds of either
males or females were reported to be mainly engaged in contributing labour as family
worker. This is to be expected because in Ghana, engaging in household chores is part and
parcel of children’s socialization processes as they grow from childhood into adulthood. It is,
however, strange to find that about three percent of either male or female children were
reported as being self-employed without employees while at the same time 0.2 percent of
them were reported to be self-employed with employees. Again, 0.7 percent of the male and
0.3 percent of the female children were identified as being employees. These results suggest
that some level of child labour is present in the country. On the other hand, for some children
less than 10 years to be reported as being self-employed with employees suggests possible
data errors since this is not possible at the young age of 5-9 years. Further investigation may
be necessary. It is also interesting to note that about 30 percent of either male or female
children were reported as seeking for work for the first time at the time of the census. This
also suggests that instead of being engaged in schooling at these tender ages, a substantial
proportion of the children were said to be actively looking for jobs. The search for jobs
appears, therefore, to compete with child education in Ghana.
Table 7.1: Distribution of the population of young people by age-sex and

employment status
Employment Male Female
status 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
Employee 0.7 0.5 8.0 22.2 28.1 0.3 0.3 5.9 14.3 13.1
Self-employed
without
employee(s) 2.9 2.2 23.4 34.3 50.4 3.1 2.5 26.1 42.7 62.2
Self-employed
with employee(s) 0.2 0.2 1.2 2.1 5.2 0.2 0.2 1.2 2.1 4.2
Casual worker 0.1 0.1 3.4 4.3 3.2 0.1 0.0 2.2 2.0 1.3
Contributing
family worker 66.7 84.6 45.6 16.0 5.6 66.0 82.8 40.5 16.5 12.0
Apprentice 0.1 0.1 6.1 8.7 2.3 0.1 0.1 8.9 10.0 1.9
Domestic
employee (House
help) 0.1 0.1 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.1 0.1 1.2 0.8 0.6
Other 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1
Person seeking
work for the first
time 29.0 12.1 11.3 11.5 4.4 29.9 13.7 13.7 11.5 4.5
Total % 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Total number 206,923 251,394 395,307 670,732 1,734,436 195,675 223,962 389,272 788,679 1,895,209
82
Adolescents: At age 10-14 years, a majority of people is expected to be in junior high
schools while those aged 15-19 years may be in senior high school or entering tertiary level
of schooling and consequently not expected to be actively engaged in employment. However,
as Table 7.1 presents, eight percent of the males and about six percent of the females aged
15-19 years were reported to be employees. This suggests that they were in some regular
economic activity for which they received regular wages. Another interesting finding from
the table is that almost a quarter of the 15-19 year old males and two percent of their
counterparts aged 10-14 years indicated that they were self-employed without employees.
The corresponding proportions among the female adolescents were 26 percent and about
three percent. This is likely to be in the informal sector. Table 7.1 further shows that about
12 percent of male and almost 14 percent female adolescents were seeking work for the first
time which was far below the percentage of children 5-9 years said to be seeking for work.
This is not consistent with what is expected because adolescents 10-14 and 15-19 years are
more likely to be seeking for jobs compared to their counterparts 5-9 years. Finally,
engagement in family labour is still quite common among the adolescents, with as high as 85
percent and 46 percent respectively of 10-14 and 15-19 in contrast with 83 percent and 41
percent of their female counterparts employed as family worker. This is also to be expected in
many communities in Ghana and may not attract monetary rewards.
Youth: With regard to the employment status of the youth across the nation, we find that the
proportion of persons described as family workers is much smaller compared to the children
and adolescents. However, the proportion of the youth working as self-employed without
employees increased particularly among the females among whom about 43 percent and 62
percent respectively aged 20-24 and 25-35 years were recorded. The corresponding
proportions among the males were 34 percent and 50 percent. We also note that about 12
percent and four percent of either the males or females were said to be actively seeking for
jobs at the time of the census. As the age of the youth increases, it is clear that the proportion
of the youth working as family worker reduces while self-employment without employees
increases. The proportion of the male youth in particular aged 20-24 and 25-35 years who
were described as employees was higher compared to the female youth.
Institutional Sector of Employment

The analysis further shows the institutional sector of employment among the young persons
in the country. The results of the analysis are shown in Table 7.2.
Children: Among children, more than 70 percent of males are engaged in the private
informal sector as against just 0.3 percent of them in the public (Government) sector. While
the high proportion of children working in the private informal sector is expected, it is strange
to have some number of children reported to be working within the public (Government)
sector. This is because no government institution can employ children when the child labour
law, which is initiated by the state, outlaws any engagement of children for work. This
requires further investigation if it is not caused by errors in the data. For the females 69.8%
were engaged in the private informal sector with only 0.2 percent in the public (Government)
83
sector. As was observed earlier, about 30 percent of the children were also seeking for
employment for the first time.
Adolescents: The pattern of institutional sector of employment among the adolescents is not
entirely different from that among children where a majority is engaged in the private
informal sector. For example, among the females, as high as 86 percent and 84 percent of
adolescents aged 10-14 and 15-19 years respectively were recorded as being engaged in the
private informal sector. The corresponding proportions among the males were about 88% and
86 percent. This is possible because at this stage in their lives many of the adolescents are
either without any professional skills or lack the requisite experience to be eligible for
employment in the formal sector.
Youth: The results from Table 7.2 indicate that the proportion of those in the private informal
sector was a little lower compared to that among the adolescents. The proportion of youth in
the private informal sector was about 75 percent for males either of 20-24 or 25-35 years and
78% and 85% respectively among females. The proportion of youth employed in the private
formal sector was also relatively higher among either males or females than that which was
recorded within the public sector. This means that government’s capacity to employ the youth
in Ghana is becoming weaker.
Table 7.2: Distribution of population of young people by age-sex and
institutional sector of employment
Institutional Sector Male Female
5-9 10-1415-19 20-24 25-35 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
Public (Government) 0.3 0.2 0.5 4.2 8.3 0.2 0.2 0.4 3.7 5.0
Private Formal 0.2 0.2 2.2 9.3 11.1 0.1 0.1 1.7 6.2 5.1
Private Informal 70.5 87.5 85.9 74.5 75.3 69.8 86.0 84.1 78.3 84.9
Semi-
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1
Public/Parastatal
NGOs (Local and
0.0 0.0 0.1 0.4 0.6 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.3
International)
Other International
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Organisations
Person seeking work
29.0 12.1 11.3 11.5 4.4 29.9 13.7 13.7 11.5 4.5
for the first time
Total % 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Occupation
Children: Majority of the children were reported in Table 7.3 as engaged as skilled
agricultural forestry and fishery workers. About 63% of the male children were identified as
skilled agricultural forestry and fishery workers compared to 58% among their female
counterparts. This is inconsistent when juxtaposed against the fact that children of ages 5-9
years cannot boast of any skills that may be related to this area of work. However, since there
was no other category for unskilled agricultural activities, it is possible that children
classified as contributing to family work in Table 7.1 may have been lumped into the skilled
84
agricultural forestry and fishery workers. It may, therefore, be important to undertake further
investigation into this finding.
Adolescents: The situation among the adolescents is similar to the children with more than
two-thirds (75.9%) of males aged 10-14 years and 60.7% of 15-19 years compared to 58%
and about 64% of the females respectively recorded as working as skilled agricultural and
forestry workers. Other important areas the adolescents were engaged in included craft and
related trades work which employed up 11% of the male adolescents aged 15-19 years and
less than 4% of their counterparts of 10-14 years. These compare with 12% and 6% of the
female adolescents in the age groups 15-19 years and 10-14 years respectively engaged in
craft and related trades work. Once again, it is not clear as to the kind of skills that these
adolescents possessed, suggesting that further investigations may be necessary. Quite
expectedly, none of the adolescents was identified to work as professionals.
Youth: Among the youth groups, about a third of the males and 30% or less of the females
were reported to be working as skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers as Table 7.3
indicates. In comparison with the children and adolescents, however, the proportion of youth
working in agricultural-related occupation was the least. Other occupations that employed
quite a good proportion of the youth include craft and related trade which employed about
one in five of the males aged 20-24 or 25-35 years and almost 15% of their female
counterparts. For the female youth in particular, quite a substantial numbers representing
close to a third were employed in the service and sales sector. The proportion of youth
engaged in professional occupations although quite small, showed relatively higher
proportions for the males compared to the females. This may be due to the relatively higher
education of males compared to females in Ghana. Again, the small numbers employed as
professional workers could be the result of the long years of training and working experience
many professional and managerial jobs require which most of the youth may not have
acquired at the time of the census.
Table 7.3: Distribution of population of young people by age-sex and occupation
Occupation Male Female
5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
Managers 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 2.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.1 2.3
Professionals 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.9 7.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.2 4.7
Technicians and associate
professionals 0.1 0.1 0.7 2.1 3.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.9 1.0
Clerical support workers 0.0 0.0 0.2 1.2 1.7 0.0 0.1 0.3 1.7 1.9
Service and sales workers 3.3 4.5 8.4 11.0 10.4 5.5 10.8 23.1 30.9 32.4
Skilled agricultural forestry and
fishery workers 63.3 75.9 60.7 34.6 33.3 58.1 63.8 43.3 27.4 30.0
Craft and related trades workers 2.0 3.7 10.9 19.8 20.4 3.6 6.3 12.1 14.7 14.5
Plant and machine operators and
assemblers 0.3 0.6 3.4 8.2 11.4 0.1 0.3 0.7 0.7 0.6
Elementary occupations 2.0 3.1 4.4 5.5 4.7 2.6 5.0 6.5 6.9 7.9
Other 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1
Person seeking work for the first time 29.0 12.1 11.3 11.5 4.4 29.9 13.7 13.7 11.5 4.5
Total % 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 99.8 100.0 100.0
85
Industry
Data on the type of industry people were working in were also collected in the 2010 PHC.
The analysis of data on type of industry engaged in by the young people in the country is
presented in Table 7.4.
Children: A majority of children were reported to be working in the agriculture, forestry and
fishing industry. In Table 7.4, 63 percent of the males and 58 percent of females were
recorded to be working in agriculture-related industry. This is to be expected because in
Ghana agriculture continues to be the largest employer of persons in all ages within the
labour force. Again, for the children, this is not strange because in Ghana particularly in the
rural areas, every child goes to farm to support parents till the land. It is, however, difficult to
tell if these children were working in paid agricultural jobs in which case it would amount to
child labour which has been outlawed in Ghana.
Adolescents: The pattern of distribution of the adolescents by industry of engagement is not

different from that exhibited by the children. Among the adolescent groups, however, Table
7.4 suggests a relatively higher proportion of the younger ones aged 10-14 years than older
adolescents of 15-19 years among either males or females were reported to be working in the
agriculture/forestry/fishing industry. It is also to be noted that wholesale and retail trade and
manufacturing engage quite a good proportion of adolescents in Ghana. What is interesting is
that in either the wholesale/retail or manufacturing industry, a higher proportion of the female
adolescents than males were reported. Again, it is to be expected that relatively higher
proportions of female adolescents were recorded to be engaged in accommodation and food
service activities compared to the males. On the other hand, less than one percent of the
adolescents were working in the information and communication industry. However, this is
likely to increase in the face of on-going competition within the mobile phone service
provision which increasingly employs adolescents as vendors.
Youth: Compared to children and adolescents, Table 7.4 present far smaller proportions of
the youth groups to be engaged in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry. Among the
male youth, about a third of either the 20-24 or 25-35 year-olds were reported to be engaged
in this industry compared to smaller proportions among their female counterparts. Wholesale,
retail and vehicle repairs industry and manufacturing were also important industries of
employment of youth labour in Ghana. For example, about 14 percent of the males were
engaged in wholesale, retail and repair of vehicles and motorcycles while about one in 10 of
them worked in the manufacturing industry. Among the females, higher proportions were
recorded in these two industries: about 17 percent and 25 percent respectively among the 20-
24 and 25-35 female youth groups were engaged in wholesale, retail and vehicle repairs and
about 14 percent in manufacturing. It is observed from Table 7.4, the distribution of the youth
groups exhibits a wider spread across all the categories of industry compared to children and
adolescents.
86
Table 7.4: Distribution of population of young people by age-sex and
industry of employment
Industry Male Female
5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35
Agriculture, forestry and fishing 63.2 75.9 61.1 35.5 34.1 58.0 63.8 43.6 27.7 30.1
Mining and quarrying 0.1 0.3 1.5 2.2 2.1 0.1 0.2 0.6 0.6 0.4
Manufacturing 1.8 3.1 6.2 9.6 9.9 3.4 5.8 10.9 13.8 13.6
Electricity gas stream and air
conditioning supply 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1
Water supply; sewerage waste
management and remediation
activities 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2
Construction 0.1 0.2 2.2 5.8 7.6 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.2
Wholesale and retail; repair of
motor vehicles and motorcycles 2.9 4.8 8.6 13.5 13.7 4.7 9.4 12.5 16.6 24.6
Transportation and storage 0.1 0.3 2.4 6.0 8.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.4
Accommodation and food service
activities 0.8 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.3 1.5 3.8 7.7 8.2 9.3
Information and communication 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.7 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.3
Financial and insurance activities 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.6 1.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.8 0.8
Real estate activities 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Professional scientific and
technical activities 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.7 1.3 0.0 0.1 0.5 1.0 0.9
Administrative and support service
activities 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.7 0.9 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.3
Public administration and defence;
compulsory social security 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.9 2.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.9
Education 0.1 0.1 0.6 4.1 5.1 0.1 0.1 0.7 3.6 3.5
Human health and social work
activities 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.6 1.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 1.3 1.5
Arts entertainment and recreation 0.0 0.1 0.7 1.3 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.1
Other service activities 0.2 0.4 1.9 3.6 3.8 0.3 1.1 7.1 12.0 7.3
Activities of households as
employers; undifferentiated goods
- and services - producing
activities of households for own
use 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.1 0.8
Activities of extraterritorial
organizations and bodies 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Person seeking work for the first
time 29.0 12.1 11.3 11.5 4.4 29.9 13.7 13.7 11.5 4.5
Total % 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
7.4 Spatial Variation in Employment Status

Children: Table 7.5 presents the results of analysis of data on employment status of children
aged 5-9 years by region. Two employment statuses are quite prominent in the table. These
are employment status as family worker and those seeking work for the first time. This is true
for either males or females with some variations among the regions. In all the regions, it
appears that if a child is not working as a family worker then he/she may be seeking work for
the first time. The Greater Accra Region for example has as high as 71 percent of the male
children seeking for work for the first time while 22 percent were engaged as family worker.
The proportion recorded among the females was 68 percent and 26 percent respectively. This
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may be consistent with everyday observation on the principal arteries in the city of Accra
where quite visibly children of less than 10 years are found engaged in all kinds of trade
along the main streets where traffic jams are a regular feature. In contrast to this is the
situation in the Northern Region where family workers formed about 81 percent of either
male or female children in the region while 15 percent reported to be seeking for work for the
first time. It must be pointed out also that the three northern regions recorded the highest
proportion of children working for the family compared to all other regions in the country.
Table 7.5: Percent distribution of population 5-9 years by sex, employment

status and region
Employment status
Region/ Employee Self- Self- Casual Contri- Appren Domestic Worker Seeking Total
Sex employed employed worker buting -tice worker work for
without with family the first
employees employees worker
Male
Western 1.2 4.1 0.5 0.3 57.1 0.0 0.2 0.1 36.5 100.0
Central 1.0 2.6 0.2 0.1 57.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 38.8 100.0
Gt. Accra 2.6 2.6 0.5 0.1 22.4 0.1 0.1 0.1 71.5 100.0
Volta 0.6 3.8 0.2 0.1 71.6 0.1 0.2 0.3 23.2 100.0
Eastern 0.5 2.9 0.2 0.1 50.0 0.1 0.1 0.2 45.9 100.0
Ashanti 1.2 2.8 0.6 0.1 52.0 0.2 0.1 0.1 42.9 100.0
B. Ahafo 0.5 2.6 0.2 0.1 73.0 0.1 0.1 0.2 23.3 100.0
Northern 0.2 3.1 0.2 0.1 80.5 0.0 0.2 0.4 15.4 100.0
U/East 0.2 2.6 0.1 0.0 79.4 0.0 0.1 0.3 17.2 100.0
U/West 0.2 1.9 0.2 0.0 78.1 0.0 0.0 0.2 19.3 100.0
Female
Western 0.5 3.9 0.1 0.2 58.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 36.7 100.0
Central 0.4 3.3 0.1 0.0 58.5 0.0 0.1 0.2 37.3 100.0
Gt. Accra 1.1 3.8 0.4 0.1 26.0 0.2 0.1 0.1 68.3 100.0
Volta 0.2 4.4 0.1 0.1 68.9 0.0 0.1 0.2 26.0 100.0
Eastern 0.2 3.6 0.1 0.1 48.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 47.6 100.0
Ashanti 0.7 3.6 0.3 0.2 51.8 0.2 0.1 0.2 43.0 100.0
B. Ahafo 0.3 2.6 0.1 0.1 72.7 0.1 0.1 0.2 23.9 100.0
Northern 0.1 2.8 0.2 0.1 80.4 0.0 0.2 0.4 15.8 100.0
U/East 0.1 2.6 0.1 0.0 79.0 0.1 0.1 0.3 17.8 100.0
U/West 0.1 1.3 0.1 0.0 77.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 21.2 100.0
Adolescents: Table 7.6 and 7.7 show an analysis of the employment structure of adolescents
by region respectively among the 10-14 and 15-19 age groups. In Table 7.6, there is a clear
indication of the importance of family labour provision among either the male or female
young adolescents. More than 70 percent of the adolescents 10-14 years were reported as
contributing family worker in all regions with the exception of Greater Accra which had 50
percent of their young adolescents males identified as family workers. Also among the
females, Greater Accra and Volta region were the exceptional cases recording about 58
percent and 51 percent respectively of their young adolescents to be involved in family work.
It must also be noted that among either males or females aged 10-14 years, the proportion
recorded to be seeking work for the first time was highest in the Greater Accra Region (about
44 percent and 36 percent respectively among the males and females). The Ashanti Region
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was next with 21 percent of the male and 24 percent of the female young adolescents reported
to be seeking work for the first time. This situation could reflect the migration of children
into the two main cities (Accra and Kumasi) located in the two regions in search of jobs.
Table 7.6: Percent distribution of population 10-14 years by sex, employment status
and region
Employment status
Region/ Employee Self- Self- Casual Contri- Appren- Domestic Worker Seeking Total
Sex employed employed worker buting tice worker work
without with family for the
employees employees worker first
Male
Western 0.8 3.2 0.2 0.2 80.9 0.1 0.1 0.2 14.4 100.0
Central 0.6 1.7 0.1 0.1 83.2 0.1 0.1 0.3 13.8 100.0
Gt. Accra 2.3 2.5 0.6 0.2 50.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 43.8 100.0
Volta 0.4 2.7 0.2 0.1 88.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 8.1 100.0
Eastern 0.5 2.8 0.1 0.1 75.6 0.1 0.1 0.2 20.5 100.0
Ashanti 1.1 2.2 0.4 0.1 77.3 0.2 0.1 0.3 18.4 100.0
B. Ahafo 0.4 2.0 0.2 0.0 88.3 0.1 0.1 0.3 8.7 100.0
Northern 0.2 2.0 0.1 0.0 91.0 0.0 0.1 0.4 6.2 100.0
U/East 0.1 1.7 0.1 0.0 91.9 0.0 0.1 0.3 5.9 100.0
U/West 0.1 1.4 0.0 0.0 89.5 0.0 0.0 0.2 8.7 100.0
Female
Western 0.4 2.9 0.2 0.1 81.8 0.1 0.1 0.3 14.2 100.0
Central 0.3 2.5 0.1 0.0 81.7 0.1 0.1 0.2 15.0 100.0
Greater Accra 1.4 3.5 0.4 0.1 57.9 0.2 0.1 0.3 36.2 100.0
Volta 0.1 1.8 0.1 0.0 51.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 5.8 100.0
Eastern 0.3 3.2 0.2 0.1 71.9 0.1 0.1 0.2 24.0 100.0
Ashanti 0.5 3.1 0.3 0.1 76.8 0.2 0.1 0.2 18.7 100.0
B. Ahafo 0.3 2.4 0.1 0.0 86.8 0.1 0.1 0.2 9.9 100.0
Northern 0.1 2.2 0.2 0.0 89.8 0.1 0.2 0.4 7.0 100.0
U/East 0.2 1.6 0.1 0.0 91.0 0.1 0.1 0.3 6.8 100.0
U/West 0.1 1.3 0.1 0.0 87.5 0.0 0.0 0.1 10.7 100.0
In Table 7.7, the very high proportion representing family workers reduces to bring about
some more diversity in the employment structures of the older adolescents aged 15-19 years.
For example, only 12 percent of the adolescent males and 18 percent of their female
counterparts in the Greater Accra Region were reported to be engaged as family worker.
This, however, compares with more than half of either male or female adolescents in the
three northern regions. Besides, in almost all the regions 20 percent or higher of the
adolescents aged 15-19 years were self-employed without employees, the highest proportions
being recorded in the Volta Region among either males (30%) or females (33%) and the least
in Upper West among the males (18%) and females (about 19%).
Furthermore, Table 7.7 reveals that in four regions namely Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western
and Central, at least one in 10 of the male adolescents aged 15-19 years was an employee. In
fact, in the Greater Accra Region, the figure was about one in five. In contrast, in the other
regions much smaller proportions particularly in the three Northern regions were recorded as
employees. Among the females, Greater Accra stands out with 16 percent of the adolescents
aged 15-19 years being employees, followed by Ashanti (about 9%, Western (about 6%) and
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Central (5%) while in the other regions less than 5 percent of the females adolescents were
workings employees.

status and region
Employment status
Male
Western 10.8 19.6 1.1 6.4 41.4 6.0 0.8 0.3 13.7 100.0
Central 10.0 20.1 1.0 3.8 45.0 5.9 0.5 0.3 13.5 100.0
Gt. Accra 23.9 19.6 1.3 4.8 12.3 14.4 1.1 0.4 22.2 100.0
Volta 4.2 30.4 1.0 3.1 48.3 4.0 0.7 0.2 8.1 100.0
Eastern 7.9 29.0 1.0 3.3 36.7 5.5 0.8 0.3 15.5 100.0
Ashanti 12.0 20.4 1.2 6.1 30.9 13.0 0.6 0.2 15.7 100.0
B. Ahafo 5.8 21.2 1.1 3.4 55.4 4.2 0.6 0.2 8.0 100.0
Northern 2.0 25.1 1.7 1.0 61.9 1.8 1.0 0.4 5.0 100.0
U/East 1.9 27.4 1.0 1.1 61.0 1.8 0.8 0.2 4.7 100.0
U/West 1.6 18.3 0.9 1.3 68.8 1.4 0.5 0.2 6.9 100.0
Female
Western 5.8 24.7 1.1 2.9 38.9 10.4 0.8 0.2 15.2 100.0
Central 5.0 26.7 1.0 1.5 41.1 8.0 0.7 0.2 15.8 100.0
Greater
Accra 16.1 26.2 1.4 2.9 17.6 12.8 3.0 0.3 19.8 100.0
Volta 2.7 32.9 0.8 1.6 43.9 6.0 0.9 0.2 11.0 100.0
Eastern 4.6 31.1 1.1 1.7 31.8 8.9 1.1 0.2 19.6 100.0
Ashanti 8.8 24.1 1.3 3.7 27.0 15.4 1.2 0.1 18.4 100.0
B. Ahafo 3.8 21.9 1.1 1.7 49.3 9.6 0.8 0.2 11.5 100.0
Northern 1.6 26.3 1.6 1.9 58.6 2.6 1.1 0.4 5.9 100.0
U/East 1.7 27.6 1.2 0.9 56.3 5.2 0.7 0.2 6.1 100.0
U/West 1.4 18.6 1.1 1.3 63.4 4.5 0.5 0.2 8.9 100.0
Apprenticeship is also recorded to be important among the adolescent group aged 15-19
years. This was particularly the case in Greater Accra and Ashanti regions where 14 percent
and 13 percent respectively of the male adolescents were engaged in some kinds of
apprenticeship. Among the female adolescents, apprenticeship was again found to be
important in Ashanti (15%) and Greater Accra (about 13%), followed by Western and Brong
Ahafo regions with about 10 percent of the female adolescents recorded to be engaged in
apprenticeship. This is to be expected as this period in the life of adolescents is ideal for the
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acquisition of employable skills particularly among those who could not continue with formal
schooling.
Finally, the proportion of older adolescents (15-19 years) seeking work for the first time
indicates some reductions in many of the regions compared to the younger adolescent group
presented in Table 7.6. However, we find that in Greater Accra Region one in four of the
male and one in five of the female adolescents were seeking work for the first time.
Relatively high proportions (about 16% for males and 20% for females) in Eastern and
Ashanti regions were seeking for work for the first time. The three Northern regions,
however, recorded the least proportions of either younger or older male or female adolescents
seeking work for the first time.
Youth: Tables 7.8 and 7.9 present a comparison of the youth by region and employment
structures. From Table 7.8 it is clear that a higher proportion of youth aged 20-24 years were
reported to be employees, the highest proportion of 38 percent and 27 percent respectively of
the males and females recorded in the Greater Accra Region. For either male or female youth
of this age bracket, the three Northern regions and Volta Region have the smallest
proportions described as employees. Furthermore, the self-employed without employees
category also recorded quite high proportions of the youth group aged 20-24 years in each of
the regions. For this group, Volta Region followed by Eastern Region had the highest
proportion of their self-employed without employees and the lowest proportions among the
males were recorded in Greater Accra (24%) and Upper West Region (about 34%).
It is also observed that at age 20-24 years, quite a good proportion of the youth in all regions
with the exception of Greater Accra was engaged as family worker. Only three percent of the
males and five percent of the females in Greater Accra Region were family workers
compared to a third or higher proportions in the three Northern regions among either males or
females. Again, apprenticeship was found to be important among the youth especially in
Greater Accra and Ashanti regions in respect of the males among whom about 12 percent and
14 percent respectively were reported as being engaged in apprenticeship skills training.
With regard to the females, apprenticeship training (10% or higher) is found in Ashanti and
Greater Accra in addition to Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Central regions. The other regions
recorded less than one in 10 of their male or female youth to be in some apprenticeship.
Finally, the proportion of the youth aged 20-24 years seeking work for the first time was
highest in Greater Accra Region among the males and Ashanti Region among the females.
The two regions are the most urbanized in Ghana and, therefore, may be perceived as
providing opportunities for employment.
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status and region
Employment status
Male
Western 24.0 31.7 1.6 7.0 15.2 6.9 0.6 0.2 12.8 100.0
Central 24.7 33.0 1.8 4.4 13.4 9.2 0.5 0.2 12.6 100.0
Gt. Accra 38.1 24.0 2.2 4.4 3.4 11.5 0.8 0.3 15.3 100.0
Volta 13.3 48.9 1.6 3.2 17.9 5.1 0.5 0.2 9.3 100.0
Eastern 20.2 41.1 1.9 4.1 11.5 8.2 0.6 0.3 12.2 100.0
Ashanti 24.6 30.5 2.7 5.6 8.9 14.4 0.5 0.2 12.6 100.0
B. Ahafo 16.7 37.5 1.7 4.5 23.8 6.1 0.5 0.2 8.8 100.0
Northern 5.8 42.1 2.3 1.2 39.0 2.6 0.8 0.4 5.8 100.0
U/East 7.4 43.4 1.5 1.7 35.8 2.9 0.7 0.1 6.4 100.0
U/West 7.1 34.3 1.2 2.0 44.5 2.0 0.5 0.3 8.0 100.0
Female
Western 13.2 42.2 1.9 2.6 17.6 9.6 0.6 0.2 12.2 100.0
Central 13.0 48.3 1.7 1.6 13.5 10.1 0.4 0.2 11.3 100.0
Gt. Accra 27.0 36.4 2.3 2.5 5.1 11.5 1.4 0.2 13.7 100.0
Volta 7.5 56.8 1.4 1.3 16.4 6.6 0.6 0.1 9.4 100.0
Eastern 12.3 49.5 2.0 1.6 11.3 10.0 0.5 0.1 12.6 100.0
Ashanti 16.8 38.7 2.6 2.5 10.4 14.2 0.6 0.1 14.0 100.0
B. Ahafo 10.0 40.5 2.1 1.4 23.5 11.2 0.6 0.2 10.5 100.0
Northern 3.4 45.0 2.5 1.7 37.6 2.6 0.9 0.3 5.7 100.0
U/East 6.2 45.2 2.1 0.8 32.7 5.2 0.6 0.2 7.0 100.0
U/West 4.7 33.7 1.4 1.1 45.3 5.3 0.5 0.2 7.8 100.0
This may explain why the proportion of the 20-24 age group of youth seeking work for the
first time is highest in the two regions. The other regions where the proportion of the youth
group seeking work for the first time was higher than 10 percent include Western, Central
Eastern among either males or females and Brong Ahafo for the females only. Among either
males or females, the three Northern regions recorded the lowest proportions seeking work
for the first time.
Table 7.9 also shows that more than half of the older youth aged 25-35 years, with the
exception of those in Greater Accra and Ashanti for the males and Upper West for the
females, were reported to be self-employed without employees. In Greater Accra and
Ashanti regions the proportions were 34 percent and 47 percent respectively among the males
and 48 percent in Upper West Region with respect to the females. On the other hand, the
proportion that was reported to be employees was higher among the males than females in
each region. So far, Greater Accra recorded the highest proportion of the older youth aged
25-35 years working as employees (about 46% of the male and 25% of the females). Fairly
high proportions were also recorded as employees in Western, Central and Ashanti regions
each with more than one in four of their male youth aged 25-35 years engaged as employees.
In contrast, Western, Central and Eastern regions had at least one in 10 of their female youth
aged 25-35 years working as employees.
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status and region
Employment status
Male
Western 29.0 50.0 3.9 5.0 5.1 1.4 0.6 0.2 4.8 100.0
Central 29.3 52.1 4.7 3.3 3.8 2.0 0.5 0.1 4.2 100.0
Gt. Accra 45.8 34.4 6.7 3.3 1.2 2.3 0.6 0.2 5.5 100.0
Volta 18.2 65.8 3.3 2.2 4.8 1.3 0.5 0.1 3.7 100.0
Eastern 24.0 58.2 4.4 3.0 3.4 1.9 0.4 0.2 4.5 100.0
Ashanti 28.4 47.3 7.6 3.9 3.2 4.2 0.5 0.2 4.8 100.0
B. Ahafo 20.8 58.2 4.0 3.1 8.2 1.8 0.5 0.2 3.3 100.0
Northern 11.4 61.4 3.7 1.0 17.0 1.2 0.8 0.2 3.2 100.0
U/East 15.1 60.0 2.6 1.6 15.3 1.2 0.6 0.1 3.5 100.0
U/West 14.6 55.9 2.4 1.8 20.3 0.9 0.5 0.1 3.5 100.0
Female
Western 11.4 61.7 3.6 1.6 14.6 1.6 0.7 0.1 4.6 100.0
Central 10.9 69.7 3.4 1.0 8.8 1.7 0.4 0.1 4.1 100.0
Gt. Accra 24.9 56.8 5.9 1.4 2.4 2.3 0.8 0.2 5.3 100.0
Volta 7.8 73.9 2.6 0.9 9.3 1.5 0.6 0.1 3.4 100.0
Eastern 10.6 70.2 3.6 1.2 7.5 1.8 0.5 0.1 4.5 100.0
Ashanti 14.6 61.3 5.7 1.6 7.9 2.7 0.5 0.1 5.5 100.0
B. Ahafo 9.0 61.2 3.5 1.0 18.3 2.3 0.5 0.2 4.0 100.0
Northern 4.2 57.1 3.0 1.3 29.3 0.8 0.8 0.2 3.2 100.0
U/East 6.4 60.2 2.6 0.8 24.9 1.4 0.7 0.1 3.0 100.0
U/West 6.2 47.7 2.1 0.8 37.4 1.4 0.5 0.1 3.7 100.0
In addition, Table 7.9 reveals that in all regions very small proportions of the youth aged 25-
35 years were reported to be working as family workers with the exception of the three
Northern regions either for the males or females. The proportion of the female youth aged
25-35 years in the Brong Ahafo Region who were working as family workers was also quite
high (about 18% compared to 8% of their male counterparts). The proportion of this category
of youth recorded to be seeking work for the first time was also the lowest in all regions
compared to that recorded among the children and adolescent groups. At the same time, a
smaller proportion of the older youth group 25-35 years were recorded as self-employed with
employees and as casual workers. The numbers engaged in apprenticeship training at this
age were equally small; perhaps at this age most of the youth requiring apprenticeship
training would have done so already.

Children: From the results of the analysis, two-thirds of children of each sex were found to
be contributing labour as family worker. Surprisingly, three percent of each of the sexes was
also found to be self-employed without employees, which is difficult to appreciate.
Unemployment was deduced to be high with about 30 percent of each of either the male or
female children reported to be seeking for jobs for the first time. This suggests that in Ghana,
the search for jobs among children compete with their education. A higher proportion of the
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male (68%) and female (58%) children was, however, recorded to be engaged as skilled
agricultural forestry and fishery workers in Ghana. While this could be the result of data
errors, considering that at that young age it is difficult for any of them to have any skills, it
also suggests that child labour could be high in the country.
Adolescents: It was found that 8 percent of adolescent males and 6 percent of their female
counterparts in Ghana were employees receiving some form of wages. Again, about a quarter
of the males within the ages of 15-19 years old and 2 percent of their counterparts aged 10-14
years were self-employed without employees and as high as 85 percent and 46 percent of
males aged 10-14 and 15-19 years old respectively were engaged in family labour compared
to 83 percent and 41 percent of their female counterparts. As expected, a large percentage of
either the male or female adolescents was engaged in private informal sector. It was also
found that a higher proportion of adolescent females than males were working in the
manufacturing sector in Ghana with agriculture, fishing and forestry sectors recording the
highest proportion of these adolescents.
Youth: According to the census results, the females self–employed without employees
represented 43 percent and 62 percent respectively of youth aged 20-24 and 25-35 years old.
This compares with relatively lower proportions for the males. Compared to the adolescents
and children, a much smaller proportion of the youth groups were recorded as seeking work
for the first time. It is possible that by this age, a higher proportion of the youth would have
had job. Similar to the adolescents, a high proportion of youth were engaged in the private
informal sector either among the males or females. Consequently, the public sector is not a
major recruiter of youth labour force in Ghana perhaps due to the relatively lower skills and
experience many of the youth may possess to make them competitively eligible for public
sector work.
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CHAPTER EIGHT
DISABILITY
8.1 Introduction
Knowledge of disability among the population is important in informing policy interventions
to address the challenges faced by people with disabilities. The 2010 Population and Housing
Census collected information on all persons with or without disability and types of disability
that respondents have. The types of disability for which information was collected were sight,
hearing and speech, physical, intellectual and emotional. This Chapter discusses incidence
and type of disability among children, adolescents and youth and its variation by sex, region
of residence, literacy, educational attainment, marital status and employment status.
8.2 Type of Disability

Table 8.1 presents the results of the analysis on incidence and type of disability by age-sex
for young people in Ghana. The results indicate that overall, between one to two percent of
the population had some disability. Also, the rate of disability increases with age.
Children: The results of the analysis in Table 8.1 do not show much variation in reported
disability by sex. This is because among children 0-9 years 1.4 percent and 1.3 percent
respectively of males and females reported some form of disability. However, among the less
than two percent of the children’s population that reported some form of disability, some
variations exist between the sexes regarding the type of disability they had. It should be noted
that because of the possibility of one person having more than one disability, the percentages
do not add up to exactly 100 percent. The male children reported a relatively higher disability
with respect to only speech and physical. However, in terms of sight, hearing, intellectual and
emotional disability, female children recorded a slightly higher proportion with disability
than their male counterparts. It is also to be noted that while the proportion of male children
with disability was highest with regard to sight and speech, on the other hand, sight and
emotional disability were the two top-most disabilities among female children.
Adolescents: The analysis shows that among adolescents, a relatively higher proportion
reported some form of disability compared to the children. Table 8.1 indicates that 1.7
percent and 1.9 percent of the adolescent males of age 10-14 and 15-19 years respectively
had some disability. The corresponding proportions among the female adolescents of the
same ages were 1.6 percent and 2.0 percent. Regarding the specific disabilities reported
among the adolescents, Table 8.1 further shows that sight was the most commonly cited form
of disability. Among males with disability, about 27 percent of those aged 10-14 or 15-19
year-olds had sight disability in contrast to about 28 percent and 29 percent of females with
such disability. It is also to be noted that while among males with disability, speech (about
25%) and emotional (about 24%) disabilities were the most reported after sight disabilities. In
the case of the females, about one in four of either age group was reported to have emotional
95
disability. Intellectual disability was also reported among one in five of either males or
females aged 10-14 and 15-19 years who had any form of disability which is similar to the
proportion reporting disability of speech although it was lower among the females of age 15-
19 years (17%). The results do not show much variation between the male and female
adolescent groups reporting hearing and physical disabilities.
Table 8.1: Percent distribution of population of young people in Ghana

by reported disability and type and age-sex
Type of Total %. with % with Type of Disability
Locality No. disability no Sight Hearing Speech Physical Intell- Emo-
disability ectual tional Other Total
Male
0-9 3,321,419 1.4 98.6 26.7 18.4 25.8 20.0 22.2 22.9 15.0 45,313
10-14 1,477,525 1.7 98.3 27.1 20.0 24.8 19.3 20.2 21.8 12.9 24,728
15-19 1,311,112 1.9 98.1 27.3 16.3 21.9 20.1 20.4 23.6 12.4 25,290
20-24 1,100,727 2.1 97.9 26.8 14.9 20.6 21.8 21.2 24.6 12.5 23,370
25-35 1,951,869 2.6 97.4 27.3 13.0 17.7 23.4 20.8 25.4 11.8 51,306
Female
0-9 3,212,939 1.3 98.7 27.9 19.4 23.3 19.7 22.9 24.1 15.4 40,495
10-14 1,438,515 1.6 98.4 28.8 21.2 21.3 19.2 21.0 23.4 13.3 22,345
15-19 1,298,877 2.0 98.0 33.9 16.5 17.3 18.5 20.2 24.7 12.1 25,373
20-24 1,222,764 2.1 97.9 31.9 15.0 15.7 19.6 19.0 26.3 12.0 25,292
25-35 2,238,078 2.4 97.6 30.4 14.4 14.4 22.4 19.0 26.3 11.4 54,067
Youth: The results of the analysis presented in Table 8.1 indicate that while the same
proportion of the youth group aged 20-24 years reported some form of disability (2.1%)
either among the males or females it was slightly higher among the 25-35 age group where
2.6 percent of the males and 2.4 percent of the females reporting some disability. Of the
number of youth said to have a disability, the results once again indicate that sight was the
most commonly reported and was relatively higher among the females than the males. While
about 27 percent of the male youth aged 20-24 or 25-35 years who were suffering from some
form of disability had sight difficulties, a higher proportion of their female counterparts (32%
and 30% respectively) were reported to have sight challenges. This suggests that a relatively
higher proportion of the female youth were reported to have some disability compared to the
males were suffering from sight defects. Similarly, a slightly higher proportion of the female
youth who had some form of disability were reported to have emotional disability compared
to their male counterparts. However, with respect to intellectual, physical and speech
disability, a contrary picture is shown with the male youth who had some form of disability
recorded higher proportions to have these disability challenges.
8.3 Spatial Variation of Disability by Region of Residence

Variation in disability among young people in Ghana is of interest to policy makers. The
analysis enables policy makers to identify where challenges are highest in order to address
them. Table 8.2 presents an analysis of the disability situation in each region by sex.
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Children: The information in Table 8.2 shows quite clearly that across all regions, reported
disability is higher among male than female children. This is reflected in the observation that
in each of the regions, more than half of children that were reported to have disabilities were
among the male children while less than 50 percent was among children who were females.
For example, the higher proportion reporting a disability among the males was in Upper West
where 54 percent of all the reported disabilities among children in the region was among the
males relative to 46 percent among the females. This pattern runs through where in each
region at least 52 percent of all children suffering from any form of disability were males.
This suggests that male children are relatively more prone to suffering from a form of
disability in all regions in Ghana.
Adolescents: Among the adolescent groups, the picture is not very different from that seen
among the children. However, there were some variation between the 10-14 and 15-19 year
groups in some of the regions. In the case of adolescents aged 10-14 years, it is only in Volta
Region that a higher proportion of adolescents with disability was recorded among the
females. In the other nine regions, a different picture was recorded. Among adolescents aged
15-19 years, the situation is slightly different. Here, as shown in Table 8.2, the proportion of
adolescents reported to suffer from a disability was higher among the females in four regions:
Volta, Brong Ahafo, Greater Accra and Western while in the remaining six regions, the
reverse was the case. It may appear that as adolescents grow older, females become
relatively more at risk of suffering from one disability or another.
Youth: It is observed that in all but two regions, Northern and Upper West, reported
disability among the youth was higher among females than males. However, at older ages, a
higher proportion of the male youth aged 25-35 years than their female counterparts reported
a form of disability in three regions in the country, namely Central, Northern and Upper
West. It is not easy to speculate what accounts for these variations but comparing all the
three groups of young persons (children, adolescents and youth), it can be fairly concluded
that at very young ages, a higher proportion of males than females is likely to suffer from a
form of disability. In contrast, however, the reverse is likely to occur within older ages
perhaps due to the relatively different life cycles males and females go through as they grow
older. These may be due to their biological and social differences.
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Table 8.2: Percent distribution of population of young people in Ghana by reported disability,
region of residence and age-sex
0-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-35

Region Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total
Western 52.8 47.2 100.0 52.5 47.5 100.0 49.9 50.1 100.0 48.0 52.0 100.0 48.7 51.3 100.0
Central 52.8 47.2 100.0 54.4 45.6 100.0 50.2 49.8 100.0 49.8 50.2 100.0 51.2 48.8 100.0
Greater Accra 53.2 46.8 100.0 53.2 46.8 100.0 49.2 50.8 100.0 47.4 52.6 100.0 48.3 51.7 100.0
Volta 52.2 47.8 100.0 49.0 51.0 100.0 45.8 54.2 100.0 47.7 52.3 100.0 49.4 50.6 100.0
Eastern 52.1 47.9 100.0 55.0 45.0 100.0 50.6 49.4 100.0 48.6 51.4 100.0 45.7 54.3 100.0
Ashanti 53.7 46.3 100.0 51.2 48.8 100.0 50.2 49.8 100.0 46.2 53.8 100.0 48.5 51.5 100.0
Brong Ahafo 52.4 47.6 100.0 51.5 48.5 100.0 47.5 52.5 100.0 46.0 54.0 100.0 48.2 51.8 100.0
Northern 53.4 46.6 100.0 52.7 47.3 100.0 51.1 48.9 100.0 50.2 49.8 100.0 50.2 49.8 100.0
Upper East 51.9 48.1 100.0 52.6 47.4 100.0 55.5 44.5 100.0 47.5 52.5 100.0 47.6 52.4 100.0
Upper West 54.4 45.6 100.0 53.3 46.7 100.0 52.1 47.9 100.0 52.8 47.2 100.0 50.7 49.3 100.0
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Table 8.3 a – e discusses the proportion of each sex that was reported to have a disability in
each region in Ghana. This is to examine the possible variation among each of the three
groups of young persons in Ghana by sex and region.
Children: In Table 8.3a, it is generally observed that with the exception of Ashanti Region
where the proportion of children of each sex reported to suffer from a disability was the same
(1.1%), the other regions recorded relatively higher proportion of male children with
disability than their female counterparts. The difference, however, was quite small between
the sexes. In each of the nine regions where the proportion with disability is higher among
males than females, the proportion of the males with disability was 0.1 percentage point
higher than the females apart from the Upper West Region where the male proportion is
higher by 0.2 percentage points.
Table 8.3a: Percent of population 0-9 years with disability by sex and region
Region Total Population Population with Percent with
disability disability
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Western 325,361 314,020 4,102 3,666 1.3 1.2
Central 302,291 293,994 3,932 3,453 1.3 1.2
Greater Accra 436,790 430,560 5,346 4,898 1.2 1.1
Volta 285,381 278,107 4,487 4,118 1.6 1.5
Eastern 351,313 336,177 4,961 4,272 1.4 1.3
Ashanti 623,122 603,629 7,097 6,437 1.1 1.1
Brong Ahafo 326,374 312,281 3,816 3,335 1.2 1.1
Northern 415,197 401,421 7,075 6,567 1.7 1.6
Upper East 152,810 144,745 2,511 2,104 1.6 1.5
Upper West 102,780 98,005 1,986 1,645 1.9 1.7
The variation in the proportion of adolescents with disability by region among males and
females is shown in Tables 8.3a and b. Just like was depicted among the children in Table
8.3a, it is shown in Table 8.3b that a relatively higher proportion of the male adolescents than
their female counterparts were reported to be suffering from a disability. The only exceptions
were in the Eastern Region where the reverse was the case and the Northern Region which
registered the same proportion of 1.8% among either the male or female adolescents with
some form of disability. In contrast to the picture shown among adolescents aged 10-14
years, there were slightly different results among their counterparts aged 15-19 years (Table
8.3c). In that table, four regions namely: Western, Northern, Brong Ahafo and Upper West,
recorded the same proportion of either male or female adolescents with some form of
disability. On the other hand, in Central, Northern and Upper West regions, a relatively
higher proportion of the male adolescents than their female counterparts had a disability. In
the other three regions: Volta, Eastern and Ashanti, the results were to the contrary with
higher proportion of the female adolescents reporting some disabilities than that among their
male counterparts.
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Table 8.3b: Percent of population 10-14 years with disability by sex and region
Western 145,176 141,957 2,280 1,913 1.6 1.3
Central 139,658 135,891 2,402 2,112 1.7 1.6
Greater Accra 183,246 203,036 2,792 2,906 1.5 1.4
Volta 128,578 120,759 2,743 2,248 2.1 1.9
Eastern 167,665 155,899 2,725 2,598 1.6 1.7
Ashanti 287,944 289,223 4,120 3,874 1.4 1.3
Brong Ahafo 150,551 143,485 2,093 1,876 1.4 1.3
Northern 154,824 139,171 2,855 2,572 1.8 1.8
Upper East 71,453 65,611 1,502 1,317 2.1 2.0
Upper West 48,430 43,483 1,216 929 2.5 2.1
Table 8.3c: Percent of population 15-19 years with disability by sex and region
Western 127,632 123,672 2,277 2,257 1.8 1.8
Central 119,095 124,925 2,459 2,544 2.1 2.0
Greater Accra 180,173 208,230 3,171 3,753 1.8 1.8
Volta 115,697 106,856 2,818 2,747 2.4 2.6
Eastern 144,066 135,168 2,960 2,932 2.1 2.2
Ashanti 253,131 261,672 4,276 4,725 1.7 1.8
Brong Ahafo 131,054 122,395 2,104 2,012 1.6 1.6
Northern 138,919 123,016 2,826 2,268 2.0 1.8
Upper East 60,310 55,642 1,381 1,272 2.3 2.3
Upper West 41,035 37,301 1,018 863 2.5 2.3
Among the youth aged either 20-24 or 25-35 years, one pattern is observable across all 10
regions in Ghana. In all regions, the proportion of male youth aged 20-24 years that reported
some disabilities was higher than that among females in all regions except in the Eastern
Region where there was no difference between males and females. In Ashanti Region on the
other hand, a relatively higher proportion of female youth than their male counterparts
reported some disabilities. The results also indicate that among either males or females of the
youthful age 20-24 years, the Volta Region recorded the highest proportion of the youth to
have a disability. The youth of this age group recorded three percent among males or females
with some disability which in the other regions it was below three percent.
Similarly, among the youth group aged 25-35 years, Volta Region recorded the highest
proportion with disability which was almost four percent among either males or females. The
Volta Region was followed by the Upper East Region where 3.7 percent of the males and 2.9
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percent of the females were recorded as having a disability and in the Upper West Region
which had 3.5 percent and 2.9 percent respectively of males and females as having a
disability. It is also clear that in all the regions, a relatively higher proportion of the males of
age 25-35 years were reported to have a disability compared to their female counterparts.
This suggests that a higher proportion of male young persons in Ghana are likely to have
some disability in each region than their female counterparts.
Table 8.3d: Percent of population 20-24 years with disability by sex and region
Western 110,460 118,795 2,261 2,279 2.0 1.9
Central 92,178 103,551 2,176 2,418 2.4 2.3
Greater Accra 215,803 242,272 4,053 4,442 1.9 1.8
Volta 86,049 93,400 2,660 2,810 3.1 3.0
Eastern 104,571 117,053 2,464 2,864 2.4 2.4
Ashanti 222,112 251,410 4,022 4,726 1.8 1.9
Brong Ahafo 102,007 111,687 1,861 1,846 1.8 1.7
Northern 98,318 112,364 2,036 2,252 2.1 2.0
Upper East 40,214 42,298 1,097 982 2.7 2.3
Upper West 29,015 29,934 740 673 2.6 2.2
Table 8.3e: Percent of population 25-35 years with disability by sex and region
Region Total Population Population with disability Percent with
disability
Western 196,541 210,558 5,085 4,849 2.6 2.3
Central 151,050 181,127 4,828 5,159 3.2 2.8
Greater Accra 423,285 453,636 9,121 9,338 2.2 2.1
Volta 144,255 174,291 5,453 6,490 3.8 3.7
Eastern 186,584 212,764 5,800 6,166 3.1 2.9
Ashanti 388,813 444,654 8,690 9,339 2.2 2.1
Brong Ahafo 174,796 198,733 4,015 3,979 2.3 2.0
Northern 176,635 224,692 4,347 4,778 2.5 2.1
Upper East 64,848 80,819 2,397 2,331 3.7 2.9
Upper West 45,062 56,804 1,570 1,638 3.5 2.9
8.4 Disability by Marital Status

In Section 8.3, it was found that reported disability is likely to be higher among females than
males as they grow older. We also know that both males and females go through different life
situations which could make them become differently susceptible to disabilities of different
kinds. An important life situation that young people are likely to go through that could make
them become prone to one disability or another is marriage. Interestingly, in Ghana, marriage
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is largely universal in that almost everyone is expected to marry at a point in time. At the
same time, through childbearing, women go through different physical, mental and
psychological circumstances that are quite different from men. It is, therefore, important at
this stage to examine the extent to which a young person’s marital status may influence
his/her disability status in Ghana. Conversely, the disability status of people could also affect
their eligibility to being married. The results of the analysis are presented in Table 8.3. It
should, however, be noted that the analysis is limited largely to adolescents and youth since
the 2010 Population and Housing Census did not asked questions on marital status to children
less than 12 years. The comparison is, therefore, between the adolescent and youth groups
with all children below 10 years presented as never married in the table.
Adolescents: There were no separated, divorced or widowed adolescents of age 10-14 years
as shown in Table 8.4 and, therefore, the discussion on adolescents is mainly with reference
to the 15-19 year group. Among this group, we find that disability is highest among the
widowed, followed by the divorced and then the separated and those living together. The
never married and married adolescents reported the lowest proportion with disability, each
with 1.9 percent recorded to have some form of disability. It is quite clear that marital
separation, dissolution and widowhood could be a greater determinant or consequence of
disability where for example on account of disability, marriages could face a threat of
instability. Again, depending on the circumstances surrounding a marital separation or
dissolution, the partners involved could be prone to different forms of disability especially
emotional disability. Furthermore, a sudden loss of a marital partner could ignite emotional
and other forms of disability particularly among young women. This may explain the
relatively high proportion of widowed, divorced and separated adolescents who were reported
to have disabilities.
Youth: A similar pattern is seen among the youth with respect to disability just like that
observed among the adolescent group. Once again, the widowed, divorced and separated
have the highest proportion of persons with disabilities. It has to be pointed out, however, that
from Table 8.4, the analysis shows that the never married youth reported a higher proportion
of their members with disability either among those aged 20-24 or 25-35 years. This,
notwithstanding, stability within marriage should be cherished and worked towards achieving
in order to reduce the incidence and prevalence of disabilities among the youth some of
whom may be marrying for the first time.
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Table 8.4: Percent distribution of population of young people in Ghana
by reported disability, marital status and age
Age group & Marital Status
disability status Never Living Married Separated Divorced Widowed
married together
0-9
With disability 1.3 0 0 0 0 0
Without disability 98.7 0 0 0 0 0
Total Number 6,534,358 0 0 0 0 0
10-14
With disability 0.9 1.8 1.7 0 0 0
Without disability 99.1 98.2 98.3 0 0 0
Total Number 2,815,900 9,715 90,425 0 0 0
15-19
With disability 1.9 2.4 1.9 2.9 3.2 5.5
Without disability 98.1 97.6 98.1 97.1 96.8 94.5
Total Number 2,363,122 50,978 182,604 6,252 4,119 2,914
20-24
With disability 2.1 2.3 1.8 2.9 3.7 7.5
Total Number 1,596,712 165,450 518,585 20,737 15,919 6,088
25-35
With disability 3.1 2.7 2.0 3.8 4.3 5.7
Total Number 1,246,272 373,838 2,350,157 82,694 101,714 35,272

Children: The analysis does not reveal much variation in disability by sex among children.
The proportion of male and female children reported to have a form of disability was low: 1.4
percent and 1.3 percent respectively. Overall, physical and speech disability was higher
among the males while among the females it was with regard to sight, hearing, intellectual
and emotional. The regional analysis showed that more than 50 percent of children with
disability were males in all regions, the highest being recorded in Upper West Region. It was
thus quite evident that during childhood ages, a higher proportion of male children than their
female counterparts are likely to report any form of disability.
Adolescents: The proportion of adolescents that were reported to have a form of disability
was higher compared to that recorded among children in Ghana. Sight disability was the most
commonly reported form of disability among the adolescents and this was found to be
comparatively higher among the female than male adolescents. At the same time, emotional
disability was observed to be higher among females than males. There were, however, no
significant variations between the males and females relative to hearing and physical
disabilities. Spatially, the picture shown among the adolescents was similar to that pertaining
to the children across the regions. The exception was among adolescents 15-19 years where
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disability was found to be higher among female adolescents in the Volta, Brong Ahafo,
Greater Accra and Western regions while in the six remaining regions, the reverse was the
case. Disability was also found to be related to marital status among the adolescents where
the widowed, followed by the divorced and separated recorded higher prevalence of disability
than either the never married (which recorded the lowest prevalence) or the married.
Youth: Disability was found to be higher among the 25-35 age group of youth compared to
the younger group of 20-24 years. Sight disability was the most common disability among the
youth and was higher for the females than the males. A similar observation was made
pertaining to emotional disability which was higher among the female youth. At the regional
level, all the regions except the Northern and Upper West regions recorded higher disability
proportions among the females than the males. In higher ages 25-35 years, higher male than
female reported disability was found in Central, Northern and Upper West regions. On the
whole, the analysis suggests that more males tend to suffer from disabilities at very young
ages while the reverse is true at older ages perhaps due to the different life cycle experiences
males and females go through as they grow older.
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CHAPTER NINE
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
9.1 Introduction
Information technology is increasingly becoming a common feature of the Ghanaian society
just like many developing countries. Today, mobile phone ownership appears to be almost
universal in Ghana. Government has also embarked on a policy of one-child one laptop.
Internet cafes are also common. The coverage of ownership of mobile phones and computers
by region, type of locality and among children, adolescents and youth in the country is,
however, not well documented. Luckily, the 2010 PHC collected data on information
technology (IT) pertaining to household ownership and usage of mobile phones and
computers among the population. The purpose of this section, therefore, is to examine
coverage of these IT facilities in terms of household ownership of computers and mobile
phones in the country among children, adolescents and youth.
9.2 Household Ownership of Computer

The results presented in Table 9.1 compare household ownership of computers by type of
residence in Ghana. The 2010 PHC captured data on ICT that is fast becoming an important
issue in a world which is rapidly becoming a global village. The questions sought to find out
the ownership of either a laptop or desktop computer by the household, thus whether any
member of the household to which children, adolescents or youth belonged owned either a
laptop or desktop computer.
Children: Table 9.1 indicates that in urban areas one in ten of children were living in
households with either a laptop or desktop while in rural areas it was one in hundred. This is
to be expected because in the rural areas, it may be difficult to use such equipment without
regular electricity supply. At the same time, illiteracy is generally higher in rural than urban
areas and, therefore, many rural households may be handicapped finding a use for computers
compared to their counterparts in the urban areas.
Adolescents: Table 9.1 indicates that in households where the adolescents live, the picture
with respect to ownership of computers is not different from that of the children. This is
reflected in the observation that while about 12 percent and 14 percent of households of
adolescents aged 10-14 and 15-19 years respectively reported ownership of a computer in the
urban area, the corresponding proportions among their rural counterparts were 1.7 percent
and 2.4 percent. The difference between the rural and urban areas is again to be expected just
like in the case of adolescents. It should, however, be noted that it is not encouraging to find
that in 86-88 percent of households in urban areas in Ghana, adolescents do not have access
to either a laptop or desktop at the household level. It should, however, be noted that in the
urban areas, the adolescents may have access to internet cafes where many of them would be
able to access ICT services.
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Youth: The picture among the youth looks a bit better and it is to be expected because
persons in these ages may be either students beyond the secondary level or may be employed
and, therefore, may be in a position to afford a laptop or desktop. This is also because they
may need computers for their studies or work. It is also quite common for some parents to
purchase personal computers for their children and wards in higher institutions of learning.
Among the youth, about 17 percent and 15 percent of households they were members of
reported to have ownership of either a laptop or desktop in the urban areas while about 3
percent or less of households of their peers in the rural areas indicated ownership of personal
computers. The variation between the rural and urban areas is, however, similar to that
among children and adolescents. The results call for more to be done with respect to the rural
areas.
Table 9.1: Percent distribution of population of young people by household

ownership of computer and rural-urban residence
Urban Rural
Yes No Total Yes No Total
Age (%) (%) % No. (%) (%) % No.
0-9 9.9 90.1 100.0 2,878,402 1.3 98.7 100.0 3,557,879
10-14 11.7 88.3 100.0 1,357,180 1.7 98.3 100.0 2,726,032
15-19 14.0 86.0 100.0 1,305,062 2.4 97.6 100.0 2,165,172
20-24 16.9 83.1 100.0 1,265,415 3.4 96.6 100.0 3,942,786
25-35 15.2 84.8 100.0 2,300,930 2.7 97.3 100.0 3,557,879
9.3 Regional Variation in Computer Ownership

Tables 9.2 to 9.6 present data on household ownership of computers by region and locality of
residence.
Children: At the regional level, the picture as shown in Table 9.2 quite expectedly is better
among children resident in urban areas compared to others in the rural areas. Among the
children, Greater Accra reported the highest proportion of ownership of a laptop or desktop
(about 16%) at the household level while the Northern Region reported the lowest ownership
of just about 5%. Ashanti Region is next to the Greater Accra Region in ownership of
computers in the urban areas. The gap between Greater Accra and the other regions is much
wider in the rural areas considering that 7% of households of children in rural Greater Accra
Region reported ownership of computers with less than two percent of rural resident children
in each of the other regions indicating ownership of a computer. Ownership of computers by
region is a reflection of the more urbanized regions having advantage over those that are less
urbanized.
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Table 9.2: Percent distribution of population of children 0-9 years by household
ownership of computer, region and rural-urban residence
Urban Rural
Yes No Total Yes No Total
Region (%) (%) No. % (%) (%) No. %
Western 9.3 90.7 232,542 100.0 1.6 98.4 393,831 100.0
Central 6.2 93.8 256,988 100.0 1.7 98.3 329,402 100.0
Greater Accra 15.7 84.3 750,968 100.0 7.2 92.8 98,967 100.0
Volta 4.6 95.4 169,887 100.0 0.8 99.2 386,958 100.0
Eastern 6.6 93.4 262,707 100.0 1.2 98.8 414,815 100.0
Ashanti 11.1 88.9 665,051 100.0 1.9 98.1 543,220 100.0
Brong Ahafo 5.6 94.4 251,523 100.0 1.1 98.9 379,740 100.0
Northern 4.8 95.2 207,742 100.0 0.4 99.6 598,744 100.0
Upper East 6.4 93.6 55,164 100.0 0.7 99.3 239,877 100.0
Upper West 7.9 92.1 25,830 100.0 0.7 99.3 172,325 100.0
Adolescents: The variation of adolescents in household ownership of computers by region as

depicted in Tables 9.3 and 9.4 does not deviate dramatically from the picture presented
among the children. The only difference is that the proportion of households of adolescents in
each region that reported computer ownership was higher than those recorded among
children. Households in Greater Accra still lead in ownership of computers with about 18%
of adolescents aged 10-14 years and one in five of others 15-19 years in urban areas in the
region having access to either a laptop or a desktop at the household level compared to a little
less than 10% and about 13% respectively of their rural counterparts. This is followed by
households of adolescents in the Ashanti Region with about 13% and 17% ownership of
computers respectively among the 10-14 and 15-19 year groups in the urban areas compared
with about two percent and four percent in the rural areas in the region among the 10-14 and
15-19 year groups respectively. The region with the least reported household computer
ownership was in the Northern Region where about between five and seven percent of
households in the urban areas and less than one percent in the rural areas indicated ownership
of a computer in the region. It has to be noted also that adolescents in the Western Region
ranked highest in access to computers after their counterparts in Greater Accra and Ashanti
regions.
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Urban Rural
Yes No Total Yes Total
Region (%) (%) No. % (%) No (%) No. %
Western 11.5 88.5 114,464 100.0 2.2 97.8 165,814 100.0
Central 7.5 92.5 119,789 100.0 2.1 97.9 149,118 100.0
Greater Accra 18.4 81.6 336,229 100.0 8.9 91.1 41,436 100.0
Volta 5.7 94.3 80,352 100.0 1.0 99.0 164,970 100.0
Eastern 8.0 92.0 134,564 100.0 1.7 98.3 182,713 100.0
Ashanti 13.4 86.6 324,089 100.0 2.4 97.6 240,578 100.0
Brong Ahafo 6.9 93.1 127,304 100.0 1.4 98.6 162,647 100.0
Northern 5.5 94.5 82,522 100.0 0.5 99.5 207,777 100.0
Upper East 7.3 92.7 25,664 100.0 0.8 99.2 110,312 100.0
Upper West 9.0 91.0 12,203 100.0 0.8 92.2 78,431 100.0

Urban Rural
Region Yes (%) No (%) Total No. % Yes (%) No (%) Total No. %
Western 15.0 85.0 107,683 100.0 3.0 97.0 135,435 100.0
Central 10.7 89.3 106,879 100.0 3.8 96.2 118,296 100.0
Greater Accra 21.9 78.1 336,280 100.0 12.7 87.3 36,804 100.0
Volta 7.4 92.6 78,750 100.0 1.4 98.6 140,268 100.0
Eastern 11.5 88.5 124,433 100.0 2.9 97.1 146,473 100.0
Ashanti 17.4 82.6 310,474 100.0 4.1 95.9 187,898 100.0
Brong Ahafo 9.4 90.6 117,784 100.0 2.4 97.6 130,582 100.0
Northern 6.9 93.1 85,353 100.0 0.8 99.2 172,949 100.0
Upper East 9.5 90.5 24,492 100.0 1.4 98.6 90,135 100.0
Upper West 14.7 85.3 12,934 100.0 1.5 98.5 63,396 100.0
Youth: Reported proportions of household ownership of computers among the youth are
presented in Tables 9.5 and 9.6 respectively for the 20-24 and 25-35 year groups constituting
the youth. The differential ownership of computers by region reveals a similar pattern where
Greater Accra and Northern regions respectively reported the highest and lowest proportion
of households with ownership of a computer either among the urban or rural areas. Among
this group, computer ownership ranged from a low of about 7 percent to a high of 22 percent
respectively in the Northern and Greater Accra regions relative to the urban areas among the
youth group aged 20-24 years. In contrast, in the rural areas, household computer was
reported to range from a low of less than one percent in the Northern Region to a high of 13
percent in the Greater Accra Region. A similar observation can be made from Table 9.6 in
respect of the youth group 25-35 years. The Western Region recorded the third highest
proportion of ownership (about 14) in the urban areas after Ashanti Region’s 14 percent. In
the entire data presentation, the ownership of either a desktop or laptop across the country is
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as expected better in the urban areas as opposed to the rural areas based on the relatively
better living conditions and standards of living in the urban than rural areas in addition to the
higher urban than rural literacy rates in the country as have been recorded in Chapter Four.
What is quite clear from the results of the analysis on household computer ownership is that
as age increases, there is a higher tendency for a higher proportion of young persons to own
either a laptop or desktop at the household level. The rural folks are at a disadvantage but
there is every indication that sooner or later more households hosting young persons in rural
areas may become owners of computers. This is based on the kind of transformation and
education currently on-going regarding the use of information technology in the country
especially government’s policy of one-child one-laptop that was launched not too long ago
throughout the country that with.
Table 9.5: Percent distribution of population of youth 20-24 years by household

Urban Rural
Western 14.5 85.5 99.950 100.0 3.0 97.0 117,185 100.0
Central 10.6 89.4 89,241 100.0 3.8 96.2 84,180 100.0
Greater Accra 21.5 78.5 395,374 100.0 12.9 87.1 35,611 100.0
Volta 7.5 92.5 66,376 100.0 1.5 98.5 109,108 100.0
Eastern 11.3 88.7 101,508 100.0 2.8 97.2 110,841 100.0
Ashanti 16.6 83.4 305,419 100.0 3.8 96.2 148,349 100.0
Brong Ahafo 9.3 90.7 100,211 100.0 2.2 97.8 101,903 100.0
Northern 7.0 93.0 71,962 100.0 0.8 99.2 134,992 100.0
Upper East 9.8 90.2 21,463 100.0 1.4 98.6 58,824 100.0
Upper West 14.2 85.8 13,911 100.0 1.5 98.5 41,943 100.0
Table 9.6: Percent distribution of population of youth 25-35 years by household

Urban Rural
Region Yes (%) No (%) Total N. % Yes (%) No (%) Total N. %
Western 13.9 86.1 171,139 100.0 2.7 97.3 222,525 100.0
Central 10.5 89.5 160,842 100.0 3.7 96.3 155,106 100.0
Greater Accra 21.0 79.0 779,834 100.0 13.0 87.0 69,283 100.0
Volta 7.7 92.3 115,987 100.0 1.6 98.4 197,418 100.0
Eastern 11.0 89.0 176,432 100.0 2.7 97.3 212,732 100.0
Ashanti 13.8 84.2 536,599 100.0 3.4 96.6 277,308 100.0
Brong Ahafo 9.3 90.7 170,709 100.0 2.0 98.0 194,050 100.0
Northern 7.2 92.8 131,993 100.0 0.7 99.3 263,056 100.0
Upper East 10.1 89.9 36,869 100.0 1.4 98.6 106,805 100.0
Upper West 13.6 86.4 20,526 100.0 1.3 98.5 79,331 100.0
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9.4 Mobile Phone Ownership
The 2010 Population and Housing Census collected information on mobile phone ownership
among all household members aged 12 years and above in Ghana. The analysis in this
monograph, therefore, excludes children below 12 years. The results in Table 9.6 show the
proportion of young persons by ownership of mobile phones by rural-urban residence among
adolescents and youth. From the results, there is a clear indication that ownership of mobile
phones in Ghana is far higher in urban than rural areas across all age groups considered.
There is also a clear indication of a direct relationship between age and ownership of mobile
phone in the country irrespective of type of locality of residence, i.e., whether rural or urban.
Thus, the proportion that owns mobile phones increases as age increases.
Adolescents: Ownership of mobile phones is higher among older adolescents aged 15-19
years compared to their younger counterparts of age 12-14 years whether in the urban or rural
areas. The proportion of adolescents aged 15-19 years with ownership of mobile phones was
about four times that among those of age 12-14 years in the urban areas and seven times in
the rural areas. This shows a bigger gap between the two adolescent groups in the rural than
urban areas in Ghana. The difference between the urban and rural areas is expected because
not all rural areas in Ghana have access to electricity which is required to regularly charge the
batteries of the mobile phone by their owners. At the same time, income levels in the rural
areas are much lower than in the urban areas, making ownership of mobile phones become
more affordable in urban areas than rural localities.
Table 9.6: Percent distribution of population of young people by ownership of

mobile phones and rural-urban residence
Urban Rural
Age Yes (%) No (%) % Total No. Yes (%) No (%) Total No. %
12-14 8.5 91.5 100.0 815,040 2.3 97.7 100.0 862,841
15-19 37.0 63.0 100.0 1,364,124 15.5 84.5 100.0 1,245,865
20-24 73.9 26.1 100.0 1,356,838 38.5 61.5 100.0 966,653
25-35 80.7 19.3 100.0 2,380,388 42.1 57.9 100.0 1,809,559
Youth: Table 9.6 shows that ownership of mobile phones among the youth in urban areas is
about two times that among adolescents 15-19 years. In the rural areas, however, ownership
of mobile phones among the youth is slightly higher than two times that among their
counterparts 15-19 years. Access to mobile phones is, therefore, quite high among the urban
youth in Ghana with just about 20 percent and 26 percent of the youth aged 25-35 years and
20-24 years respectively with no ownership of mobile phones. This compares with as high as
62 percent and 58 percent respectively among the youth in rural areas in the country who do
not own a mobile phone.
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9.5 Regional Variation in Mobile Phone Ownership
Regional variations in mobile phone ownership among adolescents and youth in Ghana are
presented in Tables 9.7 to 9.10. The results indicate few variations across the regions with
much higher ownership of mobile phones among the youth than adolescents.
Adolescents: Tables 9.7 and 9.8 present information on the proportion of adolescents with
ownership of mobile phones by region in Ghana. Once again, adolescents in urban areas have
relatively higher proportion of their members with ownership of mobile phones in all regions
in the country. Among adolescents aged 12-14 years, Greater Accra recorded the highest
proportion that owns mobile phones. Fourteen percent of adolescents of 12-14 years in
Greater Accra Region recorded ownership of mobile phones compared to less than 10 percent
in the other regions. So far, ownership of mobile phones is less than five percent in four
regions: Upper East, Upper West, Volta and Northern. In contrast, ownership of mobile
phones is less than 10 percent in the rural areas in all regions in the country, the highest of
about seven percent being reported in Greater Accra Region while it was less than two
percent once again in Upper East, Upper West, Volta and Northern regions. This is to be
expected because on account of their young ages, it is rare for them to have mobile phones of
their own and may share those of their parents or older siblings whenever it becomes
necessary.
Table 9.7: Percent distribution of population of adolescents 12-14 years by ownership

of mobile phones, region and rural-urban residence
Urban Rural
Total Yes No
Region Yes (%) No (%) N. % (%) (%) Total N %
Western 7.5 92.5 70,143 100.0 2.6 97.4 96,200 100.0
Central 5.5 94.5 72,677 100.0 2.3 97.7 87,811 100.0
Greater Accra 14.1 85.9 199,970 100.0 6.7 93.3 24,520 100.0
Volta 4.8 95.2 48,607 100.0 1.9 92.1 95,043 100.0
Eastern 6.0 94.0 82,000 100.0 2.5 97.5 106,349 100.0
Ashanti 9.0 91.0 195,728 100.0 2.8 97.2 139,833 100.0
Brong Ahafo 5.1 94.9 76,345 100.0 2.2 97.8 92,699 100.0
Northern 4.9 95.1 47,094 100.0 1.6 98.4 112,345 100.0
Upper East 4.2 95.8 15,072 100.0 1.7 98.3 63,903 100.0
Upper West 4.7 95.3 7,404 100.0 1.5 98.5 44,138 100.0
Table 9.8 shows that once again adolescents aged 15-19 years in Greater Accra either in
urban or rural areas have the highest proportion of ownership of mobile phones. Almost half
of the adolescents of age 15-19 years in the urban areas and a little less than a third of their
counterparts in the rural areas reported ownership of mobile phones. Greater Accra is
followed by Ashanti Region with two in five of their members owning mobile phones in the
urban areas while in the rural setting, Central Region comes second after Greater Accra. So
far, the three northern regions (Northern, Upper East and Upper West) recorded the lowest
110
proportion with mobile phone ownership among adolescents aged 15-19 years whether in
urban or rural areas. All the other regions recorded far lower proportion of ownership.
Table 9.8: Percent distribution of population of adolescents 15-19 years by ownership

of mobile phones, region and rural-urban residence
Urban Rural
Western 34.9 65.1 113,208 100.0 18.3 80.7 138,096 100.0
Central 34.2 65.8 119,295 100.0 20.6 79.3 124,725 100.0
Greater Accra 47.3 52.7 350,501 100.0 30.5 69.5 37,902 100.0
Volta 26.1 73.9 80,710 100.0 13.7 86.3 141,843 100.0
Eastern 32.5 67.5 130,230 100.0 17.4 82.6 149,004 100.0
Ashanti 41.2 58.8 323,966 100.0 20.0 80.0 190,837 100.0
Brong Ahafo 29.0 71.0 120,916 100.0 15.3 84.7 132,533 100.0
Northern 20.9 79.1 86,699 100.0 6.1 95.9 175,236 100.0
Upper East 23.4 76.6 24,875 100.0 11.6 88.4 91,077 100.0
Upper West 22.2 77.8 13,724 100.0 8.4 91.6 64,612 100.0
Youth: In comparison with the adolescents, mobile phone ownership was far higher among
the youth in all regions in the country. The same observed pattern of a higher urban than rural
household ownership of mobile phones among adolescents is also seen among the youth in
Tables 9.9 and 9.10. It is also seen that ownership of mobile phones was relatively higher
among the older youth aged 25-35 years compared to their younger counterparts of age 20-24
years in all the regions whether in rural or urban areas. The only exception was in Upper
West Region in the rural areas where a slightly higher proportion of the youth aged 20-24
years (about 27%) owned a mobile phone compared to about 26 percent of their counterparts
of 25-35 years. In conclusion, therefore, except in the isolated case of the Upper West
Region, ownership of mobile phones happens to be higher with higher age among young
persons in Ghana.
mobile phones, region and rural-urban residence
Urban Rural
Western 71.8 28.2 109,435 100.0 44.1 55.9 119,820 100.0
Central 71.0 29.0 106,518 100.0 49.3 50.7 89,211 100.0
Greater Accra 82.0 18.0 420,482 100.0 67.4 32.6 37,593 100.0
Volta 61.7 38.3 68,951 100.0 36.5 63.5 110,498 100.0
Eastern 69.8 30.2 108,551 100.0 43.2 56.8 113,073 100.0
Ashanti 78.6 21.4 322,081 100.0 47.4 52.3 151,441 100.0
Brong Ahafo 65.6 34.4 109,744 100.0 37.4 62.6 103,950 100.0
Northern 50.0 50.0 73,695 100.0 14.6 85.4 136,987 100.0
Upper East 60.0 40.0 22,389 100.0 31.4 68.6 60,123 100.0
Upper West 63.9 36.1 14,992 100.0 26.7 73.3 43,957 100.0
111
mobile phones, region and rural-urban residence
Urban Rural
Total Yes Total
Region Yes (%) No (%) No. % (%) No (%) No. %
Western 77.5 22.5 179,652 100.0 48.9 51.1 227,447 100.0
Central 74.9 25.1 171,546 100.0 51.8 48.2 160,631 100.0
Greater Accra 88.5 11.5 805,773 100.0 76.5 33.5 71,148 100.0
Volta 70.8 29.2 118,862 100.0 42.3 57.7 199,684 100.0
Eastern 76.0 24.0 183,214 100.0 48.5 51.5 216,134 100.0
Ashanti 85.3 14.7 551,515 100.0 51.0 49.0 281,952 100.0
Brong Ahafo 72.2 27.8 176,107 100.0 40.4 59.6 197,422 100.0
Northern 59.3 40.7 134,594 100.0 17.2 82.8 266,733 100.0
Upper East 65.8 34.2 37,762 100.0 31.0 69.0 107,905 100.0
Upper West 69.1 30.9 21,363 100.0 25.5 74.5 80,503 100.0

Children: It has been observed that household ownership of computers is by far higher in
urban than rural areas. One in 10 households of children in urban areas compared to less than
two percent of their counterparts in rural areas was found to own a computer. High rates of
illiteracy and poor rural infrastructure with particular reference to access to electricity could
account for these urban-rural differences in computer ownership among households. The
regional analysis also revealed that children in Greater Accra Region have the highest access
to computers, followed by children in Ashanti Region. In contrast, children in Northern
Region were recorded to have the least access to computers at the household level. The
regional variation in ownership and access to computers is largely a reflection of differences
in degrees of urbanization and development across the regions.
Adolescents: Ownership of computers at the household level was found to be higher among
households with adolescents than that observed among those with children. However, the
pattern where the urban areas were more advantaged was found among the adolescents. Once
again, Greater Accra was noted to be ahead of all the other regions in terms of household
ownership of computers with Northern Region being the most disadvantaged. Consequently,
access to computers was higher in Greater Accra and least in the Northern Region among the
adolescents.
Ownership of mobile phones was by far higher among adolescents in urban than rural areas.
In terms of region, access to mobile phones was relatively higher among adolescents in
Greater Accra Region than their counterparts in all the other regions either among those aged
10-14 or 15-19 years. Ownership of mobile phones was less than 10 percent in the rural areas
in all regions in the country, with the highest (7%) being recorded in Greater Accra Region
and less than two percent in Upper East, Upper West, Volta and Northern regions. Older
adolescents aged 15-19 years enjoy a higher access to mobile phones compared to the
112
younger ones of age 10-14 years. This could be a reflection of the policy in schools in Ghana
where young persons in Junior and Senior High schools in Ghana are not permitted to possess
mobile phones while in school.
Youth: Household ownership of computers among the youth is not different from that
observed among other households with children and adolescents. The proportion of
households among the youth having computers, was, however, higher compared to that
observed among the children and adolescents. The rural areas are still disadvantaged
compared to the urban. Once again, household computer ownership was still higher in
Greater Accra, followed by Ashanti Region with Northern Region trailing at the end. More
attention is required to be focused on rural areas as the most deprived with regard to
household ownership of computers.
Ownership of mobile phones among the youth was higher than that among the adolescents in
Ghana. The youth in urban areas in all regions in the country recorded a much higher degree
of ownership that those in rural areas. Furthermore, ownership of mobile phones was
relatively higher among the older youth aged 25-35 years compared to the younger ones of
age 20-24 years in all the regions irrespective of whether they were resident in rural or urban
areas. With the exception of Upper West Region where a slightly higher proportion of the
youth aged 20-24 years (about 27%) owned a mobile phone compared to about 26 percent of
their counterparts of 25-35 years, the proportion of young persons with ownership of mobile
phones increased with higher age in Ghana.
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CHAPTER TEN
POPULATION PROJECTION OF YOUNG PERSONS
10.1 Introduction
Population projections are important in informing policy makers about the changes that are
expected to occur in the population in order to plan towards addressing the challenges that
accompany the changes. The changes that occur in a population would depend on the
interplay of three main factors: fertility, mortality and migration. The purpose of this chapter,
therefore, is to present the results of projections made in respect of the population of children,
adolescents and youth in Ghana.
10.2 Methodology
The projection uses the Spectrum Model Software as the method for the projection of the
population of young persons in Ghana. The model has a component known as Demproj
which is used to undertake the projection of populations when the required data are available
and appropriate assumptions are made. Three different projections are made namely the High,
Medium and Low variants. The three variants each has varying assumptions regarding the
rate at which the population is expected to grow based on differences in fertility which is also
a factor of expected average increase in contraceptive prevalence rate throughout the
projection period. While the Medium Variant projection is expected to produce relatively
accurate results, the results of all three projections are presented to show the possible range
within which the population of young persons is expected to fall.
The projection uses 2010 as the base year and the age-sex population distribution from the
2010 Population and Housing Census as the base-year population. The projection is done
over a 10-year period 2010-2020. The projection is also done for the entire country before
extracting the component made up of children, adolescents and youth. The following
assumptions were made as the basis for the projection:
10.2.1 High Variant Projection

i. That Contraceptive Prevalence will increase by 0.4 percent per annum from 2010
to 2020. This has been the trend recorded in the 2003 and 2008 GDHS reports
which is maintained to be constant throughout the projection period.
Contraceptive prevalence of 21.6 percent is used at the base year and was assumed
to reach 25.6 percent at the end of the projection period in 2020.
ii. Total fertility rate of 3.84 in 2010 and was projected to attain 3.63 at the end of
the projection period. The base year figure was derived from an extrapolation
from that recorded in 2008 using observed trend from the 2003 and 2008 GDHS
reports.
114
iii. The age pattern of age-specific fertility rates from the 2008 GDHS is adopted to
approximate for the base-year and projected using UN average model fertility
patterns during the projection period.
iv. The sex ratio of 103 was used for the base year 2010 and this was assumed to
remain constant over the projection period. The sex ratio was the same as that
reported from the Population Reference Bureau’s 2010 World Population Data
Sheet figure for Ghana.
v. Life expectancy for 2010 (60.2 years for males and 63.4 years for females) was
adopted and projected using the UN Population projection median variant
projection "2010 Revision” available at www.esa.un.org/undp/wpp/index.htm. At
the end of the projection period, these were assumed to reach 62.7 and 65.9 years
respectively among males and females.
vi. The Coale-Demeny West Model life table is assumed to approximate Ghana
during the projection period.
vii. International Migration is assumed to be zero during the projection period because
of lack of relevant data for the projection.
10.2.2 Medium and Low Variants

All the assumptions under the High Variant Projection were maintained in the Medium and
Low Variant projections except the assumption of contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) which
was varied. In the Medium Variant Projection, CPR was assumed to increase by 1.0 percent
each year throughout the projection period and was assumed to increase from 21.6 percent in
2010 to 31.6 percent in 2020. On the other hand, TFR was assumed to decline from 3.84 in
2010 to reach 3.36 in 2020. In the case of Low Variant, CPR was assumed to increase by 1.5
percent per year from 21.6 percent in 2010 to reach 36.6 percent in 2020. In contrast, TFR
was assumed to decline from its 2010 level of 3.84 to 3.08 in 2020. The age-sex population
distribution of Ghana for 2010 (Table 10.1) was used as the base year for the projection under
each of the three variants.
115
Table 10.1: Age-sex base year population distribution of Ghana, 2010
Age group Population % Distribution
Male Female Total Male Female Total
0-4 1,731,787 1,673,619 3,405,406 7.0 6.8 13.8
5-9 1,589,632 1,539,320 3,128,952 6.4 6.2 12.7
10-14 1,477,525 1,438,515 2,916,040 6.0 5.8 11.8
15-19 1,311,112 1,298,877 2,609,989 5.3 5.3 10.6
20-24 1,100,727 1,222,764 2,323,491 4.5 5.0 9.4
25-29 943,213 1,106,898 2,050,111 3.8 4.5 8.3
30-34 790,301 888,508 1,678,809 3.2 3.6 6.8
35-39 676,768 744,635 1,421,403 2.7 3.0 5.8
40-44 572,620 613,730 1,186,350 2.3 2.5 4.8
45-49 452,975 485,123 938,098 1.8 2.0 3.8
50-54 394,600 438,498 833,098 1.6 1.8 3.4
55-59 258,582 265,113 523,695 1.0 1.1 2.1
60-64 227,050 248,799 475,849 0.9 1.0 1.9
65-69 136,244 157,627 293,871 0.6 0.6 1.2
70-74 149,512 201,818 351,330 0.6 0.8 1.4
75-79 89,149 116,804 205,953 0.4 0.5 0.8
80+ 123,048 193,330 316,378 0.5 0.8 1.3
Total 12,024,845 12,633,978 24,658,823 48.8 51.2 100.0
10.3 Projection Results

Tables 10.3a and b, 10.4a and b, and 10.5a and b present the results of the projection of the
total population of Ghana by age and sex respectively for the high, medium and low variant
projections of the total population of Ghana for 2015 and 2020 in each case based on the
assumptions adopted. Each of the projected population contains the children, adolescent and
youth components that are of interest in this analysis. These have been extracted and shown
in Table 10.2.
116
Table 10.2: Base year (2010) population and projected age-sex population
distribution of children, adolescents and youth for 2015 and 2020
2010
0-9 3,321,419 3,212,939 6,534,358 13.5 13.0 26.5
10-14 1,477,525 1,438,515 2,916,040 6.0 5.8 11.8
15-19 1,311,112 1,298,877 2,609,989 5.3 5.3 10.6
20-24 1,100,727 1,222,764 2,323,491 4.5 5.0 9.4
25-29 943,213 1,106,898 2,050,111 3.8 4.5 8.3
30-34 790,301 888,508 1,678,809 3.2 3.6 6.8
2015 Proj.
0-9 3,550,011 3,460,989 7,011,000 13.0 12.6 25.6
10-14 1,578,795 1,529,578 3,108,373 5.8 5.6 11.4
15-19 1,465,284 1,425,316 2,890,600 5.4 5.2 10.6
20-24 1,294,812 1,287,655 2,582,467 4.7 4.7 9.4
25-29 1,084,136 1,206,735 2,290,871 4.0 4.4 8.4
30-34 927,685 1,090,039 2,017,724 3.4 4.0 7.4
2020 Proj.
0-9 3,764,673 3,696,053 7,460,726 12.4 12.2 24.7
10-14 1,688,056 1,634,919 3,322,975 5.6 5.4 11.0
15-19 1,566,904 1,516,543 3,083,447 5.2 5.0 10.2
20-24 1,448,614 1,414,845 2,863,459 4.8 4.7 9.5
25-29 1,277,028 1,272,646 2,549,674 4.2 4.2 8.4
30-34 1,067,926 1,190,192 2,258,118 3.5 3.9 7.5
Population of Children: From Table 10.2, the results of the projection from the Medium
Variant scenario indicate that the population of children 0-9 years would increase by 476,642
in the five-year period between 2010 and 2015 and add another 449,726 to reach 7,460,726
by 2020. However, the proportionate share of children of the total population of Ghana would
see a gradual decline from almost 27% in 2010 to about 25% in 2020.
Population of Adolescents: The adolescent population is projected to increase from a total

of about 5.5 million in 2010 to 6.4 million i.e., for both the 10-14 and 15-19 year groups,
representing 11.4% and 10.6% respectively in 2015 and 11.0% and 10.2% in 2020. This
shows that between 2010 and 2015, the adolescent population would increase by some
472,944 with an additional 407,449 by 2020.
Population of Youth: Similar to children and adolescents, the projected population of the
youth groups would increase. During the period 2010-2015, the population of the youth aged
20-34 years would see an increase by 838,651 and in 2015-2020, 780,189 is expected to be
added. However, in contrast to the children and adolescent groups, the proportion of the
population of the youth is projected to increase slightly as more adolescents grow to join this
group while fertility declines affect the size of the children’s population at the base. This
would mean that the number of people in the labour force would increase and more jobs
would be required.
117
Table 10.3a: Projected population distribution of Ghana by age and sex,
2015 (High Variant)
Age Population % Distribution
group Male Female Total Male Female Total
0-4 1,897,863 1,862,492 3,760,355 6.9 6.8 13.7
5-9 1,698,444 1,643,902 3,342,346 6.2 6.0 12.2
10-14 1,578,795 1,529,578 3,108,373 5.8 5.6 11.3
15-19 1,465,284 1,425,316 2,890,600 5.3 5.2 10.5
20-24 1,294,812 1,287,655 2,582,467 4.7 4.7 9.4
25-29 1,084,136 1,206,735 2,290,871 3.9 4.4 8.3
30-34 927,685 1,090,039 2,017,724 3.4 4.0 7.4
35-39 774,906 872,585 1,647,491 2.8 3.2 6.0
40-44 659,777 728,445 1,388,222 2.4 2.7 5.1
45-49 552,870 596,766 1,149,636 2.0 2.2 4.2
50-54 430,559 466,814 897,373 1.6 1.7 3.3
55-59 366,123 415,166 781,289 1.3 1.5 2.8
60-64 231,142 244,369 475,511 0.8 0.9 1.7
65-69 191,622 218,939 410,561 0.7 0.8 1.5
70-74 105,182 128,225 233,407 0.4 0.5 0.9
75-79 99,135 143,093 242,228 0.4 0.5 0.9
80+ 90,613 142,869 233,482 0.3 0.5 0.9
Total 13,448,949 14,002,989 27,451,938 49.0 51.0 100.0
Table 10.3b: Projected population distribution of Ghana by age and sex,

2020 (High Variant)
0-4 2,081,583 2,041,391 4,122,974 6.8 6.7 13.5
5-9 1,865,843 1,833,946 3,699,789 6.1 6.0 12.1
10-14 1,688,056 1,634,919 3,322,975 5.5 5.3 10.9
15-19 1,566,904 1,516,543 3,083,447 5.1 5.0 10.1
20-24 1,448,614 1,414,845 2,863,459 4.7 4.6 9.4
25-29 1,277,028 1,272,646 2,549,674 4.2 4.2 8.3
30-34 1,067,926 1,190,192 2,258,118 3.5 3.9 7.4
35-39 911,231 1,072,341 1,983,572 3.0 3.5 6.5
40-44 757,041 855,198 1,612,239 2.5 2.8 5.3
45-49 638,534 709,647 1,348,181 2.1 2.3 4.4
50-54 527,026 575,535 1,102,561 1.7 1.9 3.6
55-59 400,761 443,080 843,841 1.3 1.4 2.8
60-64 328,558 383,955 712,513 1.1 1.3 2.3
65-69 196,176 216,224 412,400 0.6 0.7 1.3
70-74 148,993 179,432 328,425 0.5 0.6 1.1
75-79 70,565 91,768 162,333 0.2 0.3 0.5
80+ 82,804 134,605 217,409 0.3 0.4 0.7
Total 15,057,644 15,566,267 30,623,911 49.2 50.8 100.0
118
2015 (Medium Variant)
0-4 1,851,567 1,817,087 3,668,654 6.8 6.6 13.4
5-9 1,698,444 1,643,902 3,342,346 6.2 6.0 12.2
10-14 1,578,795 1,529,578 3,108,373 5.8 5.6 11.4
15-19 1,465,284 1,425,316 2,890,600 5.4 5.2 10.6
20-24 1,294,812 1,287,655 2,582,467 4.7 4.7 9.4
25-29 1,084,136 1,206,735 2,290,871 4.0 4.4 8.4
30-34 927,685 1,090,039 2,017,724 3.4 4.0 7.4
35-39 774,906 872,585 1,647,491 2.8 3.2 6.0
40-44 659,777 728,445 1,388,222 2.4 2.7 5.1
45-49 552,870 596,766 1,149,636 2.0 2.2 4.2
50-54 430,559 466,814 897,373 1.6 1.7 3.3
55-59 366,123 415,166 781,289 1.3 1.5 2.9
60-64 231,142 244,369 475,511 0.8 0.9 1.7
65-69 191,622 218,939 410,561 0.7 0.8 1.5
70-74 105,182 128,225 233,407 0.4 0.5 0.9
75-79 99,135 143,093 242,228 0.4 0.5 0.9
80+ 90,613 142,869 233,482 0.3 0.5 0.9
Total 13,402,653 13,957,584 27,360,237 49.0 51.0 100.0
Table 10.4b: Projected population distribution of Ghana by age and sex, 2020
(Medium Variant)
0-4 1,944,147 1,906,643 3,850,790 6.4 6.3 12.7
5-9 1,820,526 1,789,410 3,609,936 6.0 5.9 11.9
10-14 1,688,056 1,634,919 3,322,975 5.6 5.4 11.0
15-19 1,566,904 1,516,543 3,083,447 5.2 5.0 10.2
20-24 1,448,614 1,414,845 2,863,459 4.8 4.7 9.5
25-29 1,277,028 1,272,646 2,549,674 4.2 4.2 8.4
30-34 1,067,926 1,190,192 2,258,118 3.5 3.9 7.5
35-39 911,231 1,072,341 1,983,572 3.0 3.5 6.6
40-44 757,041 855,198 1,612,239 2.5 2.8 5.3
45-49 638,534 709,647 1,348,181 2.1 2.3 4.5
50-54 527,026 575,535 1,102,561 1.7 1.9 3.6
55-59 400,761 443,080 843,841 1.3 1.5 2.8
60-64 328,558 383,955 712,513 1.1 1.3 2.4
65-69 196,176 216,224 412,400 0.6 0.7 1.4
70-74 148,993 179,432 328,425 0.5 0.6 1.1
75-79 70,565 91,768 162,333 0.2 0.3 0.5
80+ 82,804 134,605 217,409 0.3 0.4 0.7
Total 14,874,891 15,386,983 30,261,874 49.2 50.8 100.0
119
2015 (Low Variant)
0-4 1,812,997 1,779,260 3,592,257 6.6 6.5 13.2
5-9 1,698,444 1,643,902 3,342,346 6.2 6.0 12.3
10-14 1,578,795 1,529,578 3,108,373 5.8 5.6 11.4
15-19 1,465,284 1,425,316 2,890,600 5.4 5.2 10.6
20-24 1,294,812 1,287,655 2,582,467 4.7 4.7 9.5
25-29 1,084,136 1,206,735 2,290,871 4.0 4.4 8.4
30-34 927,685 1,090,039 2,017,724 3.4 4.0 7.4
35-39 774,906 872,585 1,647,491 2.8 3.2 6.0
40-44 659,777 728,445 1,388,222 2.4 2.7 5.1
45-49 552,870 596,766 1,149,636 2.0 2.2 4.2
50-54 430,559 466,814 897,373 1.6 1.7 3.3
55-59 366,123 415,166 781,289 1.3 1.5 2.9
60-64 231,142 244,369 475,511 0.8 0.9 1.7
65-69 191,622 218,939 410,561 0.7 0.8 1.5
70-74 105,182 128,225 233,407 0.4 0.5 0.9
75-79 99,135 143,093 242,228 0.4 0.5 0.9
80+ 90,613 142,869 233,482 0.3 0.5 0.9
Total 13,364,083 13,919,757 27,283,840 49.0 51.0 100.0
Table 10.5b: Projected population distribution of Ghana by age and sex,

2020 (Low Variant)
0-4 1,829,769 1,794,501 3,624,270 6.1 6.0 12.1
5-9 1,782,771 1,752,307 3,535,078 6.0 5.8 11.8
10-14 1,688,056 1,634,919 3,322,975 5.6 5.5 11.1
15-19 1,566,904 1,516,543 3,083,447 5.2 5.1 10.3
20-24 1,448,614 1,414,845 2,863,459 4.8 4.7 9.6
25-29 1,277,028 1,272,646 2,549,674 4.3 4.2 8.5
30-34 1,067,926 1,190,192 2,258,118 3.6 4.0 7.5
35-39 911,231 1,072,341 1,983,572 3.0 3.6 6.6
40-44 757,041 855,198 1,612,239 2.5 2.9 5.4
45-49 638,534 709,647 1,348,181 2.1 2.4 4.5
50-54 527,026 575,535 1,102,561 1.8 1.9 3.7
55-59 400,761 443,080 843,841 1.3 1.5 2.8
60-64 328,558 383,955 712,513 1.1 1.3 2.4
65-69 196,176 216,224 412,400 0.7 0.7 1.4
70-74 148,993 179,432 328,425 0.5 0.6 1.1
75-79 70,565 91,768 162,333 0.2 0.3 0.5
80+ 82,804 134,605 217,409 0.3 0.4 0.7
Total 14,722,758 15,237,737 29,960,495 49.1 50.9 100.0
120
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SUMMARY, POLICY IMPLICATIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
11.1 Population Size, Age-Sex and Household Structure

The population of Ghana is made up of a large proportion of children, adolescents and youth.
The sex ratio among the children’s population is high, but reduces when one moves into the
period of adolescence and youth. Each region’s population of children was also dominated by
males compared to the females. Apart from the Brong Ahafo Region, sex ratios among
children were high in all other regions. The results indicate that more than two in three
children in Ghana were reported as sons/daughters of their heads of household and not much
variation was found to exist between the urban and rural areas. The proportion of the male
population classified as adolescents is higher than that for females, and it is higher in the rural
areas than the urban. This translates into a higher sex for the adolescent groups.
At the regional level, males out-number females in all the regions except in Greater Accra
and Ashanti regions where the reverse is the case among adolescents of 10-14 years.
Regional differences in fertility in the general population and migration flows among young
persons may have influenced the gender variations across the regions. Heads of household
were made up mainly of males because that is the kind of culture in Ghana where men are
more likely to be identified as the heads of household although they may not be responsible
in taking care of the household needs.
The large size of the population of children in particular puts a burden on the state regarding
their education and health. At the same time, the state would have to consider their economic
wellbeing through the expansion of job opportunities and or create the enabling environment
for the private sector to expand to absorb the increasing population that enters the labour
force each year.
In order to address these challenges, the government should continue to embark on

educational infrastructure expansion at all levels to ensure that all persons of school-going
age have access to primary school education. At the same time, a long-term intervention that
ensures that the size of the population of children is reduced should be pursued. Currently,
there are efforts by the National Population Council, the Ghana Health Service and their
partners to implement a programme aimed at re-positioning family planning throughout the
country. This programme should be supported fully with adequate funding to ensure that
there is an understanding within the entire population particularly in the rural areas of the
need to cut down on individual family sizes through a sustained usage of family planning.
When this is done, it is hoped that Ghana would gradually reduce the size and proportion of
the population of children in order to reduce the burden on families and the state in providing
for the needs of the teeming army of children in the country.
121
11.2 Housing Characteristics
The analysis presented under housing characteristics in Ghana have revealed compound
houses as the most common dwelling units used by children and young persons in the
country. There are, however, some variations across the regions, and these are a
demonstration of the socio-cultural differences in housing construction pertaining to each
region. Although, the nature of the data examined does not bring out the magnitude of
housing deficit in Ghana, the information on existing housing conditions presented so far
suggest that apart from the housing deficit which is accepted by everyone in Ghana,
households are faced with challenges regarding waste disposal, provision of basic housing
facilities including water, energy and places of convenience.
The implication of these unsatisfactory housing conditions is that living standards are
seriously undermined and the health of members of many households is also negatively
affected. This is especially against the finding that the bush continues to be a common place
of convenience for a substantial proportion of people in the country while others dump their
wastes indiscriminately anywhere they find space.
It is important, therefore, for intensive public health education among the population for
drastic attitudinal change. At the same time, there should be rigid enforcement of
Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly bye-laws on the obligation of landlords and
landladies particularly in the urban areas to include toilet facilities in their building plans.
There are, however, several existing houses in the cities and towns without toilet facilities
and these must be brought under the law to create spaces for toilet facilities within existing
structures. This would be effective if would-be tenants are well-sensitised to refuse
accommodation in dwelling units without toilet facilities.
The state should invest in the construction of affordable rental housing facilities in fast-
expanding cities and towns to provide decent accommodation for workers. This will go a
long way to reduce the challenge many people are faced with regarding the payment of huge
rent advances to landlords/ladies for housing facilities some of which have no places of
convenience.
Furthermore, a huge proportion of households in the country even in urban communities have
no piped water in the house for drinking and other purposes. Urban water infrastructure
facilities should be expanded as a matter of urgency while providing the enabling
environment and technical support to households that cannot be reached in the foreseeable
future with potable water to acquire bore holes for their household consumption. Currently,
the cost for drilling bore holes is hardly affordable for many households in urban
communities.
The use of LPG at the household level has caught up with a large proportion of households
even in rural communities. Unfortunately, LPG availability is become very unpredictable, the
consequence of which is not only the frustration urban dwellers in particular have had to live
122
with but also the return to the use of charcoal and wood fuel for household energy
requirement which is not line with the practice of a green economy the world is currently
adopting. With the discovery of oil and gas and its subsequent production in commercial
quantities, it should be possible to generate more LPG as a by-product of the crude oil when
refined to ensure a sustained supply of LPG throughout the year even in rural communities to
make life less stressful for mothers and female children who have a social responsibility in
Ghana in the provision of household energy needs.
It is also important for the state to strengthen its partnership with private waste collection and
disposal agencies and companies to ensure that there are properly designated sites for
dumping and collecting waste. Again, the state should explore the possibility of recycling
waste in the country. It is further proposed that the use of polythene bags for carrying
foodstuff and other things from the market should be prohibited and replaced with paper bags
that can easily be burnt and are more environment-friendly.
11.3 Literacy and Educational Attainment

It has been shown that there is a huge gap between the urban and rural areas and also between
males and females with regard to literacy and educational attainment among children and
young persons in Ghana. There is also a literacy and educational imbalance between the
northern and southern divide in the country. There is, however, a relatively high level of
literacy in English and Ghanaian language either for males or females. There is also a
growing phenomenon where in the urban areas in particular, children and young persons are
increasingly becoming literate in English language only. Quite a small proportion of children,
adolescents and youth are also becoming literate in French. Overall, however, an examination
of young persons regarding those who never attend schooling suggested that some progress
has been made over the years although much still needs to be done to achieve universal basic
and compulsory education in the country.
It is, therefore, recommended that efforts are made at the state level to rigidly enforce the
policy on full Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE) which has been adopted
several years ago. This can, however, be achieved when we have a full complement of
educational infrastructure and well-trained and qualified teachers throughout the country.
This requires deliberate efforts to achieve through the allocation of needed resources. It
should, thus, be made punishable if parents do not allow their children to go to school. The
Girl-Child educational policy is excellent and is achieving needed results. However, it should
at this stage not be limited to the girl-child but the boy child as well in order not to put boys
at a disadvantage in the process.
Attention should be paid to secondary level education by expanding infrastructure, teaching

and learning facilities to increase accessibility and affordability to secondary education
throughout Ghana. This could be achieved by extending basic education beyond the Junior
High School level through increased state funding. When this is achieved, it will have a
multiplier effect by inculcating in young people attitudes that enhance nation-building and an
123
understanding of the virtues of smaller family sizes while being positioned to acquire
requisite skills for the job market.
The practice of being literate in only a foreign language should be discouraged by making it
compulsory for every child to learn one Ghanaian language in both public and private schools
in Ghana. This will facilitate the instilling of a sense of national identity among Ghanaians.
The learning of other foreign languages in addition to English as the official language in the
country such as French should be encouraged. This is especially important as Ghana is
surrounded by French-speaking countries at all its boarders except the Gulf of Guinea.
11.4 Marital Status, Fertility and Reproductive Health

It has been shown in the analysis that some adolescents and youth marry quite early at a time
when they are expected to be in school. Marriage, therefore, for some young people tends to
compete with their education. Some of the results could, however, have been influenced by
data errors especially when some male children of age 12-14 are reported to be married.
Marriage was found to be more prevalent in the rural than urban areas. Regional variations
were also found where the Northern Region recorded the highest proportion of its adolescent
population to be married with Brong Ahafo recorded the lowest. The contribution of
adolescents and youth to fertility in Ghana has also been highlighted with their use of
contraception not as high as among older adults. The consequence is their avoidable exposure
to risks of early unplanned childbearing and sexually transmitted infections including HIV
and AIDS.
In the light of these findings, it is important to note the role of education in reducing young
people’s exposure to early sex and pregnancy. Efforts to ensure that all young persons have
access to education at least up to the secondary level should be sustained. This should be
embarked upon alongside making investment in and education on family planning a matter of
national developmental priority. This is because of the important contribution family
planning could play in the nation’s drive towards the attainment of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the goals of the International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD) particularly regarding reproductive health and rights. It
is not enough for Ghana to sign unto international declarations and protocols on family
planning without practically supporting its implementation in the country.
Educational policies should also be subjected to review with a view to removing all barriers
that inhibit the education of school pupils on their sexual and reproductive health and rights.
This is because the removal of any barriers would go a long way in equipping children and
young people to not only delay first sex and births but most importantly to be better placed to
avoid risks that are associated with sex and childbearing whenever they choose to have
children.
124
11.5 Health and Mortality
Some progress has been made in reducing infant and child mortality in Ghana over the years.
There is, however, a lot that needs to be done to further reduce these often avoidable deaths.
At the moment, the results produced in this analysis suggest variations in infant and child
deaths across regions with northern regions being more disadvantaged relative to the south.
The analysis on recorded deaths in the past 12 months prior to the census also showed a
higher proportion of the deaths to have occurred among female adolescents compared to the
males. We also have found that pregnancy-related deaths during the same period were quite
substantial particularly among the youth groups where it exceeds the national average.
Furthermore, deaths from accidents, homicide and suicide were quite high among the
adolescents and youth perhaps due to youthful exuberance.
The determinants of high infant, child and maternal mortality include early age at sex, little or
non-use of family planning, early childbearing and poor access to health care services. There
should, therefore, be increased and sustained public education on sexual and reproductive
health among young persons throughout Ghana. To achieve this, there should be
comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education as part of the basic school curricula.
Alongside this, institutions of state and in the private sector should be supported to sustain
family planning and reproductive health service delivery everywhere in the country. The state
as a matter of policy should create family planning and reproductive health desks in all
ministries, departments and agencies to facilitate a sustained family planning and
reproductive health service delivery and counseling among workers. This could be extended
to private sector organisations and companies through public-private sector partnerships.
When early sex and early pregnancies are reduced, it would have a rippling positive effect on
infant, child and maternal deaths.
There should also be increased public health education on antenatal and post-natal health care
as well delivery at health facilities with professionally trained health personnel in attendance.
This is because there is a big gap between the high antenatal attendance at health facilities in
the country and low health facility delivery among women. The myths surrounding delivery
by untrained persons should be addressed through intensified counseling during attendance at
antenatal care.
11.6 Economic and Employment Characteristics

From the results of the analysis, contribution to family work is quite common among
children, adolescents and youth. Child labour also appears to be common among children in
the country. This is based on the observation that about 30% of each of either male or female
children were reported to be seeking for jobs for the first time. The search for jobs among
children, therefore, appears to compete with their education. Agriculture-related work and the
private informal sector were the leading employers of the labour force of adolescents and
youth with between 6% and 8% of the adolescents being employees receiving some form of
wages. The public sector is not a major recruiter of youth labour force perhaps due to the
relatively lower skills and experience many of the youth may possess to make them
125
competitively eligible for public sector work. This could be the result of their low skills and
inadequate experience that the public formal sector requires from its high level employees but
which many young people in Ghana do not have. Furthermore, a higher proportion of
adolescent females than males were found to be working in the manufacturing sector in
Ghana. It is important to underscore the fact that a much smaller proportion of the youth
groups were recorded as seeking work for the first time compared to children and
adolescents.
To address the prevalence of child labour in the country, there should be rigid enforcement of
the child labour law while intensifying public education to bring out the dangers in child
labour. Once again, the full implementation of the fCUBE where parents who do not send
their children to school are prosecuted would be an important route out of child labour in the
country.
Furthermore, the large army of adolescents and youth in the country requires jobs to do.
Investing in their education and supporting the out-of school with apprenticeship training
could go a long way to address the employment needs of young people in Ghana. The
National Youth Employment Programme should be expanded and measures put in place to
make the modules under the programme relatively permanent for those who desire to use
them as a career. Again, since the public sector is limited in offering employment to a big
proportion of young people, entrepreneurial programmes should be integrated into tertiary-
level education to equip more graduates from our tertiary institutions to undertake initiatives
to embark on their private-sector initiatives. The state should, however, put a framework in
place to support such initiatives.
11.7 Disability
Data from the 2010 Population and Housing Census suggest very low levels of disability in
the country among young persons. In most cases, the proportion of the population with any
form of disability was found to be less than five percent. Among the small numbers with
disabilities, however, physical and speech disability was higher among males while among
the females it was with regard to sight, hearing, intellectual and emotional disability. At the
regional level, more than half of children who had some form of disability were males in all
regions, the highest being recorded in Upper West. Furthermore, sight disability was the most
commonly reported among the adolescents and the proportion with sight disability was
relatively higher among the female than male adolescents. Disability was also found to vary
by marital status among the adolescents and youth where the widowed, followed by the
divorced and separated were found to be more prone to having a form of disability than either
the never married or married. On the whole, the analysis indicated that on average disability
in children was more among the male child and the reverse being the case at older ages
perhaps due to the different life cycle experiences males and females go through as they grow
older.
126
In the light of these observations, the general population ought to be educated on the causes
of disability and at the same time ensure strict enforcement of laws and policies on disability
in the country so as to integrate persons with disabilities effectively in the society. The
National Council for Disability should be enabled to lead advocacy and sensitization
programmes to make issues of disability matters of national priority.
Furthermore, the construction of infrastructure such as foot bridges in cities and towns take
account of the specific needs of persons with physical disabilities. In addition, counseling
among persons with disabilities should be integrated and strengthened as important
components of efforts that address the challenges faced by persons with disabilities.
11.8 Information Technology

Household ownership of computers was examined among households to assess how
accessible children, adolescents and youth are to computers. It was found that household
ownership of computers was much higher in urban than rural areas. High rates of illiteracy,
poor rural infrastructure especially electricity supply and affordability challenges could
account for this variation in computer accessibility between the rural and urban areas. At the
regional level, household computer accessibility was highest among young persons in the
Greater Accra Region, followed by those in Ashanti Region with their counterparts in the
Northern Region being the most disadvantaged. It appears quite clearly that the regional
variation among the young persons in computer ownership at the household level is largely a
reflection of differences in degrees of urbanization and spatial development across the
regions.
Furthermore, mobile phone ownership was found to be higher with older age of people.
Again, ownership of mobile phones was higher in urban than rural areas in the country. At
the regional level, access to mobile phones among adolescents and youth was highest in
Greater Accra, followed by Ashanti with the Northern Region having the least access.
With the world increasingly becoming a global village, the importance of computers cannot
be under-estimated. In recent times, government has initiated a policy of delivering free
laptops to some students in the tertiary institutions. While this is commendable, the criteria
for distribution do not appear to be transparent enough for all eligible students to stand to
benefit. It is, therefore, recommended that government should make the process of laptop
allocation more transparent. Alongside this programme of free laptop distribution, it should
be possible for the state to subsidize interested students and young people in the country to
purchase their own laptops since it may not be possible for the state to provide every child or
young person even in school with one laptop.
In the rural areas where due to lack of regular electricity supply, the use of computers may
not be practicable even if a household owned one, the state should as a policy establish
computer and internet centres within public libraries. These centres could be provided with
power generating plants whose running costs should be borne by the district assemblies to
127
ensure their effective usage. The centres should be guided by rules and regulations so that
young people in the country may not use them for computer fraud popularly called “Sakawa”
in Ghana today.
The Ghana Education Service should also consider instituting a policy that ensures that each
senior high school in a rural area is provided with a computer/internet facility where both day
and boarding students would have access to in their studies. Forward-looking traditional
leaders should also be encouraged to support government efforts in the establishment and
management of these information technology centres in areas under their jurisdiction.
11.9 Population Projection

The projections suggest an increase in the population of children, adolescents and youth.
However, since fertility is expected to continue to steadily decline, the size of the children
and adolescent population would each be smaller relative to the youth. There would
consequently the need for more job opportunities to be created for the large army of youth. At
the same time, educational avenues at the secondary and higher levels would need to be
expanded.
In the light of this, it is recommended that, the state should, as a matter of urgency, prepare a
ten-year national educational plan to expand educational infrastructure across all levels
particularly the secondary levels so as to be able to train a substantial proportion of the
country’s human resources to a much higher level than it is currently. The state should also
invest in the expansion of institutions for the training of teachers at the secondary school
level and consider improving remuneration and introducing special incentives to attract more
people into the teaching profession. This calls for the allocation of a substantial proportion of
the country’s annual budget to educational expansion. There is also the need to review the
educational curricula at all levels to re-align the training in our educational institutions
towards a structural transformation of the Ghanaian economy.
11.10 Conclusion
Young people constitute a percentage of Ghana’s population as has been reported by the
censuses conducted from 1960 to 2010. Two in every five persons in Ghana are less than 15
years and almost one in four is an adolescent. Again, one in five persons in the country is a
youth aged 15-24 years and a little more than a third of the Ghanaian population is made of
the youth of 15-35 years. The age differences between the three groups of young people
indicate that each group requires specific policy prescriptions in addressing their needs. It
must be added, however, that although recent data have shown decreasing proportions of the
population of children, adolescents and youth in the population, the drop is not very
significant.
Beside their huge numbers, children, adolescents and youth are exposed to physical, social
and reproductive health challenges and risks. Any attempt to address these challenges
requires carefully thought out interventions and programmes that are tailored to the peculiar
128
situations of children as different from adolescents and the youth. Considering that children,
adolescents and youth are the future human resource of the country, their needs and
challenges should attract attention as a matter of national priority. It is hoped that
recommendations presented in this analysis would go a long way to address the needs and
challenges of children, adolescents and youth in Ghana and make them valuable human
resources for the country’s socio-economic development.
129
REFERENCES
Blanc, A. K. and Way, A. 1998. Sexually Behaviour and Contraceptive Knowledge and Use
Among Adolescents in Developing Countries. Studies in Family Planning, Volume
29, No.2, pp.106-116.
Friedman, H. L. 1985. The Health of Adolescents and Youth: A Global Overview.
World Health Statistics Quarterly, Vol.38, No.3, pp.256-266.
Ghana Statistical Service. 1989. 1984 Population Census of Ghana. Ghana Statistical
Service, Accra, Ghana.
Ghana Statistical Service and ORC Macro. 1989. Ghana Demographic and Health Survey
1988. Calverton, Maryland: GSS and ORC Macro.
Ghana Statistical Service. 2002. 2000 Population Census of Ghana. Ghana Statistical Service,
Accra, Ghana.
Ghana Statistical Service, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), and
ORC Macro. 2004. Ghana Demographic and Health Survey 2003. Calverton,
Maryland: Ghana Statistical Service, NMIMR, and Macro.
Ghana Statistical Service. 2004. Ghana Child Labour Survey Report, 2003. Ghana Statistical
Service, Accra, Ghana.
Ghana Statistical Service, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), and
ORC Macro. 2009. Ghana Demographic and Health Survey 2008. Calverton,
Maryland: Ghana Statistical Service, NMIMR, and Macro.
Ghana Statistical Service. 2011. 2010 Population Census of Ghana. Ghana Statistical Service,
Accra, Ghana.
Ghana Statistical Service et al., 2009a. Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, 2008. Ghana
Statistical Service, Accra.
Ghana Statistical Service et al., 2009b. Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, 2008, Key
Findings. Ghana Statistical Service, Accra.
Ghana Statistical Service. 2012. Muliple Indicator Cluster Survey, 2011. Ghana Statistical
Service, Accra.
Guttmacher Institute. 2004. Adolescents in Ghana: Sexual and reproductive Health.
www.guttmacher.org/pubs/rib/rib1-04.html, accessed on 30th June 2012.
Republic of Ghana. 2004. Early Childhood Care and Development Policy. Ministry of
Women and Children’s Affairs.
Republic of Ghana, 1998. Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560). Accra, Ghana.
United Nations, Population Projection Median Variant Projection "2010 Revision”, available at
www.esa.un.org/undp/wpp/index.htm
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Ghana.
130

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2010

POPULATION & HOUSING CENSUS REPORT

& YOUNG PEOPLE IN GHANA

Ghana Statistical Service

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................... V

1.1 Background Information

1.3 Definition of Concepts of Children, Adolescents and Youth

2.2 Population Size and Age-Sex Composition

2.3 Spatial Distribution: Geo-political Regions

2.4 Living Arrangements

A further analysis of relationship of young persons to heads of household is presented in

Table 2.7: Percent distribution of population by relationship to head of household,

2.5 Summary and Conclusions

3.2 Type of Dwelling

70.0 completed house

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

Figure 3.6: Percent distribution of children aged 25-35 years by type of

45.9 45.1 completed house

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

Children: A higher proportion of the children were recorded to be resident in owner

Adolescents: Compare to children, a slightly higher proportion of adolescents (62%) was

3.3 Main Construction Material for Household Structure

50.0 0.6 Cement block

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

Adolescents: A relatively higher proportion of adolescents were reported to be from

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

3.4 Household Facilities and Utilities

3.4.2 Main Source of Drinking Water for Household

Figure 3.9: Percent distribution of young persons by age group and

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

20.0 Sewage system

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

3.6 Summary and Conclusions

4.2 Literacy Levels

4.3 Literacy Status by Age-Sex and Region of Residence

Table 4.3b: Percent distribution of population of young females by language of literacy,

4.4 Educational Attainment

Table 4.4: Distribution of population of young persons by educational attainment

4.5 Educational Attainment by Age-Sex and Region of Residence

Children: A comparison of educational attainment among children 3-9 years is presented in

Table 4.9: Percent distribution of youth aged 20-24 years by educational

Table 4.10: Percent distribution of youth aged 25-35 years by educational

4.6 Summary and Conclusions

Adolescents: Most of adolescents (males or females) were found to be literate in English

5.2 Marital Status

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, GDHS 1988-2008

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, GDHS 1988-2008

5.4 Age at First Sex

Age at First Sex 1998

Sex at exact age

Age at First Sex 2008

Sex at exact age