Population:
27,499,924
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 49
Nationality:
noun: Ghanaian(s)
adjective: Ghanaian
Ethnic groups:
Akan 47.5%, Mole-Dagbon 16.6%, Ewe 13.9%, Ga-Dangme 7.4%, Gurma 5.7%, Guan 3.7%, Grusi 2.5%, Mande 1.1%, other 1.4% (2010 est.)
Languages:
Asante 16%, Ewe 14%, Fante 11.6%, Boron (Brong) 4.9%, Dagomba 4.4%, Dangme 4.2%, Dagarte (Dagaba) 3.9%, Kokomba 3.5%, Akyem 3.2%, Ga 3.1%, other 31.2%
note: English is the official language (2010 est.)
Religions:
Christian 71.2% (Pentecostal/Charismatic 28.3%, Protestant 18.4%, Catholic 13.1%, other 11.4%), Muslim 17.6%, traditional 5.2%, other 0.8%, none 5.2% (2010 est.)
Demographic profile:
Ghana has a young age structure, with approximately 57% of the population under the age of 25. Its total fertility rate fell significantly during the 1980s and 1990s but has stalled at around four children per woman for the last few years. Fertility remains higher in the northern region than the Greater Accra region. On average, desired fertility has remained stable for several years; urban dwellers want fewer children than rural residents. Increased life expectancy, due to better health care, nutrition, and hygiene, and reduced fertility have increased Ghana’s share of elderly persons; Ghana’s proportion of persons aged 60+ is among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty has declined in Ghana, but it remains pervasive in the northern region, which is susceptible to droughts and floods and has less access to transportation infrastructure, markets, fertile farming land, and industrial centers. The northern region also has lower school enrollment, higher illiteracy, and fewer opportunities for women.
Ghana was a country of immigration in the early years after its 1957 independence, attracting labor migrants largely from Nigeria and other neighboring countries to mine minerals and harvest cocoa – immigrants composed about 12% of Ghana’s population in 1960. In the late 1960s, worsening economic and social conditions discouraged immigration, and hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mostly Nigerians, were expelled.
During the 1970s, severe drought and an economic downturn transformed Ghana into a country of emigration; neighboring Cote d’Ivoire was the initial destination. Later, hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians migrated to Nigeria to work in its booming oil industry, but most were deported in 1983 and 1985 as oil prices plummeted. Many Ghanaians then turned to more distant destinations, including other parts of Africa, Europe, and North America, but the majority continued to migrate within West Africa. Since the 1990s, increased emigration of skilled Ghanaians, especially to the US and the UK, drained the country of its health care and education professionals. Internally, poverty and other developmental disparities continue to drive Ghanaians from the north to the south, particularly to its urban centers.
Age structure:
0-14 years: 38.01% (male 5,253,430/female 5,198,892)
15-24 years: 18.63% (male 2,548,661/female 2,575,160)
25-54 years: 34.14% (male 4,554,972/female 4,834,765)
55-64 years: 4.97% (male 664,866/female 701,277)
65 years and over: 4.25% (male 538,790/female 629,111) (2017 est.)
population pyramid:
Africa ::GHANA
Population Pyramid
A population pyramid illustrates the age and sex structure of a country's population and may provide insights about political and social stability, as well as economic development. The population is distributed along the horizontal axis, with males shown on the left and females on the right. The male and female populations are broken down into 5-year age groups represented as horizontal bars along the vertical axis, with the youngest age groups at the bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of the population pyramid gradually evolves over time based on fertility, mortality, and international migration trends.
For additional information, please see the entry for Population pyramid on the Definitions and Notes page under the References tab.
Dependency ratios:
total dependency ratio: 73
youth dependency ratio: 67.1
elderly dependency ratio: 5.9
potential support ratio: 17.1 (2015 est.)
Median age:
total: 21.1 years
male: 20.6 years
female: 21.6 years (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 185
Population growth rate:
2.17% (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 36
Birth rate:
30.5 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 36
Death rate:
7 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 131
Net migration rate:
-1.8 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 155
Population distribution:
population is concentrated in the southern half of the country, with the highest concentrations being on or near the Atlantic coast
Urbanization:
urban population: 55.3% of total population (2017)
rate of urbanization: 3.07% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)
Major urban areas - population:
Kumasi 2.599 million; ACCRA (capital) 2.277 million (2015)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.02 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 0.94 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2017 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth:
22.6 years
note: median age at first birth among women 25-29 (2014 est.)
Maternal mortality ratio:
319 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)
country comparison to the world: 39
Infant mortality rate:
total: 35.2 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 39.1 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 31.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 53
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 67 years
male: 64.5 years
female: 69.6 years (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 172
Total fertility rate:
4 children born/woman (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 34
Contraceptive prevalence rate:
30.6% (2016)
Health expenditures:
3.6% of GDP (2014)
country comparison to the world: 168
Physicians density:
0.1 physicians/1,000 population (2010)
Hospital bed density:
0.9 beds/1,000 population (2011)
Drinking water source:
improved:
urban: 92.6% of population
rural: 84% of population
total: 88.7% of population
unimproved:
urban: 7.4% of population
rural: 16% of population
total: 11.3% of population (2015 est.)
Sanitation facility access:
improved:
urban: 20.2% of population
rural: 8.6% of population
total: 14.9% of population
unimproved:
urban: 79.8% of population
rural: 91.4% of population
total: 85.1% of population (2015 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
1.6% (2016 est.)
country comparison to the world: 33
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
290,000 (2016 est.)
country comparison to the world: 20
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
15,000 (2016 est.)
country comparison to the world: 17
Major infectious diseases:
degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever
water contact disease: schistosomiasis
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis
animal contact disease: rabies (2016)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate:
10.9% (2016)
country comparison to the world: 136
Children under the age of 5 years underweight:
11% (2014)
country comparison to the world: 55
Education expenditures:
6.2% of GDP (2014)
country comparison to the world: 13
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 76.6%
male: 82%
female: 71.4% (2015 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 12 years
male: 12 years
female: 12 years (2015)
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24:
total: 11.2%
male: 10.2%
female: 12% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 115