Demography of Ghana

With a population growth rate of 1.972% in 2008, the demography of Ghana stands at 22,931,299. Ghana covers a total area of 238,534 sq km in West Africa and is referred to as a very poor nation.

History

Most of the Ghanaian population is concentrated along the coast and in the principal cities of Accra and Kumasi. They all are said to have descended at the beginning of the 13th century from migrating tribes that probably came down the Volta River valley. According to the Ghanaian demography ethnically, Ghana is divided into numerous small groups and they speak more than 50 languages and dialects. The important linguistic groups have been the Akans, which include the Fantis along the coast and the Ashantis in the forest region north of the coast; the Ga- and Ewe-speaking peoples of the south and southeast; the Mossi-Dagomba speaking tribes of the northern and upper regions; and the Guans on the plains of the Volta River. The languages used by the Ghanaian population are:

English (official)
Akan
Moshi-Dagomba
Ewe
Ga (All African languages)

Recent Growth

Even today a third of the Ghanaians live below the poverty line and the majority of them are from the rural areas. The statistics of Ghana's demography make this clear and the poorest areas are the mid-coast, the Volta Basin and the northern savannah, the main food producing area. The birth rate estimated by July 2008 is 29.85 births per 1,000 populations. Although over the past ten years rural poverty has decreased distinctly urban deprivation has grown under structural adjustment policies. Nearly all political elite lives in southern Ghana. The main Ethnic groups are:

African 98.5%

• Akan 44%
• Moshi-Dagomba 16%
• Ewe 13%, Ga 8%
• Gurma 3%
• Yoruba 1%