Ghana Statistical Service launches District census report
The 2010 Population and Housing Census District Analytical reports launched in Accra on Thursday have revealed that the private informal sector continues to be the largest employer of Ghanaians.
The census was held in four districts, namely, Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Yendi Municipality, Asante Akim South, and Ahanta West District in the Greater Accra, Northern, Ashanti and Western Regions.
The reports revealed that in the Accra Metropolis, the private sector employs 74.0 per cent of the total population of 1, 665,086 made up of 800, 935 males and 864,151 females.
In the Ahanta West District, the informal sector employs more than 85.0 per cent of the population of 106,215 made of 50,999 males and 55,216 females.
The Ashanti Akim South District has a population of 117,245 made of 57, 951 males and 59,294 females of which more than 90 per cent of the population is employed by the private sector while in the Yendi Municipality, 94 per cent of the total population of 117, 780 made up of 58, 905 males and 58, 875 females is employed by the private sector.
The report also indicated that all the four districts had a much youthful population, hence the need to intensify the implementation of reproductive health programmes to sustain developmental goals in the districts.
The reports also called for efforts to provide basic socio-economic infrastructure such as schools, healthcare centres, water and sanitation facilities and recreational grounds for the growing population.
The report said since the private sector is the main employer in the four districts, public-private partnership programmes should be encouraged to create more job opportunities for the teaming youth.
It also recommended that government should expand the capacity of three senior high schools in the districts as well as establish new ones to accommodate the growing population of school going age.
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) launched the report meant to provide users with the requisite data for evidence-based planning.
Mr Baah Wadieh, Deputy Government Statistician at the GSS said the conclusions and recommendations from the reports are expected to serve as basis for improving the quality of life of Ghanaians through evidenced-based policy formulation, planning, monitoring and evaluation of developmental goals and intervention programmes.
He said the district level analysis of the 2010 Population and Housing data for all the 2016 districts in the country which would be disseminated by mid of January 2015, is therefore a marked departure from previous censuses which were hitherto not analysed holistically.
He said the GSS is being supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of Canada, the Danish International Development Agency and government of Ghana to process and develop the districts reports and to disseminate them to stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the report indicated that majority of households live in compound houses and enjoys electricity from the national grid as the main source of lighting for majority of households.
Most households also use pipe-borne as their main source of drinking water, while other households use bore-hole as their main source water.
The report also recommended that private sector should be supported with easy access to capital and reasonable interest rates for long-term investment that would expand economic activities and increase employment.
Mr Julius Debrah, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, who launched the report said it would be very valuable and useful for a coherent and holistic data analysis which could feed into development planning processes.
Source: GNA