Development partners pledge support for GSS

Ghana's development partners have pledged some US$6 million to help the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) conduct further analysis of the 2010 census data.

The development partners including the World Bank, UNFPA, DFID, CIDA and the EU, have voted the money to support the GSS produce various census products at the national and district levels.

This was disclosed by a representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Bernard Coquelin at the presentation of the final results of the 2010 Population and Housing Census in Accra on Thursday.

According to Dr. Coquelin, the development partners have targeted specific areas that will be supported.

He noted for instance, that the United Kingdom's development agency “DFID, the European Union (EU) (and) the UN system, will fund National and regional demographic analysis and thematic reports on 14 themes including the elderly, women and men, children, adolescents and youth, disability, housing, education and literacy, MDGs, mortality, fertility etc.”

DANIDA and CIDA he indicated have also committed to help the GSS analyse census data from the district level to produce products such as district databases, policy briefs, thematic reports, indicators, fliers and wall charts for the planning, monitoring and evaluation of developmental programs.

Ghana's population now stands at 24, 658,823 per the final results of the 2010 Population and Housing census released on Thursday in Accra.

The population is thus made up of 12, 633, 978 females (51.2 %) and 12, 024, 845 males (48.8 %) – a 30.4 percent increase over the 2000 population census figure of 18, 912, 079.

Per the census results, Ashanti region is the most populated region with a total population of 4,780,380 followed by Greater Accra region which has a total population of 4,010, 054. The combined population distribution of the two regions (19.4% and 16.3% respectively) makes up one-third of the national population.

The release of the final census results come a year and a half after the actual census was conducted between September and October 2010.

According to the Acting Government Statistician, Dr. Philomena Nyarko, the next step of the planned release of the census results would involve the release of detailed statistical tables to be followed by analytical reports which will link the population data to developmental issues such as housing, education, health and sanitation.

Some 50, 000 enumerators went to the field to gather data for the population and housing census, the first of which was held in 2000. Population censuses are held every 10 years and Ghana's first census was held in 1891 during the British colonial rule.