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The first Population Census in Ghana was conducted in 1891 during the Gold Coast era.
The significant use of Population and Housing Census could not be overemphasized as far as
development was concerned. The census taking as that time enabled the governors to plan for an
effective way of formulating policies aimed at developing gold coast as at that time.
The world's oldest surviving census data comes from China. According to The Canadian
Encyclopedia, China was the first to have a recorded census over 4000 years ago. Another census
comes from the Han Dynasty, in what is perhaps China's most well-known ancient census. Taken
in the fall of 2 AD, it is considered by scholars to be quite accurate. By that time, there were
57.67 million people registered in 12.36 million households living in China. A third recorded
census dates back to 144 AD, when 49.73 million people living in 9.94 million households were
counted. Population censuses have been taken in the Republic of China in 1913, 1944, 1953,
1964, 1982, 1990, 2000, and 2010. These were the world's biggest censuses as they attempted to
count every man, woman and child in the most populous nation in the world. Some 6 million
enumerators were engaged in the 2000 census.
CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE CENSUS:
1. It must be conducted by government of the state or country where the census is taking place.
2. It must be conducted at the same time (simultaneously) throughout the country.
3. It must involve regular counting at specific intervals of time, e.g. Census(i.e. PHC) taken in
Ghana has ten years interval, United state of America's population taken in 1790, 1800, 1810,
1820.......................2010 which is an interval of 10 years.
4. It must reveal the population of a country at a specific period of time e.g. America's population
census as of 1790 was 3,929,214; as of 1890, it was 62,979,766; as of 1990, it was 248,709,873.
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education at age six. Under educational reforms implemented in 1987, they pass into a junior
secondary school system for 3 years of academic training combined with technical and
vocational training. Those who continue, move into the 3-year senior high school program.
Entrance to one of the Ghanaian universities is by examination following completion of senior
secondary school.
Population: Provisional figures from the 2010 Ghana census indicate that
Ghana's population is now 24,223,431. This is made up of 12,421,770
females and 11,801,661 males. Population distribution; 24,223,431 (2010
provisional census figures) 23, 382, 848 (July 2008 est.); 19,533,560(2001
est.)
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 and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and
changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would
otherwise be expected
Age structure: 014 years: 37.3% (male 4,503,331/female 4,393,104)
1564 years: 59.1% (male 7,039,696/female 7,042,208)
59.1 years and over: 3.6% (male 393,364/female 460,792) (2009 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.897% (2010 est.)
Birth rate: 28.74 births/1,000 population (2009 est.) ; 29.81 births/1,000
population (2010 est.)
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Increasing population is reflected in other statistical representations as well. Between 1965 and
1989, a constant 45 percent of the nation's total female population was of childbearing age. The
crude birth rate of 47 per 1,000 population recorded for 1965 dropped to 44 per 1,000 population
in 1992. Also, the crude death rate of 18 per 1,000 population in 1965 fell to 13 per 1,000
population in 1992, while life expectancy rose from a 1970 to 1975 average of forty-two years
for men and forty-five years for women to fifty-two and fifty-six years, respectively, in 1992.
The 1965 infant mortality rate of 120 per 1,000 live births also improved to 86 per 1,000 live
births in 1992. With the fertility rate averaging about seven children per adult female and
expected to fall only to five children per adult female by the year 2000, the population projection
of 35 million in 2025 becomes more credible. A number of factors, including improved
vaccination against common diseases, and nutritional education through village and community
health-care systems, contributed to the expanding population. The rise in the nation's population
generated a corresponding rise in the demand for schools, health facilities, and urban housing.
The gender ratio of the population, 97.3 males to 100 females, was reflected in the 1984 figures
of 6,063,848 males to 6,232,233 females. This was slightly below the 1970 figure of 98 males to
100 females, but a reversal of the 1960 ratio of 102.2 males to 100 females. The fall in the
proportion of males to females may be partly attributed to the fact that men have left the country
in pursuit of jobs.
Also significant in the 1984 census figures was the national age distribution. About 58 percent of
Ghana's population in 1984 was either under the age of twenty or above sixty-five.
Approximately 7 million people were represented in this category, about 4 million of them under
the age of ten and, therefore, economically unproductive. The large population of young,
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economically unproductive individuals appeared to be growing rapidly. In the early 1990s, about
half of Ghana's population was under age fifteen. If the under-twenty group and those above the
age of sixty are regarded as a dependent group, the social, political, and economic implications
for the 1990s and beyond are as grave for Ghana as they are for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.
Population density increased steadily from thirty-six per square kilometer in 1970 to fifty-two
per square kilometer in 1984; in 1990 sixty-three persons per square kilometer was the estimate
for Ghana's overall population density. These averages, naturally, did not reflect variations in
population distribution. For example, while the Northern Region, one of ten administrative
regions, showed a density of seventeen persons per square kilometer in 1984, in the same year
Greater Accra Region recorded nine times the national average of fifty-two per square kilometer.
As was the case in the 1960 and 1970 figures, the greatest concentration of population in 1984
was to the south of the Kwahu Plateau. The highest concentration of habitation continued to be
within the Accra-Kumasi-Takoradi triangle, largely because of the economic productivity of the
region. In fact, all of the country's mining centers, timber-producing deciduous forests, and
cocoa-growing lands lie to the south of the Kwahu Plateau. The Accra-Kumasi-Takoradi triangle
also is conveniently linked to the coast by rail and road systemsmaking this area an important
magnet for investment and labor. By contrast, a large part of the Volta Basin was sparsely
populated.
Urban-rural disparities
Localities of 5,000 persons and above have been classified as urban since 1960. On this basis,
the 1960 urban population totaled 1,551,174 persons, or 23.1 percent of total population. By
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1970, the percentage of the country's population residing in urban centers had increased to 28
percent. That percentage rose to 32 in 1984 and was estimated at 33 percent for 1992
Like the population density figures, the rate of urbanization varied from one administrative
region to another. While the Greater Accra Region showed an 83-percent urban residency, the
Ashanti Region matched the national average of 32 percent in 1984. The Upper West Region of
the country recorded only 10 percent of its population in urban centers that year, which reflected
internal migration to the south and the pattern of development that favored the south, with its
minerals and forest resources, over the north. Urban areas in Ghana have customarily been
supplied with more amenities than rural locations. Consequently, Kumasi, Accra, and many
towns within the southern economic belt attracted more people than the savanna regions of the
north; only Tamale in the north has been an exception. The linkage of the national electricity grid
to the northern areas of the country in the late 1980s may help to stabilize the north-to-south flow
of internal migration.
The growth of urban population notwithstanding, Ghana continued to be a nation of rural
communities. The 1984 enumeration showed that six of the country's ten regions had rural
populations of 5 percent or more above the national average of 68 percent. Rural residency was
estimated to be 67 percent of the population in 1992. These figures, though reflecting a trend
toward urban residency, were not very different from the 1970s when about 72 percent of the
nation's population lived in rural areas.
WHY POULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS?
Importance or Reasons of Population Census
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So all said and done, population census as we can now see is far beyond just counting the
population of a particular area at a particular time. It can go a long way in helping an area's or
nation's economy to grow even as it varies from one year to another.
It keeps detail of all the people in the country: It aids the government to know the number of
people living in the country and the structure of the population. For example, the 2010 PHC tells
us how many people are in Ghana irrespective of their nationality, and who they are in terms of
age, sex, education ,marital status, literacy, educational attainment, occupation and economic
activity.
In addition, the census gives us access to other information like where people reside
in terms of permanent and temporary residential structures, and the availability of other vital
social services like water, health, education, and housing conditions among others, to the
smallest administrative units.
It doesn't just end there, shows the government the population status of the country:
Population census is very vital in giving detailed information to the government on areas of the
country where population per land area is high or low; reveals level of man power by helping to
reveal the total number of people who are working-when the level of manpower is high, the
economic development of the country is assured and assists international agencies and
governments in giving aids and other assistance to countries; assists international investors in
making investment decisions.
It keeps the government more organized: In some developing nations, Population is often used
to allocate parliamentary seats. In some countries, census data are used to apportion electoral
representation. States with high Population are given more parliamentary seats than states with
low population. Do you want your area to be made a district or constituency? I believe you will
say of course? But you refused to aid census officers with relevant information regarding
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obtaining accurate data about your area. For all you may know, the creation of a district or a
constituency is all about numbers. Providing the right information may qualify your area to be
fortunate in getting these things since Census data also guide the Electoral Commission in
determining constituency boundaries. The Central Government and District Assemblies need
census to enable them to monitor the structure of the population in order to make policy planning
and administration more effective.
It also helps the government plan for the future: Besides the above, District Assemblies use
census data as a yardstick for the allocation of funds for the construction of new roads, water,
community libraries and other development projects. Just like we stated earlier, apart from
central government using the census data, your own district, municipal, metropolitan assemblies
used these same data to plan developmental activities in the local level. Lets take for example, a
small community like Nator in the Nadowli district needs certain basic infrastructural amenities
like clinic and school building with their ever increasing population and this same people refused
to comply with census officers during the census process for the government to used these data
for the development of the area and also addressing the pressing needs of these same people.
These same people will turn to blame government of neglecting their plea. One thing we want all
Ghanaians to know is that the census is not just about counting the human person, but its goes
beyond that, it takes into consideration , your educational status, either you are employed or not,
types of building you are living in and some basic stuff about your general welfare.
DRAWBACKS
Although the census provides a useful way of obtaining statistical information about a
population, such information can sometimes lead to abuses, political or otherwise, made
possible by the linking of individuals' identities to anonymous census data. This
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consideration is particularly important when individuals' census responses are made available in
micro data form, but even aggregate-level data can result in privacy breaches when dealing with
small areas and/or rare subpopulations. For instance, when reporting data from a large city, it
might be appropriate to give the average income for males aged between 50 and 60. However,
doing this for a town that only has two black males in this age group would be a breach of
privacy because either of those persons, knowing his own income and the reported average,
could determine the other man's income. Typically, census data are processed to obscure such
individual information. Some agencies do this by intentionally introducing small statistical errors
to prevent the identification of individuals in marginal populations; others swap variables for
similar respondents. Whatever measures have been taken to reduce the privacy risk in census
data, new technology in the form of better electronic analysis of data poses increasing challenges
to the protection of sensitive individual information.
Time consuming and delay in the release of the result: a lot of people argue the point that, it
takes too long a time to finish a census exercise living productive work aside and also the results
or findings are kept for long before it is released. For example the resent census was started in
December 2010 but released in early February. this situation leaves the minds of people
contemplating on the genuiness of the result.
Very expensive to conduct: The resource that is to be accumulated in conducting census is
highly expensive. The economic resources that are to be accumulated in conducting census, are
very expensive. The cost of training and employing enumerators is high. Also, logistics and other
materials used in the census exercise tend to be expensive. In view of this people agitate for
effective and efficient use of resource when conducting census
Other people are of the point that census results are limited in the data collected: it does not
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get in-depth data: Despite a massive effort, The Ghana Statistical Service has never been able to
count every individual, leading to controversy about whether to use statistical methods to
supplement the numbers for some purposes, as well as arguments over how to improve the actual
head count. However, cities and minority representatives have complained that urban residents
and minorities are undercounted. In several cases, the Ghana Statistical Service has recounted an
area with disputed figures, provided the local government paid for the time and effort.
People may feel uncomfortable revealing their personal details
For this country to be fully developed leaders and the populace needs to attach seriousness to this
important national exercise. Everyday we hear complains of no bore holes, electricity, schools,
health care centre so much and so forth in some communities in the country. Why? Is it that the
government is insensitive to some of these pressing issues? The answer is no. the main reasons
why these neglect often occurs is that some communities do not provide the requisite information
needed by officials of the Ghana statistical service during the conduct of the census. In 2010
census time, the Ghana statistical service wanted to know any government amenities near your
area, be it a school building, health centre e.t.c. and also the number of disable people in our
societies, this you may deem unnecessary and also might say its gross evasion of privacy , but its
geared towards given the government the right information geared towards formulating policies
towards addressing the numerous problems you are facing in your communities. Some even to
some extend dodge the exercise thinking when captured will pay tax or the data will be used
against them. These were some of the perceptions some section of Ghanaians were expect to
discards for us to have a smooth and successful 2010 census.
VIEW POINT/STANCE OF THE GROUP: From the foregoing irrefutable points elaborated as
reasons for conducting census, we strongly recommend timely conduct population and housing
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census since it has immeasurable benefits to the nation. In fact it is an error to view census as a
waste of state resources rather than a justifiable basis for economic development.
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army service. The youth population helps the government to estimate the number of people in
school and provide educational facilities
Population census provides statistics to the government to determine the unemployment
rate in the country. One nature of census data is to provide in details, the number of people who
are employed and those that are not employed in the economy. The government will therefore
use the data in developing its employment policies. The census provides information on what
portion of the population lives through self-employment (Farming, small business), and which
has additional running on the second place of work. It is also important to get information, how
many people though not registered as official unemployed, but in accordance with the criteria of
the International Labor Organization classified as such. This kind of information will lead to
increase local employment services, to make it more efficient, as well as to predict possible
future direction of employment of the population of each particular area. Today in most regions
of a large-scale unemployment is combined with staffing shortages at many enterprises. As soon
as possible to create system of training and retraining of employees who can adapt quickly to the
needs of regional labor market. Today, professional schools, colleges and universities urgently
need a reliable forecast of the needs of the economy country frames. The proper selection of
groups of specialties of
Further importance could be: its assistance in the determination of the standard of living of
the people in a country through per capital income. The standard of living is the level of
material comfort as measured by the goods, services and luxuries available to an individual a
group or nation. Per capital income is therefore the total national income divided by the number
of people in the country. If census is conducted, the estimated or the real figures of the countrys
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populace are obtained. This enables the government to come out with per capita income of its
citizens. The higher the per capita income, the higher the standard of living, all things being
equal. There is therefore a positive relationship between the standard of living and per capita
income. We could therefore say that census data plays a vital role in determining the standard of
living.
The statistics of the number of people in a country is used to formulate economic policies.
For example, the revenue formula is at times based on population figures and to projects its
revenue and expenditure streams. Leaders of many regions of the country rightly consider the
development and implementation of youth policy one of the most important areas of their work.
Census will necessary be the basis for this. Its data will provide a better understanding of who
they are -- young, where the study or work, like building a family. Too often Youth are accused
of indifference to everything happening in the country. Based on the results of the census may be
able to create real prerequisites for the development of interest in the success of today's youth
development of the economy, culture and industry.
Another economic significant of population census is its assistance to the government in
the distribution of resources and provision of social amenities. The government of Ghana will
wish to distribute its economic resources equally among its citizens. For this reason, the
government will have to consider the number of people living in each geographical location. For
example, areas of high population will get more resources than areas of low population; giving
the government an idea of the different population in various parts of the country, this can help in
the provision of social amenities like housing, water, electricity, roads, schools, hospitals etc.
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Additionally, organizations rely solely on census information to provide social services and
locate their industries. Business organizations use the data as a tool for locating factories,
shopping centre, banks and offices which in turns create jobs for the flock of unemployed
citizens in the country. Also as part of their social responsibilities, businesses base on census data
to provide social amenities. Census data is commonly used for research, business marketing,
planning, as well as a baseline for sampling surveys.
For all you may know investors look for places where the population is dense. Census data
play an important role in information support activities to attract new investment. They
will provide investors consistent with international standards of information basic characteristics
of the labor force in the region and its consumer market. Today's difficult economic situation
prevailing in many industrial enterprises, can resolve only with the involvement of capital and
investment, including foreign ones. But no self-respecting businessman will invest in any longterm project, not spending pre-marketing studies, one of the most important components which
are precisely the information about population, industry and professional - Qualification structure
of the workforce, etc. The situation where by an investor wants to site a plant or a factory in a
region and is after lets say twenty five thousand populace in that particular region or district, but
because some group of people have decided not to be counted in the census exercise, will
definitely reduce the number of people in that particular area therefore forfeiting the companys
investment in that area.
It enables the Government to allocate funds equitably and properly for community
programmes and service including education, housing healthcare for the elderly and
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children. The government bases its funds allocation on the information that is obtained through
population census.
Developed countries also need census data when planning technical and economic
assistance to third world countries.
RECOMMENDATION: Government should lobby its development partners to get the half of
the funding for the Population and Housing Census to make the programme successfully and
beneficially possible every decade.
The Media has a very crucial role to play in this direction by informing and educating the
citizens about the importance of the Population and Housing Census and encouraging people to
actively participate in the exercise.
To minimize the burden on individuals and to provide improved data, the Ghana statistical
service should prepared several alternative methods for gathering economic, demographic, and
social information, including the Rural Community Survey.
CONCLUSION:
Even though census has its own set backs and difficulties in conducting as discussed above, the
significance of census cannot be overemphasized. It is against this backdrop that we strongly and
irrefutably advocate the conduct of Population and Housing Census every decade by the
Government of Ghana. It is, therefore, imperative for all stakeholders and Ghanaians to
participate actively in the exercises by staying at their areas of residence to be counted and give
accurate information and to cooperate with the enumerators and supervisors since this would
benefit the entire Ghanaians. We re-echo our stand by the undeniable facts above that census is
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necessary in every nation especially Ghana as it serves as a basis for major developments. Hence
census is never a waste of economic resource as ignorant people perceive it.
REFERENCES:
Alterman, Hyman. Counting People: The Census in History. Harcourt, Brace & Company 1969.
The Ghanaian Times, Thursday September 16, 2010.Page 23
www.cso.ie/census/Importance_of_Census.htm
The government of Ghana, National population policy (revised edition, 1994)
Ghana Statistical Service: http://www.census-ghana.net/
http://fbcghana2010.com/
internet: Google search
www.wikipediaencyclopaedia.com
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