Greater Accra Region is now the most populous region in Ghana, overtaking the Ashanti Region which has been the most populous region since 1970. Ashanti Region closely follows as the second most populous region. These regions are both almost twice (1.9) times the size of the third most populous region, Eastern Region.
According to the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service, the Central Region is now the fourth most populous region following the splitting of the former Western, Brong Ahafo and Northern Regions who were all more populous than Central Region in 2010. The four most populous regions make up over half (54%) of the total population.
The Ahafo Region is the least populous region taking the place of the Upper West which had been the least populous in all the previous post-independence censuses. The Savannah and North East Regions are the second and third least populous regions respectively.
Disparities in the population size across region have been the largest observed since 1960 when Ghana conducted its first post-independence census. In 1960, the most populous region, Eastern, was almost five times (4.63) the size of Upper West, the least populous. In 2010, the most populous region, Ashanti was almost seven times (6.81) the size of the least populous, Upper West. In 2021, the two most populous regions, Greater Accra and Ashanti, are almost 10 times (9.6) the size of Ahafo, the least populous.
There are 11 other regions that are at least twice as populous as Ahafo, and six that are thrice as populous. For Savannah and North East, there are seven other regions twice as populous and five that are thrice as populous” stated in 2021 PHC document.
The current Northern Region observed the largest change in population with an almost 50% increase over its population in 2010. The two other regions that made up the then Northern Region in 2010, North East and Savannah, had the second and third largest intercensal increases (41.7% and 38.4%) respectively.
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The next highest change recorded was in Greater Accra with an addition of 35.8%. The Eastern Region, followed by the Volta Region, recorded the lowest intercensal change (adding 10.8% and 11.4% respectively to their populations). The range of these figures highlight the regional disparities in population change from the previous censuses.
According to the 2021 PHC, Greater Accra and Eastern Region recorded the smallest household size of 3.2 which is almost half the household size of 6.0 recorded in the North East Region, the largest household size. In nine out of the 16 regions, households had less than four members, on the average, with the smaller household sizes observed in the southern part of the country.
Conversely, the larger population density figures are observed in the southern part of the country. The region with the highest population density is Greater Accra with 1,236 persons per square kilometre, which is significantly higher than what is observed in regions. This figure is over five (5.5) times the density observed in Ashanti, the region with the second highest density, almost 100 times (91.5) more people per square kilometre than Savannah region which has 14 persons per square kilometre. Upper West and Bono East represent the second and third most sparsely populated regions.
Regional differences in the distribution of structures mimic that of population distribution. Generally, population size is correlated with the number of structures: the regions with high proportions of the population tended to have the most structures and vice-versa. North East, the region with the third least number of persons, recorded the least number of structures, followed by Ahafo and Savannah, regions with the first and second least proportions of population respectively.
Greater Accra Region recorded the highest number of both residential and non-residential structures with 19.3% of all the total structures listed. The number of structures in Greater Accra is greater than the number of structures in six regions (North East, Savannah, Ahafo, Upper West, Oti, Upper East) combined. Three regions (Greater Accra, Ashanti, Eastern) combined have almost half (47.3%) of all structures listed.
At the national level, the usage reported for six out of every ten structures (59.6%) was residential with the regional figures starting from just over half (53.1%) in the Western North and Bono Regions (53.7%) to almost three-quarters (73.5%) in the Savannah Region.
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