Ghana’s population has increased from 18,912,079 in 2000 to 24,658,823 in 2010 and this is a 30.4 per cent increase within the decade, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) announced in Accra on Thursday.

Dr Philomena Nyarko, Acting Government Statistician presenting the final result of the Census, said the current sex ratio is 95 males per 100 females and that the total number of females is 12,633,978 representing 51.2 per cent while males account for 12,024,845, representing 48.8 per cent of the entire population.

She said provisional figures of the 2010 Population and Housing Census were released in February 2011, three months after the end of the official enumeration and that the latest results were based on 10 Administrative Regions and the 170 Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts that existed at the time of the census.

Dr Nyarko said the population density for the country had increased from 79 per cent in 2000 to 103 per cent in 2010 and that whiles the Ashanti Region had the highest population of 4,780,380 representing 19.4 per cent followed by Greater Accra Region with 4,010,054 representing 16.3 per cent, the Upper West Region had the lowest population of 702,110 with a growth rate of 1.9 per cent.

The breakdown of the current population figures are, Eastern Region, 2,633,154 representing 10.7 per cent; Northern Region, 2,479,461 representing 10.1 per cent; Western Region, 2,376,021 representing 9.6 per cent; Brong Ahafo Region, 2,310,983 representing 9.4 per cent; Central Region, 2, 201,863 representing 8.9; Volta Region, 2,118, 252 representing 8.6 per cent; and Upper East Region, 1,046,545 representing 4.2 per cent.

Dr Nyarko said the main enumeration started when the census night was declared on September 26, 2010, with the objective of providing the country with up-to-date socio-economic data for planning and evaluating various government policies and intervention programmes at national, regional and district levels.

She said the Census, the fifth to be conducted in Ghana since independence was undertaken to fill the substantial data gaps that had arisen from the creation of new districts saying “it is the second time a population and housing census has been conducted as a single operation.”

The Acting Government Statistician said the enumeration phase involved the deployment of over 50,000 trained field personnel to every part of the country to collect information on households, individuals, housing units and community facilities.

Topics selected for inclusion in the census questionnaire were based on UN recommendations for 2010 Round of Population and Housing Censuses worldwide, and on the needs of data users with new topics like agriculture, external emigration, ICT, date of birth, pregnancy related deaths and disability.

Dr Nyarko said the final report included all the figures from the district level some of which were involved in disputes over boundaries and that led to the formation of a Committee by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to investigate and help resolve the disputes.

She said the census required large amounts of financial, human, material and physical resources which were provided by government, MDAs and development partners which contributed to effective planning and implementation of the exercise.

She announced that the next stage of the results would involve the release of detailed statistical tables to be followed by analytical reports which would link the population data to developmental issues such as housing, education, health and sanitation.

Dr Nyarko, who could not give the total cost of the census, said "the process is on-going so we cannot give the cost".

Dr Bernard Coquelin, UNFPA Country Representative on behalf of development partners who helped fund the census, said the period for the release of the census results was still well within the average time it took other countries in Africa to complete data processing and release of final census results.

He expressed appreciation that Ghana was able to conduct a census within the world census programme which was adopted by the UN-Economic and Social Council in 2005 in New York.**