Provisional results from the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) in Ghana show that the female population still leads at 50.7% compared to 49.3% for males.

The data shows a national sex ratio of 97 males per 100 females.

This shows that the female population represents a greater proportion of the country’s population, as has been the trend over the past four decades, surpassing males in 10 out of 16 regions.

Regional sex ratios, however, ranged from 91 males per 100 females.

The Volta region has the highest female population with a sex ratio of 89 while the North West region recorded the highest male population with a sex ratio of 105.

Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, Director of the Census, announced this on Wednesday in Accra, during the presentation of the provisional results of the PHC 2021.

Prof Annim, who is also a government statistician, said the country’s population provisionally stood at 30.8 million, which was up by 6.1 million from the 24.7 million recorded during the 2010 census, with an intercensal annual growth rate of 2.1%.

He said the final results of the PHC 2021 will be released on November 18, 2021.

Professor Annim attributed the demographic changes to factors of fertility, mortality and migration.

The PHC 2021 recorded 8,345,414 census households with an average household size of 3.6 people.

Ghana’s first fully digital census began on June 13, 2021 with the counting of structures and census night commencing on Sunday, June 27, 2021.

The census should have ended on July 11, 2021, but due to some challenges it has been extended in some places for a clean-up exercise until August 15, 2021.

Professor Annim announced that 10.7 million structures have been counted across the country, of which 20% are metal containers, kiosks and wooden structures.

75,000 tablet computers were deployed for the census to improve operational efficiency, improve data quality and ensure timely release of data.

Source: GNA