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JOINT SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
Ghana is in West Africa and has a population of over 32.83 million with an intercensal growth rate of 2.1%, the lowest since independence. The population is mostly youthful, with about 50% below the age of 18 years. The population is expected to reach approximately 35 million by 2025 of which 55% will be living in urban areas.
Ghana shares borders with Togo to the east, Ivory Coast to the west, Burkina Faso to the north and the Mediterranean sea to the south. The country is divided into three zones based on geography and other characteristics. These are the northern, middle and southern zones. The country’s major settlements, namely, Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, Ho, Sunyani, Cape Coast and Tema, among others, are in the south of the country. The North has Tamale, Bolgatanga and Wa as the major settlements. Following the discovery of offshore oil reserves and two decades of GDP growth above 5%, Ghana is now a lower middle-income country, with poverty rates reduced by half.
However, economic growth has not been fully inclusive, leading to increased inequality, mainly between the richer south and the poorer north of the country. While Ghana has made progress in gender equality and women’s empowerment, the social norms remain inadequate. The poor are disadvantaged in terms of owning assets and accessing financial institutions and services, quality education, healthcare, and safe water and sanitation facilities. This demographic, particularly women and children, are also disproportionately affected by natural hazards and the adverse effects of climate change. Despite the expansion of publicly supported mitigating measures in the form of social protection programmes, they remain insufficient. Sustainably reversing this trend of income disparity will be a major challenge for any development targets, including those related to disaster management. The poorest group earned 6.9% of total national income in the early 1990s, whereas the richest 20% earned 44% of total national income. By 2006, this gap had widened and the poorest earned just 5.2% of national income while the richest accumulated almost half, i.e.,48.3%) (GLSSV).
Ghana was ranked 135th out of 162 countries in the 2019 Gender Inequalities Index (GII). Women’s participation in decision-making is still low, with only14.6 per cent of parliamentarians being women. Additionally, women have lower education levels compared to men, with only 55 % of women adults reaching secondary f education compared to 71 per cent of the men. On average, women have 6.6 years of schooling. Youth unemployment is a pressing concern, with 9% of individuals aged 15 to 24 unemployed, and a female-to- male ratio of 0.97 in this group. Furthermore, 30% of young people are not in school or employed. This issue is expected to escalate with the country’s projected annual youth population growth rate of 2.2% over the next decade. There is a high risk of overall and external debt distress due to the country’s high level of debt adding to concerning developments on the fiscal and monetary domains. The international context is further exacerbating these challenges, with factors such as inflationary pressures, tightening of US/EU monetary policies and events such as the Ukraine war contributing to the complexity of the situation The macroeconomic imbalances may have significant political and economic consequences.
Urban population in Ghana is on the increase and current estimates indicate a slight increase over the rural population. The 2021 census recorded a rural to urban population ratio of 42:58. The rate of urbanization has greater effect on urban development because of the growing number of informal
settlement and the concomitant rise in peri-urban communities. Urban development could impact the environment or ecosystem because of the varied developmental projects which hamper the permeability of soil, in turn increasing the risk of flooding especially in low-lying areas. Another challenge facing urbanization is the poor urban planning which increasingly exposes cities to varied hazards and extensive risks. Urbanization also puts immense pressure on social services and amenities including water supply and sanitation, energy supply and health services, increasing the vulnerability of residents.
Major urban centres such as Accra and Kumasi grapple with waste management, resulting in flash floods and outbreaks of diarrheal diseases. According to UNISDR (2009), the growing urban population and infrastructure development in high-hazard areas coupled with the marginalization and limited access to social services for the urban poor heighten their vulnerability to disasters.