Ghana is a multiethnic country rich in natural resources and is one of the most stable and democratic countries in West Africa. Ghana has been inhabited for at least several thousand years, however, little is known about its early inhabitants. By the 12th century, the gold trade started to boom in Bono (Bonoman) state in what is today southern Ghana, and it became the genesis of Akan power and wealth in the region. Beginning in the 15th century, the Portuguese, followed by other European powers, arrived and contested for trading rights. Numerous kingdoms and empires emerged in the area, among the most powerful were the Kingdom of Dagbon in the north and the Asante (Ashanti) Empire in the south. By the mid-18th century, Asante was a highly organized state with immense wealth; it provided enslaved people for the Atlantic slave trade, and in return received firearms that facilitated its territorial expansion. The Asante resisted increasing British influence in the coastal areas, engaging in a series of wars during the 19th century before ultimately falling under British control. Formed from the merger of the British colony of the Gold Coast and the Togoland trust territory, Ghana in 1957 became the first Sub-Saharan country in colonial Africa to gain its independence, with Kwame NKRUMAH as its first leader.
Ghana endured a series of coups before Lt. Jerry RAWLINGS took power in 1981 and banned political parties. After approving a new constitution and restoring multiparty politics in 1992, RAWLINGS won presidential elections in 1992 and 1996 but was constitutionally prevented from running for a third term in 2000. John KUFUOR of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) succeeded him and was reelected in 2004. John Atta MILLS of the National Democratic Congress won the 2008 presidential election and took over as head of state. MILLS died in July 2012 and was constitutionally succeeded by his vice president, John Dramani MAHAMA, who subsequently won the December 2012 presidential election. In 2016, Nana Addo Dankwa AKUFO-ADDO of the NPP defeated MAHAMA, marking the third time that Ghana’s presidency had changed parties since the return to democracy. AKUFO-ADDO was reelected in 2020. In recent years, Ghana has taken an active role in promoting regional stability and is highly integrated in international affairs.
land: 227,533 sq km
water: 11,000 sq km
border countries (3): Burkina Faso 602 km; Cote d’Ivoire 720 km; Togo 1098 km
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
mean elevation: 190 m
arable land: 20.7% (2018 est.)
permanent crops: 11.9% (2018 est.)
permanent pasture: 36.5% (2018 est.)
forest: 21.2% (2018 est.)
other: 9.7% (2018 est.)
33,846,114 (2023 est.)
noun: Ghanaian(s)
adjective: Ghanaian
Akan 45.7%, Mole-Dagbani 18.5%, Ewe 12.8%, Ga-Dangme 7.1%, Gurma 6.4%, Guan 3.2%, Grusi 2.7%, Mande 2%, other 1.6% (2021 est.)
Asante 16%, Ewe 14%, Fante 11.6%, Boron (Brong) 4.9%, Dagomba 4.4%, Dangme 4.2%, Dagarte (Dagaba) 3.9%, Kokomba 3.5%, Akyem 3.2%, Ga 3.1%, other 31.2% (2010 est.)
note: English is the official language
Christian 71.3% (Pentecostal/Charismatic 31.6%, Protestant 17.4%, Catholic 10%, other 12.3%), Muslim 19.9%, traditionalist 3.2%, other 4.5%, none 1.1% (2021 est.)
Ghana has a young age structure, with approximately 56% of the population under the age of 25 as of 2020. Its total fertility rate fell significantly during the 1980s and 1990s but has stalled at around four children per woman for the last few years. Fertility remains higher in the northern region than the Greater Accra region. On average, desired fertility has remained stable for several years; urban dwellers want fewer children than rural residents. Increased life expectancy, due to better health care, nutrition, and hygiene, and reduced fertility have increased Ghana’s share of elderly persons; Ghana’s proportion of persons aged 60+ is among the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty has declined in Ghana, but it remains pervasive in the northern region, which is susceptible to droughts and floods and has less access to transportation infrastructure, markets, fertile farming land, and industrial centers. The northern region also has lower school enrollment, higher illiteracy, and fewer opportunities for women.Ghana was a country of immigration in the early years after its 1957 independence, attracting labor migrants largely from Nigeria and other neighboring countries to mine minerals and harvest cocoa – immigrants composed about 12% of Ghana’s population in 1960. In the late 1960s, worsening economic and social conditions discouraged immigration, and hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mostly Nigerians, were expelled.During the 1970s, severe drought and an economic downturn transformed Ghana into a country of emigration; neighboring Cote d’Ivoire was the initial destination. Later, hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians migrated to Nigeria to work in its booming oil industry, but most were deported in 1983 and 1985 as oil prices plummeted. Many Ghanaians then turned to more distant destinations, including other parts of Africa, Europe, and North America, but the majority continued to migrate within West Africa. Since the 1990s, increased emigration of skilled Ghanaians, especially to the US and the UK, drained the country of its health care and education professionals. Internally, poverty and other developmental disparities continue to drive Ghanaians from the north to the south, particularly to its urban centers.
0-14 years: 37.72% (male 6,445,288/female 6,321,989)
15-64 years: 57.92% (male 9,420,940/female 10,181,376)
65 years and over: 4.36% (2023 est.) (male 660,991/female 815,530)
total dependency ratio: 68.7
youth dependency ratio: 62.9
elderly dependency ratio: 5.9
potential support ratio: 17 (2021 est.)
total: 21.3 years (2023 est.)
male: 20.4 years
female: 22.2 years
2.19% (2023 est.)
28 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
6 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
-0.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
population is concentrated in the southern half of the country, with the highest concentrations being on or near the Atlantic coast as shown in this
urban population: 59.2% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 3.06% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
3.768 million Kumasi, 2.660 million ACCRA (capital), 1.078 million Sekondi Takoradi (2023)
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female
total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2023 est.)
20.7 years (2014 est.)
note: data represents median age at first birth among women 25-49
263 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
total: 31.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
male: 35.3 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 28.4 deaths/1,000 live births
total population: 69.7 years (2023 est.)
male: 68.1 years
female: 71.4 years
3.61 children born/woman (2023 est.)
1.78 (2023 est.)
27.2% (2017/18)
improved: urban: 98.7% of population
rural: 83.8% of population
total: 92.4% of population
unimproved: urban: 1.3% of population
rural: 16.2% of population
total: 7.6% of population (2020 est.)
4% of GDP (2020)
0.17 physicians/1,000 population (2020)
0.9 beds/1,000 population (2011)
improved: urban: 84.8% of population
rural: 52.8% of population
total: 71.1% of population
unimproved: urban: 15.2% of population
rural: 47.2% of population
total: 28.9% of population (2020 est.)
degree of risk: very high (2023)
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever
water contact diseases: schistosomiasis
animal contact diseases: rabies
respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis
note: on 31 August 2023, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Ghana is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine
10.9% (2016)
total: 1.59 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
beer: 0.53 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
wine: 0.05 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
spirits: 0.39 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
other alcohols: 0.61 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
total: 3.5% (2020 est.)
male: 6.6% (2020 est.)
female: 0.3% (2020 est.)
12.6% (2017/18)
54.3% (2023 est.)
women married by age 15: 5%
women married by age 18: 19.3%
men married by age 18: 3.9% (2018 est.)
3.9% of GDP (2018 est.)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 79%
male: 83.5%
female: 74.5% (2018)
total: 12 years
male: 12 years
female: 12 years (2020)
recurrent drought in north severely affects agricultural activities; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; poaching and habitat destruction threaten wildlife populations; water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation
tropical; warm and comparatively dry along southeast coast; hot and humid in southwest; hot and dry in north
agricultural land: 69.1% (2018 est.)
arable land: 20.7% (2018 est.)
permanent crops: 11.9% (2018 est.)
permanent pasture: 36.5% (2018 est.)
forest: 21.2% (2018 est.)
other: 9.7% (2018 est.)
urban population: 59.2% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 3.06% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
3.51% of GDP (2018 est.)
0% of GDP (2018 est.)
particulate matter emissions: 46.04 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)
carbon dioxide emissions: 16.67 megatons (2016 est.)
methane emissions: 22.75 megatons (2020 est.)
municipal solid waste generated annually: 3,538,275 tons (2005 est.)
Volta river mouth (shared with Burkina Faso [s]) - 1,600 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth
Atlantic Ocean drainage: Volta (410,991 sq km)
municipal: 300 million cubic meters (2020 est.)
industrial: 100 million cubic meters (2020 est.)
agricultural: 1.07 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
56.2 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
West African trade and agrarian economy; COVID-19 reversed nearly 4 decades of continuous growth; major diamond, gold, cocoa, and oil exporter; high public debts; financial and energy sector reform programs adding to fiscal pressures; high remittances
$178.455 billion (2021 est.)
$169.382 billion (2020 est.)
$168.516 billion (2019 est.)
note: data are in 2017 dollars
5.36% (2021 est.)
0.51% (2020 est.)
6.51% (2019 est.)
$5,400 (2021 est.)
$5,300 (2020 est.)
$5,300 (2019 est.)
note: data are in 2017 dollars
$65.363 billion (2019 est.)
9.97% (2021 est.)
9.89% (2020 est.)
7.14% (2019 est.)
Fitch rating: B (2013)
Moody’s rating: B3 (2015)
Standard & Poors rating: B- (2020)
note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.
agriculture: 18.3% (2017 est.)
industry: 24.5% (2017 est.)
services: 57.2% (2017 est.)comparison rankings:
household consumption: 80.1% (2017 est.)
government consumption: 8.6% (2017 est.)
investment in fixed capital: 13.7% (2017 est.)
investment in inventories: 1.1% (2017 est.)
exports of goods and services: 43% (2017 est.)
imports of goods and services: -46.5% (2017 est.)
cassava, yams, plantains, maize, oil palm fruit, taro, rice, cocoa, oranges, pineapples
mining, lumbering, light manufacturing, aluminum smelting, food processing, cement, small commercial ship building, petroleum
-0.8% (2021 est.)
14.095 million (2021 est.)
4.7% (2021 est.)
4.65% (2020 est.)
4.32% (2019 est.)
total: 9.6% (2021 est.)
male: 9.7%
female: 9.4%
23.4% (2016 est.)
43.5 (2016 est.)
on food: 41.3% of household expenditures (2018 est.)
on alcohol and tobacco: 1% of household expenditures (2018 est.)
lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 32.8% (2006)
revenues: $9.492 billion (2018 est.)
expenditures: $14.062 billion (2018 est.)
-6% (of GDP) (2017 est.)
71.8% of GDP (2017 est.)
73.4% of GDP (2016 est.)
11.34% (of GDP) (2020 est.)
calendar year
-$2.541 billion (2021 est.)
-$2.134 billion (2020 est.)
-$1.864 billion (2019 est.)
$23.901 billion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$22.077 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$25.592 billion (2019 est.)
Switzerland 23%, United Arab Emirates 12%, China 12%, India 9%, Netherlands 5% (2020)
gold, crude petroleum, cocoa products, cashews, manganese (2021)
$25.967 billion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$24.545 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$26.908 billion (2019 est.)
China 42%, Netherlands 5%, United States 5%, India 5%, United Arab Emirates 3% (2020)
refined petroleum, cars, rice, delivery trucks, iron (2020)
$9.917 billion (31 December 2021 est.)
$7.884 billion (31 December 2020 est.)
$7.563 billion (31 December 2019 est.)
$20.467 billion (2019 est.)
$17.885 billion (2018 est.)
cedis (GHC) per US dollar -
Exchange rates:
5.806 (2021 est.)
5.596 (2020 est.)
5.217 (2019 est.)
4.585 (2018 est.)
4.351 (2017 est.)
population without electricity: 5 million (2020)
electrification - total population: 86.3% (2021)
electrification - urban areas: 95.2% (2021)
electrification - rural areas: 74% (2021)
installed generating capacity: 5.312 million kW (2020 est.)
consumption: 13,107,757,000 kWh (2019 est.)
exports: 1.801 billion kWh (2020 est.)
imports: 58 million kWh (2020 est.)
transmission/distribution losses: 2.474 billion kWh (2019 est.)comparison rankings:
fossil fuels: 63.8% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
nuclear: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
solar: 0.3% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
wind: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
hydroelectricity: 35.9% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
tide and wave: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
geothermal: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
biomass and waste: 0.1% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
production: 0 metric tons (2020 est.)
consumption: 48,000 metric tons (2020 est.)
exports: 0 metric tons (2020 est.)
imports: 48,000 metric tons (2020 est.)
proven reserves: 0 metric tons (2019 est.)
total petroleum production: 185,700 bbl/day (2021 est.)
refined petroleum consumption: 98,000 bbl/day (2019 est.)
crude oil and lease condensate exports: 176,800 bbl/day (2018 est.)
crude oil and lease condensate imports: 3,900 bbl/day (2018 est.)
crude oil estimated reserves: 660 million barrels (2021 est.)
2,073 bbl/day (2015 est.)
2,654 bbl/day (2015 est.)
85,110 bbl/day (2015 est.)
production: 1,598,653,000 cubic meters (2019 est.)
consumption: 2,224,568,000 cubic meters (2019 est.)
exports: 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
imports: 625.915 million cubic meters (2019 est.)
proven reserves: 22.653 billion cubic meters (2021 est.)
18.093 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
from coal and metallurgical coke: 160,000 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
from petroleum and other liquids: 13.569 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
from consumed natural gas: 4.364 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
11.239 million Btu/person (2019 est.)
number of registered air carriers: 3 (2020)
inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 21
annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 467,438 (2018)
9G
10 (2021)
7
note: paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)
3
note: unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control
681.3 km gas, 11.4 km oil, 435 km refined products (2022)
total: 947 km (2022)
narrow gauge: 947 km (2022) 1.067-m gauge
total: 65,725 km (2021)
paved: 14,948 km (2021)
unpaved: 50,777 km (2021)
urban: 28,480 km 27% total paved 73% total unpaved
1,293 km (2011) (168 km for launches and lighters on Volta, Ankobra, and Tano Rivers; 1,125 km of arterial and feeder waterways on Lake Volta)
total: 52 (2022)
by type: general cargo 7, oil tanker 3, other 42
major seaport(s): Takoradi, Tema
manyapis