Population Size and Distribution
This section provides information on sex composition, sex ratio and type of locality. The total population of the District according to the 2010 PHC was 52,231, representing 2.4 percent of the population of the Central Region (Table 2.1). Females are 53.8 percent while males are 46.1 percent. This means there are more females than males in the District. The sex ratio is 85.7 males to 100 females which is lower than that recorded for the Central Region (91.2). At the early youthful ages (0-14 years), the sex ratio is 103.7 while at the older ages (65 years and older) it is as low as 49.1.
Age-Sex Structure
Table 2.1 provides information on the age and sex composition of the population by five-year age groups for the District. The population below 15 years (0-14 years) is 42.3 percent. The total labour force (15-64 years) is 49.3 percent of the total population while the elderly population (65 years and older) is 8.5 per cent. The age distribution of the population shows that the population age 0-4 years represents 14.5 percent followed by the 5-9 age group (14.1%).
Apart from few age groups in which males are in the majority, female dominance is reflected in all age groups of the population. There are more children at the very young ages (0-9 years) of both sexes in the rural areas than the urban areas. About 88.7 percent of the working age population (15-64 years) is found in the rural areas.
Population Pyramid
A population pyramid is a graphical representation of the age-sex composition of a population and its shape is influenced by the levels of fertility, mortality, migration and coverage and content errors such as digit preference and age exaggeration particularly at older ages. The pyramid has a broad base and decreases towards the apex and the implication is that higher proportions of the population are within the youthful ages than in the older ages. This means that the District has a youthful population and as a result has a higher tendency of experiencing higher population growth in future. Moreover, there are more females than males in almost all the age groups.
Age- dependency Ratio
The age-dependency ratio is the ratio of the dependent-age population (those under age 15 and ages 65and older) to the working-age population (15 to 64 years). The age-dependency ratio is often used as an indicator of the economic burden on the working population. Countries with very high birth rates usually have high age-dependency ratios because of the large proportion of children in the population. From Table 2.1, the age dependency ratio for the District is 103. This means that 103 persons in the economically not active population depend on 100 persons in the economically active population. The age dependency ratio of the District is higher than that of the region which is 81.4.
Age- dependency Ratio
The age-dependency ratio is the ratio of the dependent-age population (those under age 15 and ages 65and older) to the working-age population (15 to 64 years). The age-dependency ratio is often used as an indicator of the economic burden on the working population. Countries with very high birth rates usually have high age-dependency ratios because of the large proportion of children in the population. From Table 2.1, the age dependency ratio for the District is 103. This means that 103 persons in the economically not active population depend on 100 persons in the economically active population. The age dependency ratio of the District is higher than that of the region which is 81.4.
Fertility, Mortality and Migration
The 2010 PHC collected data on fertility, mortality and migration which are the three components of population change. Data collected on fertility were on children ever-born, children surviving and sex of child. Mortality data collected were deaths in households while data on migration covered place of birth, duration of stay in residence, emigration and nationality. The levels and changes of the three components of population are important indicators for understanding demographic, economic, socio-cultural, environmental and political factors. It is also important for planning and policy making in the decentralized system of governance in Ghana. This section describes results of the analysis on fertility, mortality and migration in the Ekumfi District.
Fertility
Information on fertility is key in analyzing the growth of a country’s population. Some definitions on fertility were proposed in the 2010 census. Lifetime fertility was defined as the total number of live births that females 12 years and older had ever had during their life time while current fertility refers to the number of live births that females 12-49 years old had in the 12 months preceding the Census Night. Total Fertility Rate (TFR) was defined as the total number of births a woman would have by the end of her childbearing period if she were to pass through those years bearing children at the current observed age-specific fertility rates.
General Fertility Rate (GFR) was defined as the number of live births occurring during a specified period per 1,000 women aged 15-49years while Crude Birth Rate (CBR) was defined as the number of births per 1,000 population during a one year period. Women were asked some questions to determine the total number of live births they had in their lifetime, children surviving and births in the past 12 months. Data collected include that of females 12-14 years which is below the recommended age-specific fertility usually used to estimate adolescent fertility in the demographic and health surveys (i.e., 15-19 years).
Table 2.2 shows total fertility rate, general fertility rate and crude birth rate for the Central Region and the Ekumfi District. The TFR for the District is 4.0, which is slightly higher than the regional average of 3.6. This means that a woman living in the Ekumfi District would have on the average, four children by the end of her reproductive period if the current age-specific fertility rates were to prevail. The GFR of the District is higher (111.3) than the region (105.3) while the CBR of the region is higher (26.5‰) than the District (24.7‰).The high levels of TFR and GFR in the District might be due to low contraceptive use among females.
Table 2.3 provides information on female population 12 years and older by age, children ever born, children surviving and sex of child in the Ekumfi District. The total number of children ever born to the female population 12 years and older in the district is 68,092, out of which 53,514 are children surviving (Table 2.3). The number of male and female children ever born was 33,414 and 34,678 respectively and that for the children surviving were 25,991 and 27,523 respectively. Translating these into proportions (not in the table), we find that the female children have relatively higher survival rates (79.4%) than their male counterparts (78.8%). Similar results are recorded at all age groups with the exception of 40-44 and 55-59 where the survival rates for male children were relatively higher than that for female children.
Mortality
Data on mortality provide an indication of the health status of the population as well as a measure of the living conditions of the people. It also provides information on the potential growth of the population in the future. To reduce the prevailing high levels of mortality in Ghana, successive governments and development agencies have made various interventions over the years, including enhancing access to quality health care services, improving food security and improving environmental conditions, among others.
Table 2.4 shows the total population, deaths in households and crude death rate by district in Central Region. Out of the total population of 52,231 in the Ekumfi District, 559 deaths are recorded representing 3.3 per cent. The crude death rate for the District is 10.7 per 1,000 population which is higher than the regional average of 7.6.
Table 2.5 presents the causes of deaths in the Ekumfi District. The total household deaths recorded for the past 12 months prior to the census night is 559 deaths constituting 3.3 percent of the total regional deaths. Out of the total household deaths in the District, 93.6 percent were as a result of other causes of death compared with 6.4 percent deaths due to accident/violent/ homicide/suicide.
The pattern of age-specific death rate (ASDR), which refers to the number of deaths of persons in a specific age group per 1,000 population of that age group, in the District is shown in Figure 2.2. Death rates are higher among females (17 deaths per 1000) than males (12 deaths per 1000) at age 0-4 years. This declines to one male death per 1000 and three female deaths per 1000 in age group 10-14 years.
At this point death rates begin to rise with female mortality being higher than that of the males until age group 30-34 years where male mortality exceeds female mortality. Mortality then rises again with female mortality being higher than that of the males until the age group 55-59 years where male mortality again exceeds that of females.The main factor that may explain the higher death rates among females than males in ages (10-29 years) may be the result of maternal mortality among females in their reproductive ages. In the older ages, male mortality is higher than the females perhaps due to the fact that generally males all over the world have higher mortality than females at older ages.
Migration
Migration may be defined as a spatial movement involving a temporary or permanent change in one’s usual place of residence from one geographical area to the other within a specified period of time (Tanle, 2010). In this section, migration is measured with respect to birthplace and duration of residence as shown in the Table 2.6. The variations in the characteristics of migrants in terms of age, sex, education and other socio-demographic characteristics can have significant impact on the overall social and economic development of a district.
Migration is difficult to measure due to its repetitiveness and difficulty in establishing direction and permanency of the event. Nevertheless, in the 2010 PHC, migration is measured with respect to birthplace and duration of residence as shown in table 2.6.
Out of the total population of 52,231 in the District, 9,892 constituting 18.9 percent were migrants born elsewhere in the Central Region, other regions in Ghana or outside Ghana. The table also shows that the majority (5,259) of the migrants (53.2%) that were living in the District were born elsewhere in the region. It is observed that persons born outside the region but resident in the District were mostly from the Western Region (38.1%).
In terms of duration of residence, the results indicate that, majority of the migrants have been in the District for ten years or more (35.5%) followed by those who have stayed between one and four years (30.5%). It further indicates that, amongst those who were born elsewhere in another region, migrants from the Volta, Ashanti and Eastern regions have had the longest stay (20+ years) in the District, recording 24.9 percent, 19.5 percent and 16.8 percent respectively. Of migrants born outside Ghana (884), the highest proportion of 39.6 percent had lived in the District for 1-4 years.
Household Size, Composition and Headship
A household in this context is a person or group of persons who live together in the same house or compound and share the same house-keeping arrangement and recognize one person as the head. The head by definition need not be the oldest person in the house or the person who is financially responsible for the upkeep of the family. It is rather the person who all members of the household recognize as their head, regardless of age and sex. It is worth noting that members of households are not necessarily related by blood or marriage.
Household Size
The household size provides important information to policy makers and planners with regard to allocating resources for social services such as shelter, health and education. Table 3.1 shows that there are 12,631 households with a household population of 51,033 in the District. The average household size is 4.1 in the District which is almost the same as that of the region (4.2).
Household Composition
The household normally consists of a head, with or without spouse, children, in-laws, parents, grandchildren and other relatives. Table 3.2 shows that a total of 51,033 people were recorded as living in all households in the District. Household heads form 24.8 percent of the population while children, grandchildren and other relatives respectively represented 41.5 percent,13.7 percent and5.1 percent. This shows that the traditional household structure remains pervasive in the District. The proportion of non-relatives, step-children and adopted/foster children is significantly low and forms less than two percent of the household population.
Household Headship
The total number of household heads in the District is 12,631; comprising 51.8 percent males and 48.2 percent females. The higher proportion of male household heads is expected because within the Ghanaian cultural setting, males are traditionally expected to be heads of households rather than females. A female may become a head of household under the following circumstances: when she is not married or when she is widowed, divorced or separated or where her husband has migrated (Tanle, 2010).
Household Structure
Household structure is the classification of ties of affiliation of persons who constitute households. It refers to a kind of bonding or type of relationship (whether related or unrelated) among household members who were present on census night. Table 3.3 provides information on the structure of households by sex in the Ekumfi District. The household structure in the District is mainly the extended family system (52.0%), followed by the nuclear family system (48.0%).
The latter comprises head only (5.1%), head and spouse only (1.5%), head, spouse (s) and children (28.0%) and single parent nuclear (13.4%). This means that the extended family system is common in the District. Single parent extended is the main household system (21.0%) within the extended family system. A higher proportion (51.0%) of the male population is made up the nuclear family compared to the female population which has a higher proportion (54.6%) represented by the extend family.
Marital Status
The 2010 PHC classified marital status into never married, living together/consensual union, married, separated, divorced and widowed. Persons who were 12 years and older were eligible to provide answers to this question. The definition of marriage includes persons in any of the following types of marriages: civil, traditional and common law/consensual. The marital status of persons 12 years and older as shown in Figure 3.2 indicates that 43.0 percent were currently married, 37.0 percent were never married and 6.0 percent were divorced.
Table 3.4 shows that there are substantial variations between males and females in terms of marital status by age group. For example, within the age group 25-29 years, 44.9 percent of males have never married compared to 19.0 percent of their female counterparts. The pace of moving out of the never married category is faster for females than males. The proportion of females who were never married declines from 84.8 percent at age 15-19 years to 44.5 percent in the age group 20-24 years and further to 19.0 percent among the 25-29 years old.
The data further show that from age 40 years, the proportion of females who were married begins to decrease while the proportion widowed begins to increase. There were, however, a higher proportion of females than males in consensual unions, especially at ages 20-24 and 25-29 years.
Marital status and level of Education
Table 3.5 shows that out of the total population of 12,646 persons who had never married, 78.4 percent have had basic education, 9.1 percent have had secondary education and8.7 percent do not have any formal education. Amongst the married population of 14,563 persons, however, 50.9 percent have had basic education, 42.5 percent have had no formal education and 3.2 percent have obtained secondary education.Similarly, amongst the population who are in informal or consensual unions, majority (64.0%) have had basic education.
This shows that comparatively the never married persons who are likely to be much younger have relatively higher level of education than their counterparts of other marital statuses, thus showing the educational gap between the younger and older generations. It is also to be noted from table 3.5 that at each marital status, a higher proportion of males than females are likely to have some form of education. This is a reflection of the lower level of formal education among females compared to their male counterparts in the region and the country in general.
Nationality
Nationality is defined as the country to which a person is a citizen of. A distinction is made between Ghanaians and other nationals. Ghanaian nationals are grouped into Ghanaian by birth, Ghanaian with dual nationality and Ghanaian by naturalization. Other nationals are grouped into ECOWAS nationals, Africans other than ECOWAS nationals, and non-Africans. Nationality status of the District’s population is discussed with reference to Table 3.7.Ghanaians (by birth, dual nationality or naturalization) constituted 98.4 percent of the total population while non-Ghanaians were 1.6 percent. There are equal proportions of males (0.4%) and females (0.4%) who are Ghanaians by naturalization, but a higher proportion of males (1.4%) than females (0.5%) are ECOWAS nationals.
Date Created : 11/17/2017 2:50:47 AM