2010 POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS OF GHANA: CENSUS TOPICS David Yenukwa Kombat Ghana Statistical Service

Background Ghana has conducted five population census since independence in 1957 : 1960, 1970, 1984, 2000 and 2010. Face-to-face interview with a paper questionnaire was used to collect information in all the censuses The Ghana Statistical Service has the mandate to undertake a population census in Ghana All officials of the Ghana Statistical Service (both permanent and non-permanent) are required by Law to swear an oath of secrecy

Objectives of the 2010 Census Objectives of the Ghana 2010 Population and Housing Census was to: Provide up- to-dated data on demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population at national, regional, district and locality levels for policy making, planning and administration and research Provide data to the Electoral Commission for revising electoral areas and constituencies for purposes of elections Provide data to Government for equitable distribution of national resources and government services Provide data for tracking the progress of poverty reduction programmes including the achievement of the MDGs 11/23/2018

Selection of Census topics (core) Topics were selected after consultations with relevant stakeholders taking into consideration recommendations from the Principles and Recommendations for conduct of Population and Housing Censuses for the 2010 round. The following core topics were included in the census: Geographical and internal migration characteristics -Place where present at the time of the census (census night) -Place of birth -Duration of residence

Core topics cont’d International migration characteristics -Country of birth -Nationality/citizenship Household characteristics -Relationship to head of household Demographic and social characteristics - Age and sex -Marital status

Core topics cont’d Fertility and mortality -children ever born -children surviving -household deaths in the past 12 months and cause of death (was death due to accident, violence, homicide or suicide) ** age at death, sex of deceased **For females aged 12-54 years at time of death, a question was asked as to whether the death occurred whilst pregnant, during delivery, or within 6 weeks after the end of a pregnancy or child birth.

Core topics cont’d Educational characteristics -Literacy -school attendance -educational attainment Economic activity -Economic activity status - Occupation -Industry -Employment status Disability status-whether any household member(s) had any serious disability, for example, visual impairment, hearing impairment, etc.

Housing core topics Housing -type of dwelling, materials used for construction of outer wall of dwellings, tenancy arrangement, ownership type, number of rooms household occupy, main source of lighting, main source of water supply for drinking and for other use, main source of cooking fuel, cooking space/kitchen, bathing and toilet facilities, waste disposal (solid and liquid),

Non core topics Religion Ethnicity Sector of employment Number of bedrooms Construction materials of floor and roof of dwelling units Agriculture -Involvement of any household member in any form of agricultural activity and type of agricultural activity

Difficulties in implementing some of the topics Ethnicity and religious issues Issues relating to mortality questions- it is not an event household members usually want to remember Disability – some households refusing to report on disable members of their households especially those with multiple disabilities.

Other challenges Administrative boundary disputes Inaccessibility of some communities-islands, flooding, no access roads, etc.- some of it probably due to the period of the enumeration (September rather than March which was used in previous censuses) Large enumeration areas Problems associated with data capture -questionnaires were printing by different printers (inferior quality paper used by some of the printers)

Addressing the challenges Series of consultative meetings were held with religious/ethnic groups to resolve the issues GSS worked with the Local Government Ministry, the Electoral Commission and Survey Department to resolve administrative boundary disputes Enumeration in flooded communities handled after the floods had subsided; extra field personnel mobilised to enumerate un-enumerated communities. Ethnicity codes were revised to address the ethnic concerns Households encouraged to report on all disable persons in their households

Release of results/reports Provisional results-February, 2011 Summary of final results-May, 2012 National Analytical Report, May, 2013 Regional Analytical Reports, September, 2013 With support from Developments Partners, monographs on the Elderly, Women and Men, MDGs, Non-Monetary Poverty, Education and Literacy, Children/Adolescents and Youth and Population Projections have been prepared Census Atlas, June, 2013

Preparation of Reports Preparations are being made to prepare the following monographs: -Economic activities -Fertility -Migration -Urbanisation -Disability -Housing -Mortality UNDP, UNFPA and JICA are supporting in the preparation of four out of the seven monographs. GSS is yet to get funding for the remaining three monographs, i.e. Migration, Housing and Mortality. CIDA and DANIDA are supporting GSS with funds to prepare District Analytical Reports. 23 November 2018

End Information on the publications can be obtained from Ghana Statistical Service website:www.statsghana.gov.gh Thank you 11/23/2018