ghana living standards survey report of the fifth round

146 Pages·2009·1.75 MB·English

GHANA LIVING STANDARDS SURVEY 
REPORT OF THE FIFTH ROUND (GLSS 5) 

   Ghana Statistical Service 
September 2008 

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© 2008 GSS 

Cover design:                            Mr. Emmanuel Kpakpo Brown 
Mr. Emmanuel Wilson 
Mr. Felix Kwaku Adjei  

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PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This report presents the main results of the Fifth Round of the Ghana Living Standards
Survey (GLSS 5) with Non-Farm Household Enterprise Module. The field work covered a
period of 12 months (September 2005 to September 2006). The survey instruments and
methodology were based on those of the fourth round with some minimal modifications.

The GLSS 5 is a nation-wide survey which collected detailed information of topics,
including demographic characteristics of the population, education, health, employment
and time use, migration, housing conditions and household agriculture. It also introduced a
special module on Non-Farm Household Enterprises.

The GLSS 5 data has already been used to prepare and launch a Poverty Analysis Report
on Ghana. Some treatment has been given to the special module of the GLSS 5 (Non-
Farm Household Enterprises module) but a more detailed analysis will be presented in a
separate report. Researchers interested in further analysis of the GLSS 5 data set are
encouraged to apply to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) for the use of the data.

The methodology of the GLSS 5 is such that it required substantial human and material
resources and financial support. The Survey was made possible from the much needed
support and cooperation from various stakeholders. The GSS would like to acknowledge
the many contributions that complemented the efforts of GSS to bring the survey to its
logical conclusion. In particular, the GSS would like to thank the selected households for
their patience and cooperation in going through the frequent visits and questioning by the
interviewers. Many thanks also go to the field staff and data entry operators for the
meticulous manner they discharged their duties. Many commendations also go to regional
and district administrators as well as traditional chiefs for the diverse assistance they gave
to bring the survey to a successful end.

The GSS would like also to acknowledge, with many thanks, financial contribution and
support from the Government of Ghana, the technical assistance from the World Bank and
the European Union. Special thanks go to Mr. Sylvester Young, Director of the Bureau of
Statistics, International Labour Organization (ILO), Mr. Harold Coulombe, Dr. Ana Maria L.
Tabunda of the University of Philippines School of Statistics and Dr. Jose Ramon G. Albert
of the Philippines Institute for Development Studies for their diverse contributions. Finally,
the devoted services of the project personnel, the report writers and all others who may
have contributed in diverse ways to the success of the survey and the subsequent
production of the report are duly acknowledged.

DR. GRACE BEDIAKO
(Government Statistician & National Project Director)

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Ghana Living Standards Survey-Round Five (GLSS 5), like earlier ones, focuses on
the household as a key socio-economic unit and provides valuable insights into living
conditions in Ghana. This report summarizes the main findings of the fifth round of the
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GLSS conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) from 4 September 2005 to 3rd
September 2006.

A nationally representative sample of 8,687 households in 580 enumeration areas,
containing 37,128 households members were covered in GLSS5. Detailed information was
collected on demographic characteristics of respondents and all aspects of living
conditions including health, education, housing, household income, consumption and
expenditure, credit, assets and savings, prices and employment. Two new sections
namely Tourism and Migrants & Remittances were introduced. The GLSS5 had as its
special focus Non-Farm Household Enterprises on which detailed information was
collected on all eligible household members.

The key findings of the survey are as follows (references are to the relevant sections of the
report):

Demography

Information is given on household composition, age and sex distribution, marital status
and ethnicity. The survey revealed that the mean household size for Ghana is 4, with
Upper West having the highest of 6.5 and Greater Accra the lowest of 3.4 (Section 1.1).
The results show that Ghana’s population is still young. Females form 51.5 percent of the
population. The age at first marriage is 22.5 years with females marrying about four years
earlier than their male counterparts. Akans constitute 52.7 percent of the Ghanaian
population.

Education

The survey gives information on levels of educational attainment of the adult population,
current school enrolment, and educational expenditure by households, adult literacy rates,
and apprenticeship training. About 31 percent of all adults have never been to school, less
than one-fifth (17.1%) attended school but did not obtain any qualifications; 39 percent
have MSLC/BECE/VOC certificate as their highest qualification, while a small percentage
of 13.6 possess secondary or higher qualification (Section 2.1).

Current school attendance rate of school going age persons at all levels of education in
Ghana is 86 percent. The rates for females are lower than those for males especially in
the Northern Region. The three northern regions have comparatively lower attendance
rates for all school going ages. The average annual expenditure incurred by a household
on a person at school or college is GH¢88.65. The figure is higher in Accra (GH¢280.81)
than in other urban and rural areas. The survey results indicate that 51 percent of adults
are literate in English or a local language. There are substantial differences between the
sexes and between localities as far as literacy is concerned. A little over 6 out of every 10
men, but only 4 out of every 10 women are literate. Almost 70 percent of adults in urban
areas are literate as against 40 percent of adults in rural areas. Over a third (36 %) of
apprentices aged 15 years and above is engaged in textile, apparel and furnishing trade
apprenticeship most of whom are females (59 percent compared to 17 percent males).
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Health

The survey sought information on the general health condition of all household members
in the previous two weeks: on illness/injury and its effect on respondents’ usual activities,
cost of obtaining health care, preventive health care and immunization of all children aged
5 years and younger, fertility, pre-natal care and contraceptive use by females aged 15 to
49 years and health insurance. The survey revealed that about 21 percent of respondents
suffered from illness or injury in the previous two weeks, 59 percent of whom had to stop
their usual activities due to the indisposition (Section 3.2). The average medical expenses
incurred by people who reported ill or injury in the previous two weeks was Twelve Ghana
Cedis Fifty Ghana Pesewas (GH¢12.50). About 2.4 percent settled their bills through
health insurance.

About 6 percent of all women aged 15 to 49 years were pregnant at the time of the
interview; and a further 11 percent had been pregnant 12 months prior to the interview. Of
women aged 15-49 or their partners 24 percent reported using contraceptives: 17 percent
use modern methods, and 7 percent use traditional methods, to prevent or delay
pregnancy (Section 3.3). About 2.6 percent of children below the age of 6 have never
been vaccinated against the six childhood killer diseases. The level of breastfeeding in
Ghana is very high: about 97 percent of all children 5 years and younger have been
breastfed at one time or another.

Even though the National Health Insurance had just started at the time of data collection,
information was elicited from respondents to assess the national response to the health
insurance scheme. About 17 percent of the population were registered or covered by the
health insurance scheme. Marked differences existed among the regions with Brong Ahafo
having 35 percent of its population registered or covered while Upper West had only 5
percent of its population registered or covered. High premium (32.7%) and no knowledge
of the scheme (14.8%), among others were cited as reasons for not registering under the
National Health Insurance Scheme.

Employment

This section of the report presents the activity rate of the economically active population,
employment, unemployment. The report also includes sub-sections on working children
and time use for both economic and non-economic activities, including housekeeping.
Seven out of every 10 of the adult population aged 15-64 are economically active. Males
recorded a slightly higher economic activity rate (54.9%) than females (53.4%). Nearly 13
percent of children aged 7 to 14 years are economically active. The activity rates for males
exceed those for females in all age groups except in the 15 to 24. Overall, the economic
activity rate in rural areas is higher (58.6%) than that of urban areas (47.3%). For each
age group, the activity rates for both males and females are higher in rural areas than in
urban areas.

The employment statistics of the currently employed indicate that 55 percent of the adults are
own account workers, 20 percent are contributing family workers while 18 percent are
employees. In urban areas, employees (34.8%) constitute the second largest category after
own account workers (47.2%), whereas in rural areas, contributing family workers (27.5%)
are the second most populous group after own account workers (59.4%).

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The majority of the working population is employed in agricultural activities (55.8%), followed
by trading (15.2%) and then manufacturing (10.9%). Whereas 21.6 percent of the working
females are engaged in trading, only 8.4 percent of their male counterparts are traders.Only
one-tenth (9.4%) of the currently employed attained secondary school education or higher.
Over a third (35.2 %) had never been to school. The highest hourly wage rates are obtained
in financial services. On average, men receive higher earnings than females across industry
sectors except for manufacturing, transport and communication, and public administration.
Information on working conditions of employees in public or private organizations shows that
nearly 6 out of every 10 employees (57.3%) do not have any formal contract of employment
with their employers before starting work (Section 4.3).

The unemployment rate is 3.6 percent. It is about the same for both males and females. It is
more pronounced in urban areas (6.3%, Accra 8.9%) than in rural areas (1.6%).

Migration and Tourism

This section, first of all, examines data on migration and is expected to arouse interest for
further discussion and research into the field of population relocation to guide policy
direction. Secondly, it looks at tourism, a promising area of economic growth for the
economy. This is a new area introduced into the GLSS 5.

A little over half (52 %) of the population aged 7 years and older in Ghana are highly
mobile. Return migrants constitute 33 percent while in-migrants form 19 percent. The
distribution of migrants by age group shows that mobility of persons tends to increase with
age up to age 25-29 and tapers off with increasing age. Young adults, aged 25 to 29
constitute the largest proportion of migrants. Over four-fifth (89%) of migrants in Accra are
from other urban areas. The main impetus for migration in Ghana is family considerations.

The section on tourism presents, among others, information on domestic and outbound
visitors, purpose and mode of travel, sponsorship, type of accommodation, and duration of
stay within and outside Ghana. Persons aged 25 to 44 constitute about 38 percent of
domestic tourists, 46 percent of those who travel outside Ghana and 54 percent of all
travellers within and outside Ghana. The elderly people aged 65 and over, constitute the
least travelled group in terms of both domestic and outbound travel. Ashanti Region alone
attracts a third of the total number of same-day visitors and a fifth of the overnight visitors
while Upper East attracts the least number of same-day visitors (0.8%) and Upper West
the least number of over-night visitors (2.0%). Road is the most popular mode of travel for
both domestic and outbound same-day and over-night tourists. For same-day visitors
business and professional reasons are the main purpose of visit accounting for 48.4
percent, visiting friends and relatives 26.9 percent, funerals 8.7 percent and cultural
festivals 7.7 percent. More than half of the males (53.5%) travel for business or
professional reasons compared to females (38.6%). Among outbound overnight visitors,
visiting family/friends account for 45.2 percent, business and professional reasons 18.9
percent, funerals 15.7 percent, holidays/vacation/leisure 7.7 percent and
convention/conference/ workshop 2.4 percent.

The survey results show that accommodation by friends and relatives found favour with
both domestic over-night visitors and outbound over-night visitors than hotels. As high as
82 percent domestic over-night visitors and 64 percent of outbound over-night visitors
sleep with friends and relatives whilst only 1 percent of domestic over-night visitors and 9
percent of outbound over-night visitors stay in hotels. In all cases a higher proportion of
males than females sleep in hotels. About three quarters of the domestic same-day
visitors and two-thirds of the domestic overnight visitors are self-financed. Sponsorship for
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20 percent of the domestic same-day visitors and nearly 28 percent of the domestic
overnight visitors come from household members. Kakum National Park and Kumasi Zoo
are the most patronized tourist sites.

Housing

The survey collected information on a variety of housing characteristics: the type of
dwelling and the main materials used in house construction, occupancy status; waste
disposal, utilities and household amenities. Most households in Ghana (79%) live either in
rooms in compound houses or other types of rooms. About 45 percent (26 percent in
urban areas and 59 percent in rural areas) of the households in Ghana own the houses
they live in. About 73 percent of urban households have access to pipe-borne water
compared to only 14 percent of rural households. Almost four-fifth (79%) of households in
urban areas has electricity for lighting as against 27 percent of households in rural areas.
Charcoal is the most popular source of cooking fuel for urban households (52.6 %)
whereas firewood is the main source of cooking for rural households (80.2%). Only one
out of every ten households in Ghana (22.2 percent in urban and 1.1 percent in rural) has
access to flush toilet.

Household agriculture

About 3.4 million households in Ghana own or operate a farm or keep livestock (Section
7.1). More than half of households (1.8 million), which cultivate crops hire labour for their
operations. The two most important crops, in terms of sales, are maize and cocoa. About
3.5 million households process crops or fish for sale or for use by households with women
having about 87 percent share of responsibility in this activity.

Non-Farm enterprises

Approximately three million two hundred thousand households representing 46 percent of
all households in Ghana operate non-farm enterprises with women operating 72 percent of
these businesses. Some 52 percent of the households operating non-farm enterprises are
found in urban localities. Almost half (49.5%) of all businesses involve trading, and most of
the rest are into some kind of manufacturing. The main sources of capital for non-farm
enterprises are household savings (60%) and assistance from relatives or friends (20%). It
is worthy to note that more skilled than unskilled persons are currently engaged in non-
farm enterprises.

Household expenditure

Average annual household expenditure in Ghana is GH¢1,918.00 whilst the mean annual
per capita consumption expenditure in Ghana is GH¢644.00. Regional differences exist
with Greater Accra Region having the highest per capita expenditure of GH¢1,050.00
whilst Upper West has the lowest of GH¢166.00. The average annual household
expenditure is about 1.6 times higher in urban localities (GH¢2,449) than in rural localities
(GH¢1,514) even though the household size in rural households tends to be larger than
urban households.

Food expenditure accounts for two-fifth of total household expenditure, while the imputed
value of own-produced food consumed by households represents a further 10.5 percent.
Expenditure on housing in Ghana averages 2.4 percent of the total household
expenditure. Expenditure on housing is higher in Greater Accra Region than the other
regions. At the time of the survey Ghanaian households were spending on average an
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amount of almost GH¢2,680 million per annum with food (including non-alcoholic
beverages) representing about a third of the total expenditure while non-food expenditure
represented about 70 percent of the total household expenditure. Within the non-food
expenditure group, transport contributes the highest of 16.7 percent to the total
expenditure. The next most important expenditure groups in terms of amount spent are
housing, water, electricity and gas (7.9%), recreation and culture (6.1%) and education
(5.3%). (Section 9.4).

Within the food sub-group, the most important, in terms of cash expenditure is bread and
cereals (20%), fish and sea foods (16%) and vegetables (14%) (Section 9.5). Whilst urban
residents consume more meat and milk, cheese & eggs and patronize catering services
(prepared meals), their rural counterparts consume more vegetables and fish & sea foods.

Household income

Average annual household income in Ghana is about GH¢1,217.00 whilst the average per
capita income is almost GH¢400. With an average exchange rate of GH¢0.92 (¢9,176.48)
to the US dollar prevailing in June 2006, the average annual household income is
US$1,327 and the average per capita income is US$433 (Section 9.8). There are regional
differences with Greater Accra region recording the highest of GH¢544.00 whilst Upper
West and Upper East regions had less than GH¢130.00. Urban localities had higher per
capita income than rural localities.

The three main sources of household income in Ghana are income from agricultural
activities (35%), wage income from employment (29%) and income from self employment
(25%). Remittances constitute less than 10 percent of household income. The annual
estimated total value of remittances received in Ghana is GH¢547,571 million whilst the
estimated total annual value of remittances paid out by households is GH¢231,344 million
which represents 42 percent of all remittances received.

Credit, assets and savings

More than 27 percent of all households owe money or goods to other persons, institutions
or businesses and only 6 percent are able to pay fully a loan in the preceding 12 months.
The extent of indebtedness, as measured by the proportion of households taking out
loans, is lower in urban areas (24.1 %) than in rural areas (29.8 %). Over half of
household loans come from relatives, friends and neighbours. Traders form the second
most important source of loans for households followed by state banks. Most of these
loans contracted without any guarantee are meant for household businesses.

In general, the level of ownership of most assets is much higher in urban areas than it is in
rural areas. It is higher in Accra than in other urban areas, and higher in the rural coastal
and rural forest than it is in the rural savannah.

Just a third of all households in Ghana have savings accounts. Two-fifth of urban
households operates savings accounts as against only 22 percent of their rural
counterparts. More males (60%) have savings accounts than females (40%) and this is the
case for all localities.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................. iii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................ ix
LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... xi
LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... xi
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1

1. DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS ............................................................................................ 4
1.1 Household Composition ................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Age and Sex Distribution of Population. ........................................................................ 6
1.3 Marital status and age at first marriage ......................................................................... 7

2. EDUCATION .................................................................................................................................. 11
2.1 Educational Attainment .................................................................................................. 11
2.2 School Attendance ......................................................................................................... 11
2.3 Educational Expenses ................................................................................................... 12
2.4 Literacy ............................................................................................................................. 13
2.5 Apprenticeship Training ................................................................................................. 15

3. HEALTH ......................................................................................................................................... 17
3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 17
3.2 Health condition in the two weeks preceding the interview ..................................... 17
3.3 Fertility, pre-natal care and contraceptive use ........................................................... 23
3.4 Child Health ..................................................................................................................... 27
3.5 HIV/AIDS Awareness ..................................................................................................... 28
3.6 Health insurance ............................................................................................................. 29

4. EMPLOYMENT .............................................................................................................................. 34
4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 34
4.2 Economic Activity ............................................................................................................ 34
4.3 Employment and Working Conditions ......................................................................... 36
4.4 Unemployment and Underemployment ....................................................................... 43
4.5 Working children ............................................................................................................. 44
4.6 Housekeeping Activities ................................................................................................. 46

5. MIGRATION AND TOURISM ......................................................................................................... 50
5.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 50
5.1 Migration patterns ........................................................................................................... 50
5.2 Migration status by region ............................................................................................. 50
5.3 Sex and Age Differentials in Migration ........................................................................ 51
5.4 Migration flows by previous residence and region of current residence ................ 52
5.5 Migration flows by previous residence ........................................................................ 52
5.6 Distribution of migrants in current locality by previous residence ........................... 53
5.7 Reasons for moving ....................................................................................................... 53
5.8 Domestic and Outbound Tourism ................................................................................ 54
5.9 Domestic and Outbound Visitors by Number of Trips and Sex............................... 55
5.10 Region of Visit in Ghana and Country of Visit ............................................................ 56
5.11 Mode of Travel ................................................................................................................ 57
5.12 Domestic and Outbound Visitors by Purpose of Visit ............................................... 58
5.13 Duration of Stay of Domestic and Outbound same-Day Visitors ............................ 59

5.14 Type of Accommodation Unit Stayed in by Domestic and Outbound .................... 60
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Visitors and the Average Duration of Stay ................................................................ 60
5.15 Type of Tour .................................................................................................................... 61
5.16 Type of Sponsorship ...................................................................................................... 62
5.17 Visitor Arrivals to some Selected Tourist Sites .......................................................... 63

6. HOUSING....................................................................................................................................... 64
6.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 64
6.1 Type of dwelling .............................................................................................................. 64
6.2 Room occupancy and housing density ....................................................................... 65
6.3 Housing conditions ......................................................................................................... 67

7. HOUSEHOLD AGRICULTURE ...................................................................................................... 72
7.1 Agricultural activities and assets .................................................................................. 72
7.2 Harvesting and disposal of crops ................................................................................. 73
7.3 Other agricultural income .............................................................................................. 78
7.4 Seasonal patterns ........................................................................................................... 78
7.5 Agricultural inputs ........................................................................................................... 82
7.6 Home processing of agricultural produce ................................................................... 83
7.7 Home consumption of own produce ............................................................................ 85

8. NON-FARM ENTERPRISES. ............................................................................................................ 89
8.1 Characteristics of non-farm enterprises ...................................................................... 89
8.2 Expenditure input, assets, revenues, and net income .............................................. 91

9. HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE, INCOME AND THEIR COMPONENTS .......................................... 94
9.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 94
9.1 Total household expenditure ......................................................................................... 94
9.2 Components of household expenditure ...................................................................... 96
9.3 Classification of Household Expenditure by COICOP .............................................. 97
9.4 Cash expenditure by item level .................................................................................. 100
9.5 Annual household expenditure on food..................................................................... 101
9.6 Availability of consumer items .................................................................................... 103
9.7 Total Annual Expenditure and Type of House ......................................................... 104
9.8 Total Household Income .............................................................................................. 105
9.9 Household income by source ..................................................................................... 108
9.10 Transfers ........................................................................................................................ 109

10. CREDIT, ASSETS AND SAVINGS ............................................................................................... 113
10.1 Credit .............................................................................................................................. 113
10.2 Assets and durable consumer goods ........................................................................ 116
10.3 Savings ........................................................................................................................... 117

Appendix 1: Sample Design for Round 5 of the GLSS .............................................. 118
Appendix 2: Supplementary Tables ........................................................................... 124
Appendix 3: List of Project Personnel ........................................................................ 130

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