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Ghana Population Distribution
Population density increased steadily from thirty-six per
square kilometer in 1970 to fifty-two per square kilometer in 1984;
in 1990 sixty-three persons per square kilometer was the estimate
for Ghana's overall population density. These averages, naturally,
did not reflect variations in population distribution. For example,
while the Northern Region, one of ten administrative regions,
showed a density of seventeen persons per square kilometer in 1984,
in the same year Greater Accra Region recorded nine times the
national average of fifty-two per square kilometer. As was the case
in the 1960 and 1970 figures, the greatest concentration of
population in 1984 was to the south of the Kwahu Plateau. The
highest concentration of habitation continued to be within the
Accra-Kumasi-Takoradi triangle, largely because of the economic
productivity of the region. In fact, all of the country's mining
centers, timber-producing deciduous forests, and cocoa-growing
lands lie to the south of the Kwahu Plateau. The Accra-Kumasi-
Takoradi triangle also is conveniently linked to the coast by rail
and road systems--making this area an important magnet for
investment and labor
(see
fig. 10).
By contrast, a large part of the Volta Basin was sparsely
populated. The presence of tsetse flies, the relative infertility
of the soil, and, above all, the scarcity of water in the area
during the harmattan season affect habitation. The far north, on
the other hand, was heavily populated. The eighty-seven persons to
a square kilometer recorded in the 1984 census for the Upper East
Region, for example, was well above the national average. This may
be explained in part by the somewhat better soil found in some
areas and the general absence of the tsetse fly; however,
onchocerciasis, or river blindness, a fly-borne disease, is common
in the north, causing abandonment of some land. With the
improvement of the water supply through well-drilling and the
introduction of intensive agricultural extension services as part
of the Global 2000 program since the mid-1980s, demographic figures
for the far north could be markedly different by the next census.
Another factor affecting Ghana's demography was refugees. At
the end of 1994, approximately 110,000 refugees resided in Ghana.
About 90,000 were Togolese who had fled political violence in their
homeland beginning in early 1993
(see Relations with Immediate African Neighbors
, ch. 4). Most Togolese had settled in Volta
Region among their ethnic kinsmen. About 20,000 Liberians were also
found in Ghana, having fled the civil war in their country
(see International Security Concerns
, ch. 5). Many were long-term
residents. As a result of ethnic fighting in northeastern Ghana in
early 1994, at least 20,000 Ghanaians out of an original group of
150,000 were still internally displaced at the end of the year.
About 5,000 had taken up residence in Togo because of the strife.
Data as of November 1994
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