1. 2010 POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS OF GHANA: CENSUS TOPICS
David Yenukwa Kombat
Ghana Statistical Service

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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 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.

7. 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.

8. 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),

9. 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

10. 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.

11. 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)

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

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