Introduction

It is important that the size, composition and distribution of any population be analysed to facilitate development planning, and programme and policy implementation. With the current decentralized governance system and administration of planning in Ghana, it will be desirable that statistics be provided on the size, growth as well as spatial distribution, patterns and trends of the population.

This chapter provides a descriptive summary of the demographic characteristics of Wassa Amenfi East Municipal in the Western Region. The objective of the chapter is to analyze the population size and density, age and sex structure and migration, fertility, and mortality of the 2010 PHC data on the Amenfi East District. The changes in a country’s population are mainly through fertility, mortality and migration levels, which to a large extent, are influenced by age-sex composition.

Population Size and Distribution

The data in Table 2.1 show the population size and composition in the Wassa Amenfi East Municipal. As shown in Table 2.1, Wassa Amenfi East Municipal recorded a population of 83,478 in the 2010 Population and Housing Census. Persons between the ages 0-4 years (15.2%) have the highest proportion among the age groups.

This is closely followed by age groups 5-9 years, 10-14 years with 13.8 percent and 12.9 percent respectively. The age group 80-84 years constitutes 0.5 percent with 85years and older having the least proportion of 0.4 percent. Of the District’s total population (83,478), there are more males (51.4%) than females (48.6%). Within the age group 0-4, there are slightly more females (15.5%) than males (15.1%).The proportion of females in age groups 80-85 and 85 years and older is 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent respectively. These proportions are higher compared to their male counterparts, which is 0.4 percent in both age groups.

Sex Ratio

Sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a given population, usually expressed as an index of the number of males for every 100 females. Table 2.2 shows the population size by locality of residence and sex ratio. Out of the total population of 83,478 in the district, there are more males (51.4%) than females (48.6%) and this translates into a sex ratio of 105.7 males to 100 females. The percentage of the district’s share of the regional population is 3.5 percent. In urban areas, sex ratio is 94.4 males to 100 females, whereas in rural areas in the district, sex ratio is 106.6 males to 100 females, showing more males than females in the rural areas as against the urban areas

Age-Sex Structure

Table 2.3 depicts the age structure by sex and age group in the district. Out of the total population of 83,478, persons under 15 years have the highest proportion of 42 percent. This is followed by persons within the age group 30-59 who constitutes 25.6 percent. Persons 60 years and older constitute the least in the district with 5.5 percent. For the sexes, there are more males under 15 years (42.2%) than females under 15 years (41.7%).

Age Dependency Ratio

Age Dependency is the ratio of persons in the dependency ages (generally under age 15 and 65 years and older) to those in the working age group (15-64 years) in a population. Table 2.4 shows the age dependency ratio by sex in the district. The table indicates that the district has a high working population of 54.3 percent of which males and females are about equal proportions of 54.1 percent and 54.0 percent respectively. Child dependency ratio is 77.4 while Old age dependency ratio is 6.9. The total dependency ratio of the district is 84.3.

Fertility, Mortality and Migration

Fertility refers to the actual birth performance thus frequency or childbearing among a population and fecundity denotes the physiological capacity of a woman, man or couple to reproduce. The Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is the number of births in a given year divided by the number of people in the population in the middle of that year. The General Fertility Rate (GFR) is the number of births in a given year divided by the mid- year population of women in age groups 15-44 or 15-49. This analysis uses women between 15 and 49 years.

An Age Specific Fertility Rate (ASFR) is defined as the number of births to women of a given age group per 1,000 women in that age group. It is calculated for 5- year age groups from 15-19 years to 45-49 years. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) which is used in the analysis is the average number of live births among 1,000 women exposed throughout their childbearing years (15-49 years) to the schedule of a given set of age specific fertility rates, assuming no women died during the childbearing year. In other words, it is the average number of children a woman will have given birth to by the end of her reproductive years if current fertility rates prevailed.

The contraceptive prevalence rate is the percentage of currently married women aged 15-49 years currently using any method of contraception. In the 2010 PHC, questions on fertility was answered by female persons who are 12 years and older.

Table 2.5 shows the total fertility, general fertility and crude birth rate in the district and region. Out of the total population (83,478) in Wassa Amenfi East, the number of women in the child bearing age of 15-49 years constitute 28.3 percent (23,607).

The table further shows that the number of births in the last 12 months preceding the census period was 2,523 while the average number of live births among women in child bearing age (15-49) assuming current fertility rates prevailed was 4.43. The general fertility rate in the district as at 2010 was 106.9 while the crude birth rate was 30.2

Table 2.6 shows female persons 12 years and older by age, sex of child, children surviving and ever born. The table shows that the age group with the highest female population (4104) is 15-19 followed by age group 20-24 with a total population of 3,767 and age group 55-59 with the least number of female population of 735.

Children ever born for all ages to females in the district constitute 76,440 with more males 38,541 than females 37,899. The most male population ever born (13.6%) and female population ever born (12.9%) are both in the age group 35-39. Of the total number of children surviving in the district (65,094) there are slightly more male survivors (32,583) than female survivors (32,511)

Mortality

Mortality is one of the three components of population growth, and plays an important role in determining the growth of a population. The level and pattern of mortality is a reflection of the health status of a population. Thus, indices of mortality have been used as indicators of socio-economic development. Mortality data are needed among others, for the analysis of potential growth of population and construction population projections as well as to formulate policies, develop, implement and evaluate public health programmes and projects. Mortality data are used in calculating probable life span of population which is then used by institutions such as insurance companies to set premiums. Results from mortality analysis underpin disease control programmes and in identifying viable health and related programmes which advance human survival.

Crude Death Rate

Crude death rate is the number of deaths per 1000 population in a given year. Table 2.7 shows deaths in households and crude death rates in the Western region. The table further shows that the crude death rate for Wassa Amenfi East is 7.1 which is higher than the regional average of 6.2

Age Specific Death Rate

Age specific death rate is the number of deaths of people in a specified age group per 1000 population of that age group. Table 2.8 shows the age specific death rates of the district. The death rate for the under five year group is 15.2 for males and 12.3 for females. These figures are quite high and is an indication of high infant and child mortality rates. Between the ages 5 years and 24 years, the death rate of females is higher than males. The death rate of males in the age group 25-29, however, is higher (5.0) than for females (4.2). Within the age group 30-34, the death rate of females (8.0) is more than twice that of males (3.7). Beyond age 55 years the death rate of males are higher than that of females as shown in figure 2.2.

Migration

Migration can be defined as a geographical movement involving a change from a usual place of residence over a defined territory beyond a defined period. The process of distribution and redistribution of a population occurs through natural growth and migration. Migration is a socio- economic phenomenon which is a result of complex mechanisms involving psychological, social, economic, political and institutional determinants. The movement of population in space is incidental to carrying out daily activities in life, such as commuting to and from places of work and travelling for business or for pleasure (United Nations, 2012).

Table 2.9 shows that, the total number of migrants in the district is 29,171 (34.9%) of the total population. This can be attributed to the high mining activities in the district. The proportion of persons who have lived in the district 1-4 years is 28.4 percent. About 20 percent of persons have lived in the district for 20 years and over.

Persons who live in the district but are born elsewhere in the region is 8,418. Of this number 31.2 percent have lived in the district for 1-4 years. Most persons born elsewhere in another region but are living in the district are from the Ashanti region; 5,186 (25 percent). This might be due to the proximity of the Ashanti region to western region. The percentage of persons that lived in the district but are born outside Ghana is 3.0 percent.

In terms of duration of residence in the district, the table shows that the highest proportion (28.4%) have stayed in the district between 1- 4 years and 22.9 percent have stayed for 20 or more years.

Across the regions, the highest proportion of migrants that are born elsewhere in the regions and have stayed for less than a year in the district are from the Upper East region (19.3%). The highest proportion of migrants in the district who have stayed between 1-4 years from the regions are from Upper West (41.2%). For migrants who have stayed in the district the longest (20 years and above), the highest proportion comes from the Centre region (28.8%).