Introduction

According to United Nations Population Fund(1975) “just as effective development depends on reliable knowledge of natural and other resources, so does effective development planning depends upon natural knowledge of the composition, growth and movement of population’. Knowledge about the characteristics of a population is relevant to identifying the developmental goals and aspirations of the people. This chapter seeks to analyze the size of the population, its distribution in terms of urban or rural settlement, the structure of the age and sex together with the fertility, mortality and migration trends.

Population Size and Distribution

Table 2.1a presents the population distribution of the Banda District in relation to age, sex and type of locality of residence. The Banda District has a population of 20,282 which represents less than one percent (0.9%) of the population of the Brong Ahafo Region. The distribution of the population by sex indicates that there are 10,373 males constituting 51.1 percent and 9,910 females representing 48.9 percent. This gives a district sex ratio of 104.7 as compared to the regional sex ratio of 98.2 (sex ratio is the number of males per 100 females). Again, Table 2.1a shows that Banda District is entirely rural.

Table 2.1a further depicts that the age group 5-9 years, which has the highest population, is made up of 51.7 percent (1,477) males and 48.3 percent (1,380) females, with a sex ratio of 107.0. Furthermore, some age categories have sex ratio above 100 of which age category 95-99 has the highest sex ratio of 162.5. Table 2.1a also shows some age categories with sex ratio below 100 of which age category 90-94 has the least sex ratio of 66.7.

Age-Sex Structure

Age and sex are the most basic characteristics of a population. Effective planning needs to be carried out in order to meet the developmental needs of the people in the Banda District. Knowledge of age and sex structure is fundamental in determining the sort of resources to provide for the people. For instance, with a large proportion of the population belonging to the lower age groups, the provision of more schools will be among the top developmental priorities. Figure 2.1 presents the age-sex composition of the population.

A population pyramid is a graphical representation of the age-sex composition of a population and its shape is influenced by the levels of fertility, mortality and migration. The broadness of the base is determined by the level of fertility, while the shape is determined by mortality and to some extent migration. It is also the graphical representation of age and sex data for the district. From Figure 2.1 which depicts the population pyramid of the Banda District, the proportion of males is less than the proportion of females from age group 0-4 years. There is a sharp decline among females from age groups 10-14 to 15-19 and also there is a sharp decline among the male population from age group 15-19 to 20-24 (depicted by the short bars).

The broad base of the pyramid denotes a youthful population consisting of a large proportion of children under 15 years and a narrow apex comprising a small proportion of elderly persons (65 years and older). This can be seen by a decline in the bars as the population advances in age. Persons in the age cohort 0-14 years represents 41.1 percent, 15-64 years represent 52.8 percent and 65 years and above accounted for 6.1 percent of the total population. This implies that the district has a greater percentage of labour force since a greater fraction of the population can be found in the economically active group.

Age dependency ratio

Table 2.1b depicts that the district has age dependency ratio of 89.3 which is higher than the regional age dependency ratio of 81.3 (GSS, 2013). This means one person in the working group (15-64) takes care of less than one person in the dependent group (0-14 years and 65 years and older). It is essential to note however that, not all those in the working class group are actually working and similarly, not all those in the dependent population especially 65 years and above are actually dependents.

The female age dependency ratio (92.1) is 5.4 percentage points higher than the male ratio of 86.7. Given this low age dependency ratio in the district, less proportion of government expenditure will be required for health, social security and education which are mostly used by the youngest and oldest in the district, that is, 0-14 and 65 and above.

Fertility, Mortality and Migration

Population dynamics of an area is largely affected by three components namely fertility, mortality and migration. Population thus, may increase as a result of in-migration, high fertility and low mortality. On the other hand, it may reduce as a result of out-migration, low fertility and high mortality. In the end, changes in population result from the net effects of these factors.

Fertility

Fertility refers to the number of live births women have and is measured via some indicators including, Total Fertility Rate (TFR), General Fertility Rate (GFR) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR). TFR is the average number of children that would be born to a woman (during her productive age 15-49 years) by the time she ended childbearing if she were to pass through all her childbearing years conforming to the age specific fertility rate of a given year. This is the total number of children a woman would have if the fertility rates for a given year applied to her throughout her reproductive life. GFR on the other hand, refers to the number of live births per 1,000 women aged 15-49 years in a given year whiles CBR refers to the number of live births per 1,000 persons in a given year.

Table 2.2 shows reported total fertility rate, general fertility rate and crude birth rate for the Banda District and Brong Ahafo Region. From Table 2.2, a total of 4,402 representing 21.7 percent of the entire population of the district is females within the reproductive ages of 15-49 years in the district and has a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 3.7. This means that, every woman aged 15-49 years in the district would give birth to 3.7 children throughout their reproductive years. The TFR of 3.7 for the district is higher than the regional average of 3.6 and the national figure of 3.3.

The district has a higher GFR of 107.7 compared to the regional figure of 105.9. However, the district’s CBR of 23.4 is lesser than the regional CBR of 26.3 live births per 1,000 populations.

Children ever born and children surviving

Children Ever Born (CEB) measures the life time and cumulative fertility performance of females in the reproductive age group 15-49 and that of Children Surviving (CS) are all males and females born alive by females aged 12 years and older who are still living. From Table 2.3 a total of 6,523 females aged 12 years and older in the district have 16,794 children surviving out of a total of 22,632 children ever born.

Table 2.3 depicts the children ever born and children surviving by specific age groups. The district child survival rate is 74.2 and that is lower than the regional child survival rate of 86.2. Cohort age group 25-29 has the highest child surviving rate of 86.6 as compared to the regional child survival rate of 91.7. However, that of age group 60 years and above have the least child surviving rate of 59.0 as compared to the regional child survival rate of 74.2.

Mortality

Mortality refers to deaths that occur within a population. While all human beings will eventually die, the probability of dying during a given period is linked to many factors such as age, sex, race, occupation and social class (people having the same social, economic, or educational status). The incidence of death can reveal much about a population’s standard of living and health care.

Table 2.4 shows the total population, deaths in households and crude death rate, in the Banda District and Brong Ahafo Region. Household deaths recorded in the district in 2010 is 191 and 14,189 constituting less than one percent (0.9%) and 0.6 percent of the entire population for the district and region respectively. The crude death rate (CDR) for the district stands at 9.4 per 1,000 persons which is higher compared to the regional figure of 6.1 per thousand of the population.

Figure 2.2 illustrates the reported age-specific death rates by sex in the district in 2010. For both sexes, mortality declines steadily from age 0-4 and reaches a low at age 10-14 for females and 15-19 for males and rises to a peak at age 35-39 for females and 40-44 for males. In all these ages male rates are a little lower than females. From these age groups the rates fluctuate wildly for both sexes, with peaks at age group 50-54 and the highest peak at age 70 and above, and a trough at 55-59 for females, and at 60-64 years and the highest at age 70 and above and a trough at 65-69 for males. Beyond age 65 male rates are significantly higher than females’.

Table 2.5 shows the causes of death in the Banda District and Brong Ahafo Region. A higher proportion of deaths in both the district and region is attributed to deaths due to other causes which accounts for 94.0 percent compared to a regional figure of 91.3 percent. Deaths resulting from accident, violence, homicide and suicide in the district account for about six percent (5.8%) which is lower than the regional average (8.7%).

Migration

A migrant is a person whose current place of residence is different from his or her place of birth or previous place of residence. There are two types of migration, namely internal and external. Internal migration is the movement of people between geographical boundaries (administrative district) within national borders whiles external migration is the movement of people across geographical boundaries outside national borders.

Internal migration can be analysed in terms of intra and inter-regional movements. Intra-regional migration refers to the movement of people between localities within an administrative region (between administrative districts within the same region), while inter-regional migration is the movement of people between different administrative regions of the country. This is measured by information on place of birth as against place of enumeration of migrants. Table 2.6 shows the birthplace by duration of residence of migrants in a total of 3,671 persons enumerated in the district during the 2010 PHC were born outside the district and therefore considered as migrants.


They represent 18.1 percent of the total population in the district relative to 19.7 percent for the Brong Ahafo Region. Also, 38.7 percent of them were born elsewhere in the region. On the other hand, majority (57.0%) of the migrants were born elsewhere in another region in Ghana. The remaining 4.3 percent of the migrants were born outside Ghana. Nearly half of the migrants born in other regions were from the Upper West Region (49.5%), followed by Ashanti Region (15.8%) and the Northern Region (13.8%). The least proportion of migrants in this category were born in the Eastern Region (2.3%).

With the exception of the Central Region, majority of the migrants from all the regions are recent migrants, having lived in the region for less than five years. Migrants from the Volta Region (30.2%) have stayed in the district for 20 years or more, followed by migrants from the Central region (26.8%). The long presence of migrants from these two regions could be related to fishing in the Black Volta and the Volta Lake which is not too far from the district (see Table 2.6).