Introduction

An important characteristic of a population is its age-sex structure. All demographic trends are influenced by age and sex. An understanding the age and sex structure of a population provides insights into changing population composition and highlights social and economic challenges. Government uses information on age and sex composition of the population in planning and provision of services. This chapter presents information on the population size, age and sex composition of Awutu Senya West District in 2010.

Population size and distribution

The District has a total population of 86,884, accounting for 3.9 percent of the population in Central Region. About 47.1 percent (40,903) of the population are males while 52.9 percent (45,981) are females. The District depicts a highly youthful population. The proportion of the population below 15 years is 41.7 percent compared to the regional average of 39.5 percent. The District has a sex ratio of 89.0 meaning there are about 89 males for every 100 females in the population. The proportion of the population living in urban areas is 48 percent compared to 52 percent in the rural areas.

Dependency ratio

The dependency ratio which measures the ratio of dependent population (population aged under 15 years and above 64 years) to population in the “working-age group” (population aged 15-64 years) is one of the key indicators of socioeconomic development. Generally the ratio is high in developing regions of the world than developed regions, reflecting demographic experiences of the two regions. Table 2.1 further provides information on dependency ratios for Awutu Senya West District. The district total age dependency of 85.5 dependents (child and old age) to 100 working population is quite high. The dependency ratio is relatively high for the male population (90.9) than the female population (80.9).

Age-sex structure

The shape of a population pyramid provides important information about population composition. The age-sex structure of the population in the District is presented in Figure 2.1. The District depicts a typical youthful population. The pyramid has a broad base and dwindles towards the apex indicating the high youthful population. The likely future effect would be a higher tendency of experiencing higher population growth than it is currently all things being equal.

Fertility, Mortality and Migration

Fertility, mortality and migration are the three components of population change that determine the size, age-sex composition and distribution of the population at a particular point in time. Data on these three components are critical for planning the overall socioeconomic development of the district. The objective of this section of the report is to provide analysis of fertility, mortality and migration patterns in the district using data from the 2010 population and housing census.

Fertility

Measures of fertility are important in determining the size and structure of the population. Information on fertility in the district is therefore critical for the management of the population for social and economic development. This section reports on fertility levels in the district. Two types of fertility measures are used to examine levels of fertility in the district.

These are current fertility measures and cumulative fertility measures. Current fertility measures such as total fertility rate (TFR) are based on data covering a short period of time such as a year ( in the case of population censuses) or five years (in surveys), while cumulative measures such as mean children ever born are based on retrospective fertility data covering women’s reproductive performance over their lifetime.

The most commonly used measures of current fertility are the total fertility rate (TFR). It is defined as the number of children a woman would have by the end of her childbearing years if she were to experience the currently observed age-specific fertility rates. A total of 2,496 births occurred in the district in the 12 months preceding the census. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for the district is 3.9, which is higher than the regional average of 3.6.

This means that a woman living in the district would have, on average, 3.9 children at the end of her reproductive period (15-49 years) if the current age specific fertility rates continue to prevail. The General Fertility Rate which indicates the number of births per 1,000 women of reproductive age (15-49 years) is 114.8 compared to the regional average of 105.3. Similarly, Awutu Senya West District’s Crude Birth Rate of 28.7 per 1,000 populations is higher than that of the regional average at 26.5 per 1,000 populations.

Children Ever Born and Children Surviving

It is interesting to note that child bearing starts as early as ages 12-14 with children ever born to this age bracket in the Awutu Senya West District being eight for children ever born and six children surviving. The number of children ever born to females 12 years and older increases progressively from eight for the youthful ages 12-19 years to 10,387 in the mid ages 40-44. Children surviving refer to the number of children ever born alive to female population 12 years and older and were living as at the time of the enumeration. The table shows that 73,667 out of 89,025 children ever born are surviving. This is made up of 36,109 males and 37,558 females.

Mortality

Information on mortality rates helps to determine natural population decreases and its effect on population growth. This section discusses the number of deaths recorded in households in the 2010 Population and Housing Census in the Awutu Senya West District.  A total of 653 deaths were recorded in households over the last 12 months preceding the census night in the District representing 3.9 percent of the entire region. The crude death rate, which is the number of deaths per 1000 of the population in the district, is 7.5. This implies that 7 out of 1000 persons died over the past 12 months before the census night.

Age specific death rates

Mortality rate is a measure of the number of death (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time.  Generally, mortality is high at birth for earlier ages of life, reduces sharply from age 0-4 to 5-9 years and remain stably low till ages 30-34 years for both sexes years and thereafter begins to increase for older ages with the rate of increase becoming very high from age 45 and above.

From under 5 and age 5-9, death rate among the females and males are almost the same and almost remain equal till age 35-39 years. Thereafter, death rate among males is relatively high than females males till ages 55-59 years when they are at par. Death rates after ages 55-59 are higher for males than females.

Migration

Migration refers to change in usual place of residence. A migrant is therefore defined as a person whose usual place of residence is different from his/her place of birth or previous residence. The importance of measuring migration lies in its impact on the population size, structure and distribution in the district. 

Migration is difficult to measure due to its repetitiveness and difficulty in establishing direction and permanency of the event. Nevertheless census information on birthplace and duration of residence is used to discuss migration patterns in the district. At the district level, migration may involve the movement of people between the district and other localities in the Central Region (intra-regional migration) or the movement of people between the district and other regions in Ghana.

Table 2.5 shows the birthplace of migrants and the period over which they have resided in the District. There are a total of 25,312 migrants in the District forming 29.1 percent of the population of the District. The analysis looked at the duration of residence of the various migrant groups in the District. The largest proportion (26.7%) is residents between 1-4 years while the lowest proportion of migrants (15 percent) has resided in the District between 5-9 years. 

Analysis of the origins of migrants born in other regions into the district shows those migrants from Greater Accra, Volta and Eastern Regions have the highest proportions in the total population. Migrants from the Upper East and Upper West regions have the least duration of residence among those who have been in the District for 20 years and more. Interestingly, the District has migrants from outside Ghana making up 1,338 out of the total population of migrants.