Introduction

Changes in population are mainly through fertility, mortality and migration levels that affect the population size and age-sex composition. The 2010 Census, like all other Censuses undertaken in the country, is a "de facto" count of each person present in Ghana irrespective of nationality. The objective of this chapter is to analyse the size, composition, and age and sex structure of the District’s Census results.

Population Size and Distribution

The population of Amansie West District is 134,331 representing 2.8 percent of the population of Ashanti Region. The male and female populations stand at 50.2 and 49.8 percent respectively. Table 2.1 shows that the population of the District is more rural than urban in nature as 95.6 percent of the population live in rural localities as against 3.4 percent in urban.

Age-Sex Structure

Figure 2.1 shows the population pyramid of the District. A population pyramid is a graphical display of population age and sex composition. The horizontal bars represent the number of males and females in each age group. The pyramid has a broad base and a narrow top indicating that the District has a youthful population structure. The structure of the population shows that of a high dependency ratio with 84.9 percent of people in ages of 0- 14 years. The population consists of a large proportion of children under 15 years, and a small proportion of elderly persons (65 years and older). The age structure of the District’s population is basically influenced by the effects of high fertility and decreasing mortality rate. The age band 70-74, which is higher than its preceding age group indicates a likelihood of age misreporting. This is because along the population pyramid, the size of the age cohorts tails off per advancing age in all cases except the age 70-74 year group.

Unlike the National and Regional population characteristics in which females out number their male counterparts, the population dynamics of the Amansie West District indicate that the male population is slightly higher than the females. The sex ratio is 101 males to every 100 females but with higher sex ratio in the age groupings of 5-9, 10-14, 15-19, 40- 44 and 55-59 representing 106.1, 108.7 106.7, 106.9 and 110.1 respectively. However, in the age group of 75 years and above the sex ratio is 52 and has been decreasing steadily to 3 in the age group of 95-99. The age dependency ratio is the ratio of persons in the "dependent" ages (generally under 15 years and over 65 years) to those in the "economically productive" age band (15- 64 years) in a population. The structure also depicts that of an increasing population with its associated socio-economic, cultural, social and political problems that need urgent attention by policy makers and other stakeholders.

Fertility, Mortality and Migration

Differences in the rate of migration, fertility and mortality are important for socio-economic planning and policy formulation. In developing countries like Ghana, where there is no up to date information on population statistics, population censuses provide more comprehensive data on fertility, mortality and migration. Data on birthplace and place of enumeration provide information on population movements. The 2010 census collates data on the duration of residence in the place of enumeration which makes it easier to study the movement of people over time.

Fertility

Fertility refers to the actual birth performance that is frequency or childbearing among a population and denotes the physiological capacity of a woman, man or couple to reproduce (International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, 1982). The crude birth rate (CBR) is defined as 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 the age groups 15-44 and 15-49. This analysis used women between15 and 49 years because women still have births after age 45. 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 usually calculated for 5-year age groups from 15-19 years to 45-49 years. The total fertility rate (TFR) which is widely 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 woman died during the childbearing years. In other words, it is the average number of children a woman will have given birth 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 (modern and traditional). Table 2.3 indicates that the total fertility rate for the District is 4.25, the General fertility is 129.7 and the crude birth rate is 30.8. The District has a high fertility rate when compared with the regional figures of 3.26 total fertility rate, 96.4 general fertility rate and 26 crude birth rate.

Table 2.4 shows that the female population age 12 years and older is 44,467. The average number of children ever born to this female population is 3 children per every woman respectively. The average number of children surviving is 2.6. The number of children who die during the last twelve months prior to census night is 18,635. The data further indicate that the 60 years and above age group has the highest average number of children ever born 19 (6.8) and children surviving (5.1). The age groups with lowest average of children ever born and children surviving are 15-19, 20-24 and 25-29.

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 analyses of potential growth of population and construction of 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. Results from mortality analyses underpin disease control programmes and in identifying viable health and related programmes which advance human survival. Table 2.5 indicates that the crude death rate in the region is 5.85 percent and that of Amansie West is 7.12 percent, relatively higher that the regional figure. Causes of death due to accident/violence/ homicide/suicide account for 11.9 percent of the total regional deaths. Unlike the regional figure that of the Amansie West account for 11.8 percent of total deaths in District. The data further reveal that 88.2 percent account for all other causes of death in the District while 88.1 percent account for the same causes of death in the Region.

Death rates are calculated for specific age groups in order to compare mortality at different ages or at the same age over time. The Age Specific Death Rates (ASDRs) are computed as a ratio of deaths of people in a specified age group, for example the ASDR of 20-24 year-age is calculated by taking the deaths among the 20-24 year-age group and dividing it by the population in that age group (20-24 years), multiplied by 1,000.

Figure 2.1 provide information on age specific death rates. The data show that death rates for males and females are higher in ages under five years but lowest at ages 5-14 years. The death rates start rising at ages 20-24 with more females than males and intensifies with increase in age until 40-44 years. Between ages 15-34 (the reproductive period), ASDRs for females are higher than males and this may be attributed to maternal mortality. ASDRs for males are higher at ages 60 years and older than females and this is an indication of a lower life expectancy for males compared to females. Additionally, at ages 50 years and older, differences between male and female ASDRs are very high compared with the lower age groups.

Causes of deaths in District

The causes of death in the region is analyzed using information from the district level and this is presented in Table 2.6. Amansie West district 957 deaths and these deaths are attributed to accidents/Violence 113, all other deaths 844, with pregnancy related deaths being 29 and non-pregnancy related deaths as 928. This means that deaths occurring from pregnancy related causes are low compared to those coming from non-pregnancy related matters.

Migration

Migration is the movement of people from one geographical territory to another over a given period. In a broader sense; it is a socio-economic phenomenon which comes as a result of complex mechanisms involving social, psychological, 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. These movements are often monitored and analysed for specific purposes. The duration of stay distinguishes the temporary stay from a short stay. However, when such mobility involves a permanent sojourn in the place of destination, it is considered as migration. Migration is therefore defined as a geographical movement involving a change from a usual place of residence over a defined territory beyond a defined period (United Nations, 2012?).

Table 2.7 shows birthplace by duration of residence of migrants. The number of migrants, who were enumerated in the Amansie West District on census night (26th September, 2010) is 35,095. About 21.1 percent equivalents to 18,471 were born in the same region but leaving elsewhere other than their places of birth in the same region. The Upper East, Brong Ahafo, Western and Northern Regions are relatively large in migrant areas in the District, recording 3,694, 2,441, 2,301 and 2,275 people respectively. The least in migrant areas, Greater Accra and Volta regions recorded 442 and 668 persons respectively. About 3.4 percent of persons who have stayed in for 1-4 years were born outside Ghana.