Introduction

Population size, composition and age-sex structure are important characteristics that have many social and economic implications. Population size and composition influence the District’s potential human resource requirement and level of provision of social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals/clinics and housing. 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 socio-economic development of the District. This chapter presents information of the population size and distribution, age-sex structure, migration, fertility, and mortality patterns in the District.

 Population Size and Distribution

Table 2.1 presents information on population distribution, sex ratio, age-sex structure and dependency ratio. The Table shows that the total population of the District is 36,391 with 17,800 males representing 49.0 percent and 18,591 females representing 51.0 percent. This means that there are more females than males in the District.

Population Distribution

Table 2.1 further shows that the District is wholly rural in nature with no urban locality. This means that by Statistical Service classification no locality in the District has a population of up to 5,000 persons.

Sex Ratio

The sex composition of a population is influenced largely by the sex ratio at birth (ratio of male births to female births) as well as sex differences in death rates and migration. The sex ratio is defined as the number of males per 100 females. The sex ratio for the District is 95.7 males per 100 females. This means that for every 100 females in the population there are about 96 males. The sex ratio is higher for males to 24 years and progressively reduces from age 25 to 64 years

Age-Dependency Ratio

Sex Ratio

The sex composition of a population is influenced largely by the sex ratio at birth (ratio of male births to female births) as well as sex differences in death rates and migration. The sex ratio is defined as the number of males per 100 females. The sex ratio for the District is 95.7 males per 100 females. This means that for every 100 females in the population there are about 96 males. The sex ratio is higher for males to 24 years and progressively reduces from age 25 to 64 years (Table 2.1).

Dependency Ratio

The dependency ratio is one of the key indicators of socio-economic development. The age-dependency ratio is the ratio of the dependent-age population (those under age 15 and ages 65 and older) to the working-age population (15 to 64 years). The age-dependency ratio is often used as an indicator of the economic burden the productive portion of a population must carry. Countries with very high birth rates usually have the highest age-dependency ratios because of the large proportion of children in the population. Table 2.1 presents the dependency ratios for both sexes in the District. The District dependency ratio is about 72 dependents (children and the aged) for every 100 working age group compared to the regional average of 81 dependents (child and old age) for every 100 working age group.

Age-Sex Structure

The age structure and sex composition of the population of the District follow the regional and national pattern. The age structure is broad at the base and reduces gradually in the succeeding age groups until the population becomes relatively small at the top.

again depicts the age-sex structure of the population in the District. This age structure is the result of past fertility, mortality and migration in the District. It is in the form of a pyramid, with broad base of the younger population and a narrow apex of the older population. With increasing age, the age-sex structure looks slightly thinner for the males than for the females, indicating that at older ages, the proportion of males is lower than that of females. There are more females than males for all age groups in the District except for 10-14 and 15-19 age groups. The Table also shows that high proportion of the population in the District are found in 0-19 year age group indicating that the population in the District has the potential to grow for a considerable number of years. This has implications for the economic development of the District.

 Population Pyramid

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, migration and coverage and content errors such as digit preference and exaggeration of age. The broadness of the base is determined by the level of fertility, while the shape is determined by mortality and to some extent migration.

Figure 2.1 depicts the age-sex structure of the population of the District. It is in the form of a pyramid, with broad base of the younger population and a narrow apex of persons in the older ages. With increasing age, the age-sex structure looks slightly thinner for the males than for the females, indicating that in older ages, the proportion of males is smaller than that of females.

Mortality and Migration

Fertility, mortality and migration are principal determinants of population growth (or its inverse) at a particular point in time. Data on these three components are critical for planning the overall socio-economic development of the District. Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is the average number of children that would be born to a woman by the time she ended childbearing if she was to pass through all her child bearing years conforming to the age-specific fertility rates of a given year. Crude birth rate indicates the number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year. General Fertility Rate is the number of live births per 1,000 women ages 15-49 in a given year.

Migration

Fertility, mortality and migration are principal determinants of population growth (or its inverse) at a particular point in time. Data on these three components are critical for planning the overall socio-economic development of the District. Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is the average number of children that would be born to a woman by the time she ended childbearing if she was to pass through all her child bearing years conforming to the age-specific fertility rates of a given year. Crude birth rate indicates the number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year. General Fertility Rate is the number of live births per 1,000 women ages 15-49 in a given year.

Out of 5,420 are migrants in the district, 68.6 percent were born elsewhere in the Volta region, 14.8 percent was born elsewhere in another region and 16.6 percent were born outside Ghana. Migrants from the Upper East Region are the least (0.3%) in the District. The data shows that 20.2 percent of the migrants have been in the District for 20 years or more and about 31 percent have been in the District for 1-4 years. Sixteen percent have lived in the District for between 5 to 9 years.