Introduction

A country’s population composition greatly influences its needs and wellbeing. All levels of policy formulation need information on age and sex composition of the population in planning and development and in provision of services. Population size, composition and age-structures are important in understanding the migration fertility and mortality dynamics. A country’s population composition is the description of the population according to characteristics such as size and age-sex structure. This chapter is aimed at analysing the size, composition and age-sex structure of the population in the District.

Population Size and Distribution

Table 2.1 shows the population of the Nkoranza North District in 2010. The population of the District stands at 65,895. Majority of the population in the district are in the rural areas (81.5%) whilst 18.5 percent live in the urban areas. The concentration of the population in the rural areas can be attributed to the agricultural activities in those areas.

Population distribution by sex

Table 2.1 shows that the District has a sex ratio of 101.9. This means for every 100 females there are approximately 102 males. This is indicates that there are more males (50.5%) than females (49.5%) in the district. The sex ratio for the municipality is above 100 for age groups 0-4 to 15-19, 45-49 to 60-64 and 95-99. All the other age groups have a sex ratio less than 100. The lower sex ratio (85.3%) for age group 30-34 can be attributed to out-migration of males from the municipality.

Age dependency ratio

Table 2.1 also shows the age dependency ratio for the district and for rural and urban localities. The district has a total age dependency of 89.8. This means that a hundred persons in the working age group (15-64) cater for about 90 persons in the dependent age groups (0-14 and 65 years and older). Age dependency ratio is lower in urban 61.2 than in rural areas 81.1, which means that the age dependency burden is heavier in the rural than urban localities.

The age dependency ratio explains the relative predominance of population in terms of dependent ages (persons under 15 years and 65years and older) to those in the productive ages (15-64) years. Table 2.1 also shows the age dependency ratio for the district. The district has a total age dependency ratio of 88.5 which is higher than the regional age dependency ratio of 81 percent.

Table 2.1 further shows that the district has an age dependency ratio of 88.54, implying that 100 persons in the productive age group (15-64) has to care for 88 persons in the dependent age group. The dependency ratio is higher among males (89.13) population than females (87.94) and also higher in the rural areas (90.29) than the urban areas (81.20).

Age-Sex Structure

Figure 2.1, shows the age-sex structure of the population. The pyramid indicates a broad base that gradually tappers off with increasing age. Children under five years (age group 0-4) constitute the larger group forming the base of the pyramid, indicative of a growing population. The population size within the age groups keeps reducing with the advancing age at all ages except 70-74 where the population size increased and started reducing again. There was no reduction in the female population size from age group 0-4 to age group 5-9 as well as the male population size from age group 55-59 to age group 60-64.

While the female population recorded stagnation in size from age group 0-4 to age group 5-9, there was a decline in the male population size. The male population also stagnated from age group 55-59 to age group 60-64. There was also sharp decline in the male population size at age 20-24 and in the female population at age group 15-19.

Fertility, Mortality and Migration

Migration, fertility and mortality are important components of population dynamics. Where vital statistics records are accurate and timely, data on these three variables are used extensively in population estimates during inter censal period.

Fertility

Fertility deals with certain phenomena connected with human childbearing or reproduction, Fertility rate is the number of children born per couple, person or population. There were two types of data that were collected on fertility: lifetime fertility and current fertility. Lifetime fertility refers to the total number of live births to females 12 years and older have during lifetime (children bearing). Current fertility refers to number of births that females 12 to 54 years have in 12 months preceding census night.

Table 2.3 presents reported total fertility rate, general fertility rate and crude birth rate by Districts in Brong Ahafo Region. According to the 2010 PHC, Nkoranza North District has a total fertility rate of 4.41 which is slightly higher than that of the regional figure of 3.58. 12 months prior to census night, there were 129.6 live births per 1000 women age 15 to 49. This is higher than the regional GFR (105.9). The district also has a crude birth rate of 29.1 which is also higher than the regional rate of 26.3.

Table 2.3 discusses female population 12 years and older, children ever born and children surviving by sex. The Table shows that the district has 21,708 females aged 12 years and older.

The district recorded 71,609 children ever born by the female population 12 years and older, of which more than half (50.5%) were males. Majority (19,452) of the children ever born are born to females in age group 60 years and older and the least number of children (8) were ever born to females in the 12-14 age group. Of the children ever born, 60,066 are surviving. More males (30,058) survived than females (30,008). All the children ever born to females in age-group 12-14 are surviving.

Mortality

Mortality refers to all deaths that occurred in the household during the 12 months preceding the census night. The report presents information on deaths due to accidents, violence, homicide and suicide. In addition, data were collected on pregnancy-related deaths of females 12-54 years. Table 2.4 presents information on the total population, death in households and crude death rate in Nkoranza North District. Crude death rate is the number of deaths per 1000 in a given year. The table shows that, deaths occurred in 627 households in the district as compared to deaths occurring in 14,189 household in the region. The crude death rate is high in the district (9.67) than the rate for the region (6.14).

Table 2.5 shows the causes of death by district in Brong Ahafo. The total number of deaths occurring in the District is 637 as against 14,189 deaths in the region.. It can be observed from the table that deaths that occurred in the district as a result of accident/violence/homicide/suicide is lower (4.7%) than the region (8.7). On the other hand, the proportion of deaths as a result of all other causes is higher (95.3) in the district than the region (91.3).

Figure 2.2 presents age specific death rates by sex in the District. The male death rate is higher for under five years than the female in the same age group. There are no differences in the proportion of specific death rate from age 5-9 years and 10-14 years for male and female. The male and female death rate starts increasing gradually above the male death rate from 15-19 years until 35-39 years where both peaked but the female death rate continued to be higher. At ages 40-44, female death rate falls sharply below the male deaths but the male death rate starts increasing from 60 years and older.

Migration

Migration is the physical movement of people from one place to another. The place of birth and enumeration in a census are important for understanding the internal movements of the population in any District. A migrant, therefore, is a person whose current usual place of residence is different from his/her place of birth. People migrate either within or from one region to another for variety of reasons such as economic and educational opportunities. The 2010 PHC information regarding usual place of residence and current residence as well as place of enumeration are used to discuss migration issues.

Table 2.6 presents information on migrants by birth place and duration of residence. The highest number of migrants born elsewhere in another region come from Upper West region (5,563) followed by Northern (3304) and Upper East regions (1165). Apart from the three northern regions, Ashanti region is next with (1,159) migrants, with Central region recording the lowest (124). The table also shows that 217 migrants were born outside Ghana but were enumerated in the district.

The total number of migrants in the district is 17,876 with 20.4 percent residing in the district from 10-19 years while 22.4 percent stayed for 20 years and over. The number of migrants who were born elsewhere in the region is 5,634 with 32.4 percent of them living in the district from 1-4 years. Low proportion (12.6%) has stayed for less than one year.