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 focuses on an analysis of the population size and its distribution, age-sex structure, Migration, Fertility and Mortality of the Karaga district based on the 2010 Population and Housing Census (PHC) of Ghana.

Population size and distribution

Table 2.1 shows the population of Karaga District in 2010. The population of the District stands at 77,706. The distribution of the population by sex indicates that the male population is 37,336 and the female population is 40,370 for all ages. Majority of the population in the district are in the rural areas whilst 18 the rest 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 indicates that the district has a male population of 37,336 and a female population of 40,370 for all ages, thus, giving a sex ratio of 92.5. That means the number of males to every 100 females is 93 in the district. This means that there are more women than men in the Karaga district. In addition, the age groups of 25-29 and 95-99 have the lowest and highest sex ratios of 64.3 and 165.6 respectively.

Age dependency ratio

The 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 103.7. This means that a hundred persons in the working age group (15-64) cater for about 104 persons in the dependent age groups (0-14 and 65 years and older). .. Table 2.1 further indicates that the male age-dependency ratio of 115.2 was higher than the female (94.2) while rural age-dependency ratio of 106.1 was higher than that of the urban (94.8). The high age-dependency ratio of 103.8 in the district is due to the large proportion of children within the 0-14 age rang.

Age-sex structure

Figure 2.1 shows the the age-sex structure of the population n of Karaga district. The pyramid indicates a broad base that gradually tappers off with increasing age. The results further shows that the district population is largely youthful consisting of a large proportion between 0-4 to 30-34 age groups and a small proportion of elderly persons, that is, 65 years and older.

Sex ratio

The 2.1 indicates that the district has a male population of 37,336 and a female population of 40,370 for all ages, thus, giving a sex ratio of 92.5. That means the number of males to every 100 females is 93 in the district. This means that there are more women than men in the Karaga district. In addition, the age groups of 25-29 and 95-99 have the lowest and highest sex ratios of 64.3 and 165.6 respectively.

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. This section discusses the total fertility rate, general fertility rate and crude birth rate and migration districts in the Northern Region.

Fertility

Table 2.2 shows that the region has a total fertility rate of 3.54 children per woman during their child-bearing years, that is, about 4 children per woman. Savelugu/Nanton and Kpandai districts have the highest total fertility rates in the region (4.33 each), which is above the regional average of 3.54 children per woman during their child-bearing years, while Zabzugu/Tatali has the least of 2.88 children per woman. The Karaga district on the other hand recorded the second lowest total fertility rate in the region of 2.90.

The general fertility rate (also called the fertility rate) is the number of live births per 1,000 women within the age range of 15-49 in a given year (Arthur and Thomas, 2004). Table 2.2 shows the general fertility rate for the twenty-six stands at 101.9 births per 1000 women. Saboba district has the highest general fertility rate of 128.9 births per 1000 women, followed closely by Chereponi with 128.3 births per 1000 women, both of which are above the regional rate of 101.9 births per 1000 women. Tamale Metropolis had the lowest general fertility rate of 85 births per 1000 women.

Karaga placed second lowest with 86.8 births per 1000 women. Tamale metropolis has the lowest general fertility rate probably because of the urbanised nature of the district which exposes women to better family planning methods due to the availability of better health facilities. Another reason may be involvement of many urban women in full or part time jobs which do not allow them give birth frequently. 17

The crude birth rate (also called birth rate) indicates the number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year. Table 2.2 shows that the region has a crude birth rate of 24 births per 1000 population. Saboba district has the highest birth rate of 28.5 per 1000 population which is above the regional rate of 24 births per 1000 population, followed closely by Chereponi (28.0 births per 1000 population), while Zabzugu/Tatali district had the lowest of 18.8 per 1000 population.

Table 2.3 shows the female population 12 years and older by age, children ever born, children surviving and sex of child/children. The number of children ever born to female population 12 years and older in the district is 65,358 of which males constitute the majority. The age goup that recorded the least number of children is 12-14 years age group. Out of these children ever born to females 12 years and older 53,595 are surviving.

Age group 12-14 has the least number of children surviving for both sexes. This could be due to the fact that age groups 12-14 are too young to marry and bear children.

Mortality

Table 2.4 shows that there are 14,715 deaths in households in the region, and about six crude death rates per 1000 population in the region as per the 2010 Population and Housing Census. Marked variations, however, exist in the number of deaths in households and crude death rate among the various districts in the region.

Tamale metropolis recorded the highest number of deaths in households (2104) and followed by Savelugu/Nanton with1413 deaths) with Saboba recording the lowest deaths of 235 in the region. However, Karaga recorded deaths in 501 households with a crude rate of 6.45 per 1000 population. The district, however, placed seventh (501 deaths) out of the 20 district.

The data indicated that the region had about six crude death rate per 1000 population. Savelug/Nanton has the highest crude death rate per 1000 population, followed by Tolon/Kumbungu(7.52), West Mamprusi (7.33) with Zabzugu/Tatali having the lowest(3.28).

Table 2.5 shows the causes of death by district in Northern Region. The total number of deaths occurring in the Karaga District is 501. The Table shows that deaths that occurred in the district as a result of accident/violence/homicide/suicide is 2.7 percent of all deaths in the District.

Figure 2.2 presents age specific death rates by sex in the District. The figure shows that for all age groups females have higher mortality rates than males. The age specific death rates for females declines sharply from under five to the 15-19 years and gradually rises again for all females 19 years and older. On the other hand the age specific death rates for males stabilises after recording higher under five mortality rate.

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.

Table 2.5 shows that the district has a total number of migrants born outside of the district as 11,178 representing 14.3% of the population. Migrants who had lived in the district between a period of 1-4 years recorded the highest percentage of 25.7 percent. Those migrants who stayed less than a year are the least. .

Also, the data shows that the number of migrants born elsewhere but in the Northern Region is 8,781, representing 11.3 percent of the district population, with migrants who lived in the district between a period of 1-4 years recording the highest percentage of 25.4.

Table 2.5 shows that the Upper East region had the highest (621) number of migrants born elsewhere, that is, in another region, with the duration of residence of less than one year being the highest. The large numbers of migrants from the Upper East could be as a result of the relative availability of farm lands and farming activities in the district.

The data shows that a total 1,213 migrants were born outside of Ghana with the duration of residence of between 1-4 years being the highest. Also, the relatively large numbers of migrants born outside of Ghana in the district could be due to the presence of Fulani herdsmen from neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso in the district with their animals.