Introduction

It is always imperative that size, composition and distribution of any population be analyzed to facilitate development planning, programme and policy implementation. The changes in a particular population are mainly through fertility, mortality and migration levels which, to a large extent, are influenced by age-sex composition.

With the current decentralized governance system and administration of planning in Ghana, it will be desirable that statistics be provided on the size, growth as well as spatial distribution, patterns and trends of the population. This chapter is on the demographic characteristics of the population of the Nanumba North District, including the population size, and distribution, composition, age and sex structure, fertility, mortality and migration. This is based on data from the 2010 Population and Housing Census of Ghana.

Population Size and Distribution

Population size and age-sex composition have broad ranging consequences for a number of socio-economic indicators such as the distribution of resources and welfare of the people. Changes in a district’s population are mainly through fertility, mortality and migration levels, which to a large extent, are influenced by age-sex composition. The 2010 Census, like all other Censuses undertaken in the country, was a "de facto" count of each person present in Ghana irrespective of nationality.

 Age and Sex Structure

Table 2.1 shows the population distribution by age, sex and type of locality. It presents two aspects of the analysis: 1) the five-year age cohorts by sex and type of locality and 2) the working class and dependents.

From the table, the Nanumba North district has a total population of 141, 584, with females representing 50.6 percent and males 49.4 percent. The corresponding sex ratio (males to 100 females) in the district is 97.8, which implies that there are approximately 98 males for every 100 females in the population. Out of the total population, 28.3 percent are urban dwellers with majority (71.7%) of the people residing in rural areas.

Less than half (48.3%) of the population are in the working age group, with 51.7 percent in age groups 0-14 years and 65 years and older. The dependency ratio is thus, 106.8. This means that there are approximately 107 dependents for every 100 working people in the in the district. With regards to dependency by sex, the ratio of males stand at 113.1 and that of females is 101.1, indicating a higher dependency ratio among males than females.

Dependency ratio by locality shows that, rural areas appear to have more dependents as compared to the urban areas as depicted from Table 2.1. It can be seen that, in the rural areas, 100 people in the working age group have 116.4 to take care of, while the figures is 86.1 for urban areas.

Population Pyramid

The youthful structure of Ghana’s population is reflected in the Nanumba North District (Table 2.2). The structure of the population, though, has undergone changes over the years but still has a broad base consisting of large numbers of children and a conical top of a small number of elderly persons. This is pictorially presented in Figure 2.1

Migration

Table 2.5 shows that the district has a migrant population of 12,999. Out of this, 16.6 percent have resided in the district for less than a year, and 23.8 percent have resided in the district for 20 years and above. Regarding birth place, those born elsewhere in the region are more (10,206), out of which (25.1%) resided in the district for 20 years and over, a considerable percentage (23.0%) resided in the district for 10-19 years. , 1-4 years (20.0%) and least (15.5%), 5-9 years.

With the population born elsewhere in different regions the Volta region dominates with 722, out of which (20.6%) have been resident in the district for 20 years or more, perhaps due to the closeness of the district to the Volta region. This is followed by residents less than one year and they account for (24.8%) and those who have stayed for at least 5-9 years were (15.4%).

The Brong Ahafo region is the place of birth of the next largest proportion of persons born (523), elsewhere in a different region that are resident in the district. The least of the regional migrants is from the Western region with 20 people, out of which 35.0% have been residen for 10-19 years and the proportion resident for less than one year and 20+ years constitute the least percentage (10.0%).

Residents born outside Ghana have a share of 694 of the population, out of which the largest percentage (31.0%) have been resident for 1-4 years and the least percentage (7.1%) are those who have been resident for less than one year

Generally, it can be concluded that ranging from all birth places, the 20+ year duration has greater share of the population comparable to other categorized durations.