Introduction

The social characteristics considered in this chapter are household size, composition, headship and sex. Marital status of persons aged 12 years and older by sex and educational level are also discussed. Data on the distribution of households are needed for planning social services in health, education and housing. Religious affiliations, nationality and literacy are also considered in this chapter.

Household Size, Composition and Headship

Household Size

Table 3.1 shows household size by locality type. It shows that, the district has a household population of 36,431; also the average household size for the district is 6 as compared to the region which is 5.9. This shows that, there is no much difference between the district and the region. The Table further reveals that, the average household per house for the district is 1.8.

 Household composition

The composition of a traditional Ghanaian household comprises the head, spouse, children, in-laws, siblings, other relatives and non-relatives. Table 3.2 shows household composition and sex. The total number of people is 36,431 in the Builsa South District. Children constitute about half (48.9%) of household members in the district. The least in the household population composition is adopted/foster children (0.1%).

 Household Population by Structure

Table 3.3 shows household population by structure and sex. Household structure presented in this section refers to the type of relationship among household members. The data show that the extended household (comprising both parents and children and head’s relatives) is the most prevalent type in the district representing 46.2 percent followed by the nuclear family (Head, spouses and children (24.1%). The third type is single parenthood (23.7%) comprising single parent nuclear (8.0%), single parent extended (13.1 %) and single parent non-relative (0.6%).

Marital Status

Although in Ghana the legal age of marriage is 16 years, marital status was asked of persons aged 12 years and older because of “the practice in some parts of the country where as young as 12 years old could be given in marriage(Ghana Statistical Service, 2002). Figure 3.1 shows the population of persons aged 12 years and older by marital status. Nearly 54 percent are married, 34.4 percent have never married, while 2.1 percent are divorced.

Marital status and age

Table 3.4 shows persons aged 12 years and older by sex, age-group and marital status. From Table 3.4, the total number of those aged 12 years and older is 24,238. The majority of the population in the age cohort 12-14 (94.6%) have never married and it is interesting to note that the proportion of the never married declines with increasing age. The converse situation is observed with the proportion married increases with age and stabilizes within 40-44 year age group before starting to decline.

The incidence of divorced is seen to be high among people in the age group 40-44 (4.5%) as compared with that of the other age cohorts. A higher proportion of males aged12 years and older have never married (41.7%) as compared with that of their female counterparts (27.6%). 28

As expected, widowhood starts ascending at age 40-44. The general trend also shows that there are many widowed females than males. The difference could be attributed to high proportion of many males remarrying than females at older ages or older men marrying very young women.

The trend also shows that, divorce and separation among males and females tend to increase with age (40-44) and starts to decrease at around age 50 years age groups.

Marital status and education

Table 3.5 shows the proportion of persons aged 12 years and older by sex, marital status and level of education. From the table, 28.3 percent of persons aged 12 years and older have basic education and 65.2 percent have no education.

As expected, about 56.1 percent of persons aged 12 years and older who have never been married are in basic school and only about 12.1 percent have attained higher levels of education above basic level. It is also evident from Table 3.5 that less than 1.0 percent of the female in all the categories attained tertiary education. 29

Marital status and economic activity

Table 3.6 shows marital status by economic activity among the population aged 12 years and older in the Builsa South District. Economic activity status is grouped into economically active (Employed and unemployed) and economically not active. About 67.9 percent of those aged 12 years and older are economically active and the 32.1 percent are economically not active.

Of those who are never married, about 45.2 percent are employed as compared with 2.4 percent unemployed and 52.4 percent are economically not actives. About eighty percent (80.1%) of those reported to be married are employed, 2.4 percent are unemployed and 17.3 percent are economically not active. Similarly a good majority of the separated (75.9%) and the divorced (82.7%) are reported to be employed. About half (50.7%) of the widowed are economically not active while 48.3 percent employed.

Nationality

The nationality of every person was asked in the country at the census night. Nationality is defined as the country to which a person belongs. Ghanaian nationals are classified as Ghanaian by birth and by naturalization during the 2010 PHC. Table 3.7 shows the population by nationality and sex.

Table 3.7 shows that Ghanaians by births represents 96.1 percent. Dual nationality represents 1.6 percent. This means that Ghanaians constituting about 96.1 percent of the district population.

ECOWAS nationals constitute 0.8 percent of the population of the district and other nationals only about 0.5 percent.

Religious Affiliation

Table 3.8 shows the population by religion and sex in the district. From the table, the most widely practiced religious denomination is the Traditional African Religion with 56.4 percent. The followers of Pentecostal or the Charismatic religion constitute 11.7 percent, followed by Catholics 10.1 percent and Protestants with 9.8 percent. The percentage of other Christian group is 5.2 percent, followed by Islam with 5.1 percent and persons who do not adhere to any faith representing 1.2 percent.

INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Introduction

Information Communication Technologies (ICT) have become important tools in today’s knowledge-based information society and economy. The role of ICT in an emerging economy such as Ghana’s, has been widely recognized at various levels. The recognition is reflected in actions such as the development and deployment of a national ICT infrastructure, institutional and regulatory framework for managing the sector, promoting the use of ICT in education the implementation of e-Governance in government institutions and the construction of a National Data Centre as well as regional and district Innovation Centres.

The 2010 Population and Housing Census sought information from persons aged 12 years and older on the ownership of mobile phones, usage of desktop and laptop computers and internet facilities by individuals and households. This chapter presents information on ownership and usage of information, communication and technology in the Builsa South District.

Ownership of Mobile Phones

The ownership of communication equipment like mobile phone will facilitate communication among families, friends and businesses.

Table 5.1 gives information on population 12 years and older by mobile phone ownership and sex. The table shows that there are a total of 3,251 mobile phone owners in the district. This constitutes 13.4 percent of the population 12 years and older. About 16.4 percent and 10.6 percent of the male and female population 12 years older respectively own mobile phones.

Use of Internet

The introduction of internet has brought the world closure by ensuring that one can access the world from the comfort of his/her room. Internet has made it possible for anyone at any part of the world to view the other part with ease.

Table 5.1 also presents information on population aged 12 years and older by internet facility usage and sex. Out of the total population of 24, 238 aged, 12 years and older who answered the question on internet facility usage, only 0.5 percent use the internet with 0.7 percent and 0.4 percent of the male and female population respectively using internet facility. As a whole, it can be concluded from the table that, internet use is very low in the district.

Household ownership of desktop/laptop computer

The ownership of computers by household will go a long way to enhance academic performance among adults and students. This will facilitate easy access to relevant academic literature. It will also enhance self-exploit with the use of the internet. Table 5.2 presents information on households having desktop/ laptop computers by sex of household head. The total number of 6,043 households which responded to the question of owing desktop/laptop computers and only 0.6 percent of them own desktop/laptop computers, 0.5 percent of the male population and 0.6 percent of females own desktop/laptop computer.

Access to Utilities and Household Facilities

Main source of lighting of dwelling

The source of lighting a household uses is one of the indicators of quality of life. As society progresses the source of lighting shifts from use of low quality sources such as firewood to more efficient ones such as electricity. Figure 8.1 represents the main source of lighting of dwelling units in the district. The three main sources of lighting in the households are flashlight and solar representing (49.4%), kerosene and gas lamps (41.7%), electricity (6.7%) and other sources such as fire wood, candle, crop residue etc. representing 2.2 percent.

Source of energy for cooking

Table 8.9 displays the source of cooking fuel, and cooking space used by households. The three main sources of energy for cooking are firewood (89.5%), charcoal (6.6%) and gas representing (0.9%). Firewood (89.5%) remains the main source of cooking fuel in rural localities.

Dwelling facilities: cooking space

In Table 8.9, about 69.5 percent dwelling units in the district have a space for cooking that is separate for exclusive use of households. The proportion of the households that use verandah as a cooking space constitutes 4.6 percent.

As presented in Table 8.8, the proportion of dwelling units in district with enclosure without roof is 13.2 percent and separate rooms for cooking is 0.7 percent.