Introduction

This chapter discusses the socio-cultural characteristics of Mpohor District as captured by the 2010 PHC. Issues discussed in the chapter encompass household composition and structure, marital status, nationality, religious affiliation, literacy and education.

Household Size, Composition and Structure

A household is defined as a person or group of persons who live together in the same house or compound, share housekeeping arrangements and are catered for as one unit (GSS 2013). The composition of a traditional Ghanaian household comprises the head, spouse, children, in-laws, siblings, other relatives and non-relatives.

Household size

Household size refers to the total number of persons in a household irrespective of age, sex, or residential status. Household formation and distribution can form the basis for planning for economic and social services needed by the population. The demand for housing units, for instance, will have to be based on location and distribution of size of households. The distribution of households by urban-rural in each region also provides a useful information on how urbanized or ‘ruralized’ a region is becoming, for planning purposes.

Table 3.1 shows household size by locality in Mpohor District. The total household population is 41,976 which is made up of 25.4 percent urban locality and 74.6 percent rural locality. The average household size for the District is 3.7 which is lower than regional average of 4.3. While the rural household size is 3.8, the urban household size is 3.6.

Household composition

Households may be composed of one or more of the following: the head of the household, a spouse, children, parents, siblings, grandchildren and other relatives or non-relatives. This may serve as the basic unit for demographic analysis. According to Table 3.2, the total number of household population is 41,979 in the Mpohor District. The total number of males in households is more than that of females by about 2.0 percent. Children constitute the highest proportion of 41.8 percent of household members in the District. The least in the household population composition is parent/parent in laws (0.4%). Male headed households are 36.5 percent and female headed households are 18.6 percent. This means male headed households are more than female headed households and this conform to the general pattern observed in the country.

Household structure

Household structure refers to the type of relationship among household members, whether related or unrelated. Table 3.3 shows the household population by structure and sex in Mpohor District. With a household population of 41,976, nuclear family household structure (head, spouse(s) and children) constitutes the highest in the District (39.5%). This is followed by the extended (head, spouse(s), children and head’s relatives) accounting for 13.6 percent with the least being single parent extended with non-relatives household structure (0.6%).

The proportion of males in a nuclear family household structure (head, spouse(s) and children is 40.2 percent whiles that of females is 38.8 percent in that same category.

Marital Status

Even though people are delaying marriage as observed in the 2010 census, there is still the element of the universality of marriage within the process of social change and economic development (Nukunya, 2003, cited in GSS 2013, p.103). Marriage may be defined as a social institution which establishes the legitimacy of children (Gough 1957).

Marital status of persons 12 years and older by sex

Figure 3.1 shows that, a higher proportion (47.1%) of persons 12 years and older are married, whiles the never married accounts for 35.1 percent. The proportion of those separated, divorced and widowed constitutes 1.6 percent, 5.9 percent and 4.9 percent respectively, whiles persons in informal/consensual union/living together recorded 5.5 percent

Marital status of persons 12 years and older by sex and age-group

Table 3.4 shows that, the total population of persons aged 12 years and older in Mpohor District is 28,681. About 35 percent are never married and 47.1 percent are married. Persons 12-14 years (92.5%) recorded the highest proportion of those who are never married. In the category of married persons, 49-49 years recorded 76.2 percent followed by 76.1 percent for those 35-39 years. Informal/Consensual union/Living together is relatively higher among those 25-29 years (11.1%).

The total population of males and females aged 12 years and older is 14,256 and 14,425 respectively. Within the male population, 41.8 percent have never married whiles 46.7 percent are married compared to 28.5 percent and 47.4 percent of females who have never married and married respectively.

There are variations in marital status between males and females. For instance, in age group 25-29 years, more than half of females (64.9%) are married compared with 40.1 percent for males. Furthermore, from age 45 the proportion of females married begins to decrease while the proportion widowed and divorced increases.

The highest percentage of 7.2 percent of consensual union for males occurs the highest at age 25- 29 (11.6%) and females at 20-24 years (13.7%). The general pattern also shows that there are more widowed females than males. The difference could be attributed to women marrying older men and the fact that more males remarry than females at older ages.

Females are also more likely to be divorced or separated than males. The pattern also shows that the divorce and separation among males and females tends to increase with age and starts to decrease at about age 50 years.

Marital status by level of education

Table 3.5 focuses on persons 12 years and older by sex, marital status and level of education. With a population of 28, 681 persons, 62.5 percent have achieved basic education whiles 25.1 percent have no education at all. Among the married population, more than half (59.7%) reported basic education as the highest level of education achieved. Those with tertiary (0.4%) were in the minority. In descending order, 30.4 percent of the married population had no educational attainment; 5.2 percent had obtained secondary; 1.4 with 27 vocational/technical/commercial and; 2.8 percent with post middle/ secondary certificate/diploma. The proportion with basic education (72.9 %) is higher than those with no education (8.1%).

Marital status by economic activity status

The economic activity status of people vis-à-vis their marital status provides useful insights into issues regarding dependency. All things being equal, people engaged in economic activities are likely to be capable of supporting a spouse financially. Rationally, people engaged in income earning activities are inclined to marry.

Table 3.6 illustrates persons 12 years and older by sex, marital status and economic activity status. The total number of persons 12 years and older in the District is 28,681of which 66.8 percent are employed, 2.2 percent unemployed and 31.0 percent economically not active. Those who have never married are 10,070 out of which 36.6 percent are employed, 2.7 percent unemployed and 60.7 percent economically not active. With a total married 28 population of 13,500 people, those employed recorded 85.5 percent. This proportion is expected because being employed enhances individuals’ marriage prospects.

Among the population of married females, 81.8 percent are employed whiles 2.4 percent are unemployed and 15.8 percent are economically not active. Among males in the District, those married and employed 89.3 percent, 1.4 percent unemployed and 9.3 percent being economically not active.

Nationality

Nationality is defined as the country to which a person belongs. Ghanaian nationals are classified as Ghanaian by birth and by naturalization. In Table 3.7, the majority of the populations in the District (96.6%) are Ghanaians by birth with similar observation in both sexes. This is followed by dual nationality (1.5 %) and Ghanaians by naturalization of 0.5 percent. Non Ghanaians constitutes 1.4 percent.

Religious Affiliation

Every citizen in Ghana is enjoined by the 1992 constitution to have freedom of worship and may choose to join any religious group provided the practices of the said group are consistent with the same constitution. From Table 3.7, most people in the District are Christians (82.0%); 12.7 percent are without any form of religion; 3.9 percent belong to the Islamic religion; traditionalist form 0.8 percent and; those belonging to other religions not specified are 0.6 percent.

Among the Christian fraternity, Pentecostals/Charismatics in the District are 13,423 of which 29.1 percent are males and 33.4 percent females. The number of Protestants (Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterians etc.) is 9,097 consisting of 20.5 percent males and 21.9 percent females.