Introduction

This chapter provides information on the age and sex of household members, the population size of the district as well as the dependency ratios. The chapter also captures population distribution by rural and urban residence in the district. Issues of migration, fertility and mortality are also discussed in this chapter.

Population Size and Distribution

Table 2.1 shows that the total population of the district is 46,894, representing 1.9 percent of the region’s total population comprising 23,439 males (50.0 %) and 23,455 females (50.0%). In terms of rural-urban distribution, the district has all of its inhabitants living in rural localities. This implies that the district is completely a rural one.

Sex ratio, age dependency, age-sex structure

Table 2.1 shows the age structure, sex composition, and age dependency ratio of the district. The age structure and the sex composition of the district population follow the national and the regional patterns which are broad at the base and gradually decrease at older ages. The sex ratio is the ratio of males to 100 females. Table 2.1 depicts sex ratios among various age groups in the district. For all ages, the sex ratio of the district stands at 99.9.

This means that there are slightly more females than males in the district. This varies somewhat from the national and the regional patterns where the sex ratio for all ages stands at 95.2 and 98.4 respectively. The table indicates that sex ratio is above 100 at ages 0-19 years. This is an indication that there are more males than females among these ages. A similar pattern can be observed for all the other age groups except between 20 and 44 years and also 60-64 and 70-74 years where the number of females far exceeds their male counterparts. The low sex ratios between age 20 and 44 years may be due to the out-migration which may be selective of males of these ages in the district.

Dependency ratio

This is the ratio of persons in the “dependent” ages (population under 15 years and 65 years and older) to those in the “economically productive” ages of 15-64 years. Table 2.1 shows that the dependency ratio for the district is 101.4. This ratio reveals that there are about 101 persons in the dependent ages for every 100 persons in the working age population.

The dependency ratio for the district is higher than both the national and regional averages which stand at 75.6 and 96.8 respectively. These figures suggest a large proportion of children and the elderly population in the district. Dependency among the male population is relatively higher (109.7) than among the female population (93.6). This follows the national and the regional trends where dependency ratios for males are higher than those of females.

Age-sex structure

Figure 2.1 represents the age structure of the district’s population. The age structure for the district shows a relatively large proportion of the district population within the 0-19 age groups, representing 56.0 percent of the total population of the district. In contrast, 4.4 percent of the population is made up of persons 65 years and older. The age group 5-9 years has the highest proportion (17.3%) of the population while persons of age 95-99 years represent the least proportion of about one percent. The age structure reflects the national pattern where males are more than females at the base while the reverse is the case higher up on the population pyramid of the district.

Migration, Fertility and Mortality

Fertility, mortality and migration are principal determinants of population growth at a particular point in time. The composition of the population is important for development planning and policy formulation at all levels (national, regional, district and locality) of governance.

Fertility

Table 2.3 provides information on the total fertility rate (TFR) for women aged 15-49 years. The TFR is defined as the average number of children that would be born to a woman by the time she completes childbearing if she were to experience the prevailing pattern of age specific fertility rate. The table also shows other fertility measures such as general fertility rate (GFR) and crude birth rate (CBR). The GFR indicates births relative to the number of women in the reproductive age (15-49). The CBR, on the other hand, is the simplest and most frequently used measure of fertility.

It is crude and always expressed per 1000 population and includes all ages and both sexes in the denominator. The total population of women in the district for ages 15-49 years is 10,694. This represents 22.8 percent of the total population of the district (46,894). The number of births in the district in the last 12 months prior to the census is 1,071, representing 2.28 percent of the district’s population. The table further shows that the TFR, GFR and CBR of the district stand at 3.4, 100.1, and 22.8 respectively.

Fertility and Child Survival

Table 2.4 shows the number of children ever born by females 12 years and older and the number of children surviving in the district. The distribution of children surviving as proportion of children ever born in the district by age suggests a relatively higher survival rates among the females compared to the males.

Mortality

Table 2.5 presents information on the total population, total household deaths and crude death rates for Districts in the Northern region. The household deaths in the District are 277 and it represents 0.8 percent of the total household population (70,574). The crude death rate is 7.7 per 1,000 populations.

Causes of deaths

Table 2.6 shows the various causes of deaths in the district. Accidents, violence, homicide or suicide accounts for 6.1 percent of all deaths in the district. This compares with 9.7 percent and 11.6 percent respectively in the Northern Region and Ghana. However, pregnancy accounts for 3.2 percent of all deaths which is higher than the average for the Northern Region (2.2%) and Ghana (1.9%). This could be attributed to the inadequate number of health professionals and infrastructure in the district. Other causes of death in the district account for about 93.9 percent of total number of deaths recorded in the district.

Age-Specific death rate Figure 2.2 shows the age-specific death rates in the district. It shows a variation of deaths by age and sex where the death rates are higher among males at ages less than 10 years and more than 50 years. In contrast, within ages 10-49 years, death rates are higher among females than males which could be largely due to the impact of maternal mortality that affects females during their reproductive ages.

Migration

Table 2.2 shows the total migrant population, percentage distribution of the population by birth place and duration of residence. The total migrant population of the district stands at 2,322. Out of this, 799 are born elsewhere in the region, representing 34.4 percent. On the other hand, 1,523 of them (65.6%) are born elsewhere in another region in Ghana.

The table further shows that among migrants born elsewhere in another region, more than half (57.7%) were born outside Ghana while 13.1 percent and 11 percent were born in Ashanti and Upper East regions respectively. More than half of migrants recorded in the district have stayed less than five years in the district (26.8% for less than one year and 28.6% for 1-4 years). This varies by region of origin of the migrants.

Settlement 

The settlement pattern in the district is generally dispersed but with a few nucleated and linear patterns in the relatively bigger towns. Housing in the district is largely traditional huts built in the form of compound houses with a good number roofed with thatch. The district capital and other few communities have buildings built with cement and roofed with aluminum sheets.