Introduction 

This chapter presents information related to the social characteristics of the population of the district which include the household structure, marriage pattern, ethnicity, nationality, religious affiliation, educational attainment and literacy level.

Household Size, Composition and Headship

Household size Table 3.1 shows that the District has a total household population of 45,160 with zero population for urban and 45,160 in rural areas. According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census, there are 5,214 households which are all located in the rural areas. The mean number of households per house is 1.7 for the District. The average household size in the District is 9.0 persons.

Household composition and headship

shows the household population composition by sex in the district. It shows a total household population of 45,160 with 5,214 heads out of which 4,969 (95.3%) are males and 245 (4.7%) are females. This implies that male household heads far out-number their female counterparts in the district. This is similar to the national as well as the regional figures. Children are the most dominant among the household population in the district. As shown in Table 3.2, 53.9 percent of the household population is made up of children, which is higher among the males (60.0%) than among the females (47.8%). Non-relatives represent the least proportion (0.1%) of the household population in the district. Spouses form about 10.4 percent.

Household population by structure and sex

This section presents information on household population living in a nuclear or extended family household. Table 3.3 indicates that a higher proportion of the household population live in extended family (head, spouses, children and head’s relative) household (69.6%) than nuclear family (head, spouse(s) and children) household (20.9%). The females (71.3%) are more likely to live in extended family households than males (67.9%). Households comprising the head and a spouse only (0.3%) are the least proportion of the household population in the District.

Marital Status 

Marital status is classified into married, never married, informal/consensual union or living together, separated, divorced or widowed. Persons who are 12 years or older were interviewed on marital status in the district. Table 3.4 presents the total population 12 years and older in the district as 28,329. Out of this number, 34.3 percent are never married, 59.9 percent are married and 4.1 percent widowed, 0.7 percent divorced, 0.6 percent separated and 0.4 percent are in consensual relationships. A higher proportion of the males (41.5%) than females (27.3%) are never married. Among males or females, the younger persons (less than 24 20 years) are less likely to be married compared to their counterparts who are older. This is because at age 12-19 years, most of them may be in school or would see themselves as too young for marriage.

Population by marital status and level of education

From Table 3.5, about 56.1 percent of the never married population have no formal education while 36.0 percent have basic education. The proportion of those who have never attended school is high among the married (90.1%). On the other hand, about 8.0 percent of the married have attained basic level of education while less than 1 percent have tertiary education (0.1%). About 9 in 10 of the never married female population have no education, with those having basic level education recording 7.2 percent, 0.8 percent have secondary education.

Marital status of persons 12 years and older and economic activity

Table 3.6 shows persons 12 years and older by their sex, marital status and economic activity status. Among the never married population, 57.4 percent are employed, 0.7 percent unemployed and 41.9 percent are economically not active. Also, among the population who are in informal or consensual unions, 73.9 percent are employed, 4.1 percent unemployed and 22 percent are economically not active. 26 Among the married population majority are employed (82.5%) while only 0.7 percent are unemployed. Also, about 16.8 percent of the married are economically not active.

Nationality 

Table 3.4 provides information on the nationality of the population resident in the district. It shows that majority of the residents (94.0%) in the district are Ghanaians by birth. The same is the case among either the males or females in the district. The population with dual nationality is represented by 1.9 percent and 0.9 percent by naturalization while persons from ECOWAS states and Africa other than ECOWAS states represent 2.3 percent and 0.5 percent respectively. The distribution by nationality in the district does not vary much by sex.

Religious Affiliation 

Table 3.7 shows the distribution of the population in the district by religious affiliation. Moslems are the most dominant and represent 80 percent of the population, followed by Christians (9.5%) while adherents of Traditional Religion form 9.4 percent. The Christian Religion is further classified into Catholic (2.3%), Protestants (2.6%), Pentecostal (2.7%) and other Christians (1.9%). People belonging to other faiths are in a minority and represent 0.1 percent of the population with others professing no religion forming 1.3 percent.

Literacy and Education 

3.6.1 Literacy Literacy is measured by the ability to read and write a simple statement in any language with understanding. Table 3.8 indicates that as high as 77.9% of the population 11 years and older in the district are not literate. This means that only 22.1 percent of the population is literate in the district. Illiteracy is higher among the females (53.1%) than the males (46.9%). Literacy in English and French among either males or females by age is generally less than one percent in the district.

In contrast, among all literate persons in the district, literacy in English and Ghanaian language is 64.6 percent is also higher in all the groups. The pattern by age group varies slightly between the males and females. It is also to be noted that 29.1 percent of the literate population 11 years and older is literate in English language only in the district. This varies between 26.3 percent among the males and 32.5 percent among the females.

Educational attainment 

Educational attainment in the district is presented with reference to population three years and older. Table 3.7 shows school attendance in the district which includes current and past attendance. The table shows that 12,069 persons (85.8%) are currently attending school in the district. This compares with 2000 (14.2%) who attended school in the past at all levels in the district.

Current primary school attendance is the highest in the district and shows not much difference between the males (52.7%) and females (52.4%). This is similar to those who attended primary school in the past which is, however, higher among males (66.0%) compared to their female counterparts (59.7%). It also shows that 14.9 percent and 5.5 percent respectively are currently attending JSS/JHS and SSS/SHS education which compares with 11.5 percent and 9.8 percent that attended in the past.

In either case (current or in the past), a higher proportion of males than females are recorded to attend school. Vocational school attendance is the least in the district and forms one percent or less either currently or in the past.

Housing

Poverty studies by the Government of Ghana and the World Bank (Ghana Statistical Services, 1995, 1996) have shown that about 60 percent of Ghanaians do not have access to electricity for lighting, 40 percent live in mud brick or plastered houses, and nearly all are without indoor sewerage plumbing. This chapter, therefore, provides information on housing characteristics such as housing stock, type of dwelling, housing condition, holding and tenancy arrangement, sources of drinking water and accessibility. Information is also given on source of power, bathing and toilet facilities as well as method of waste disposal.

Housing Stock

The housing stock of Mamprugu Moagduri District is 3,085 representing 1.2 percent of the total number of houses in the Northern Region The district has a total population of 46,894, representing an average of 15.2 persons per house (Table 8.1). There are 45,160 households with an average household size of 9.0, which is higher than the regional (7.8) and national (4.5) averages. The average number of households per house is also recorded at 1.7, which is higher than the regional (1.2) and national (1.6) figures.

Type of Dwelling, Holding and Tenancy Arrangement
Type of dwelling units

Table 8.2 presents the various types of dwelling units in the district. It shows that rooms in compound houses are the commonest type of dwelling units occupied by households in the district. These account for 71.5 percent of dwelling units, followed by huts/buildings (same compound) which form 13.5 percent of the dwelling units in the district. Separate houses account for 8.4 percent and 2.7 percent are semi-detached houses. Except for the separate type of dwelling houses which have a relatively higher proportion of females as heads (14.7%), the proportion of male heads is higher than female heads in all other dwelling types in the district.

Ownership of Occupied Dwelling Units 

Table 8.3 shows the distribution of type of ownership of occupied dwelling units in the district. Ownership of living units is largely by household member (96.4%). This is followed by others such as relatives who are not household members (2.6%) and public/government ownership (0.4%). Other types of ownership of dwelling units in the district include ownership by private individual (0.5%), other private agency (0.1%) and others (0.1%). There is, however, no dwelling unit that is owned by private employers in the district perhaps due to the rural character of the district. Household headship by sex in the district, on the other hand, shows that there are more male headed households (95%) than female headed households (5%). All dwelling units in the district are in rural localities as the district is entirely rural.

Construction Materials

The 2010 census collected data on the different types of materials used in the construction of buildings. The significance of this is to analyze data for policy decisions. One key implication that can be drawn from analyzing data on housing conditions is the richness of materials used in the construction of houses. For instance, houses built with mud bricks and roofed with thatch with no water and sanitary facilities have enormous health implications for the occupants of these dwelling units. This section, therefore, looks at the main materials used for the construction of dwelling units and the facilities available.

Main materials for outer walls

Table 8.4 has information on the type of materials used for the construction of outer walls of dwelling units in the district. Overall, 90.4 percent of all dwelling units in the district are constructed with mud brick/earth. Other materials used are palm leaf/thatch (3.0%), wood (2.4%), cement blocks/concrete (2.0%) and metal sheet (1.0%). The usage of stone (0.2%), lancrete (0.3%), bamboo (0.1%) and other materials (0.5%) for the construction of outer walls in the district is, however, not common. This is expected considering that the district is entirely rural.

Main materials for the floor

Table 8.5 shows the various materials used for the floor of dwelling units in the district. Overall, cement or concrete is the main material (78.8%) used for floors of dwelling units in the district. This is followed by earth or mud (19.9%). The usage of other materials such as ceramic/ porcelain/ granite or marble tiles (0.6%), wood (0.1%), stone (0.2%) and other materials (0.4%) are relatively insignificant and together form less than two percent of the materials used for the floors of dwelling units in the country.

Main materials for roofing

 
Table 8.6 shows the distribution of the main materials used for roofing dwelling units in the district. The main material used for roofing in the district is thatch/palm leaf or raffia (49.9%). This is followed by metal sheet (41.3%) and mud/mud bricks or earth (6.5%). Other materials used include bamboo (0.3%), roofing tiles (0.3%), wood (0.8%), concrete (0.1%), and slate (0.1%) which together form less than two percent of all materials used.

Room Occupancy 

Sleeping rooms’ occupancy can be an indication of the extent of overcrowding. Table 8.7 presents the distribution of household size and number of sleeping rooms for occupied dwelling unit in the District. Table 8.7 shows that generally, the number of people who occupy sleeping rooms declined as the number of rooms increased. About 0.2 percent of households with 10 or more members occupy single rooms. The proportion of households with only one sleeping room was highest (62.9%) compared with 1.0 percent of household sizes seven, eight and nine for one sleeping room. The proportion of 50 household size three, using two sleeping rooms is more than half (51.0%) compared with less than one percent (0.7%) for household size three sleeping in eight rooms.