The concept of human- centered development is one of the distinct features of the new planning system which calls for the analysis of the basic demographic characteristics like population size, structure, growth rate and distribution in space with a view of establishing their needs and ability to contribute towards the achievement of stated goals. This section of the report therefore focuses on the analysis of the demographic characteristics of the Asante Akim South Municipal and their implications for the socio-economic development of the district.

Population Size and Growth Rate

The population of the district is expected to be 121,601 by 2010. The population of the city as at 1960, 1970, 1984, 2000 and 2010 was 36,090, 46,310, 66,868, 96,868 and 117,245 respectively. It has been projected that the population of the district would hit 700,034 by the end of 2017.

The population of the District forms about 2.5% of the Ashanti Region’s population. The table below indicates that majority of the District population are predominantly rural. This implies that majority of the population live in the rural areas as compared to the urban centres. The percentage of the rural population is 83.0% whiles that of the urban centres is17.0%

The table and the figure below give the Asanti Akim South demographic characteristics and the Ashanti Region.

From the table and the figure above, it shows that more of the population in the district are in the rural certain. This proves that development of projects and programmes in the rural areas in the district should be held paramount.  The table and the figure also compare the composition of the district population to the region. This had proved the enormous efforts put in by the people of the district to ensure development in the region.

POPULATION PROJECTION (2014-2017)

It is projected that the population of the District, with a growth rate of 2.3%, would increase from 117,245 in 2010 to 243,682 by 2017. This trend is shown in the table and the figure below:

From the table and the figure above, it is clear that there would be the need therefore to put in place socio-economic infrastructural programmes such as increasing the road networks, provision of more educational facilities, health facilities, improvement in the water and sewerage systems, provision of mechanised collection of waste for effective management and also modernization of agriculture to engage more youth in urban agriculture and aquaculture to support food security to decrease the cost of living in the District.

Age and Sex Distribution

Females represent the most dominant sex distribution in the district, constituting 50.88% of the population whilst males constitutes up 49.12%. This gives a sex ratio of 97.7%. The table below shows the Age and Sex Distribution.

From the table above, it shows that the age structure begins to increase at age 0-14 with the sex ratio of 106.2%, the age structure continue increase at the youthful stage at age15-64 but also experiences a decrease in the sex ratio at 94.4%. The age structure of the aged falls drastically with a sex ratio of 73.5%.  The age structure for the district shows relatively large proportion of younger people (0-14 and 15-64years) and a small proportion of older people (65years and older). Regarding the percentage of both sexes, the young population forms about 42% of the population, those in the youthful age represent 52.5% with only 5.9% located within the old age group. The table below gives the breakdown of the entire age and sex distribution of the district.

The large percentage of people within the younger ages is an indication that the population is experiencing a rapid growth.

The high proportion of the population within the younger age group also calls for extensive investments in education, infrastructure and other services to take care of the needs of the children and the youth. The youthful nature of the population is an indication that there is large potential labour force in the district and calls for efforts to expand avenues for gainful employment.

Females of childbearing age (15-45 years) constitute 46.7% of the total female population, which is a potential for high fertility in the district. Therefore to ensure effective population management, there is the need to encourage female education, employment, family planning and other fertility control measures.

Dependency Ratio

The age sex distribution shows 48.3% of the population is within the dependent age cohort. Those aged 15-64 years, who form the potential labour force, constitute a 51.7%, giving an age dependency ratio of 1:0.93. This shows that 100 persons in the independent age group take care of 93 persons in the dependent age group. The crude dependency ratio for the district is much higher than the national average figure of 0.87.1 and about the same as the region’s average of 1:0.93. This however, does not depict the real burden of the dependent population on the independent population. This is because; some members of the dependent population might be engaged economically, whilst some of those in the independent population might not necessarily be economically engaged.

The economic dependency ratio for the district is 1:2.06, thus every 100 people who are economically engaged takes care of themselves and additional 206 people who are economically inactive. This portrays the extensive burden on those working. Most households have low income as the high level of burden affect savings. The high economic dependency ratio gives an indication of high level of unemployment which calls for measures to be taken to create jobs for them to reduce the burden on the working population.

Population Density

The district has a land area of about 1217.7 km² (472.4 sq miles). The population density of the district has increased over the censual years from 30 persons per km2 in 1960 to 38 persons per km2 in 1970, 55 per km2 in 1984 and 88 per km2 in 2000. Its population is currently projected as 100 persons per sq km. and continues to be one of the least populated areas in the region. The figure is lower than the regional density of 140 persons per Km2 but higher than the national figure of 58 persons per Km2.

With the relatively low density of the District, there is considerably abundant land which can be used for development especially for agricultural use since the District is an agrarian District. However, the increase in the density over the censual periods put pressure on the infrastructure and available natural resources. There is also a high rate of degradation, thereby putting a lot of stress on the scarce resources of the district.

Rural-Urban Split /Spatial Distribution

There are 103 settlements in the district out of which 2 are urban. The major settlements are Juaso, Obogu and Bompata. The projected population figures for 2010 still put Juaso and Obogu as the only urban centres. This means that the proportion of the urban population is only 16.5%; 83.5% of the population lives in rural areas (settlements with less than 5000 inhabitants).

The rural areas are characterised by primary economic activities mostly agriculture with limited infrastructural facilities. The urban centres have high of population densities and the people are mostly engaged in the service and commercial economic activities with more high order services. This implies that efforts at development should be focused on promoting rural development and urban management issues such as housing, waste management and water supply. There should also be concerted efforts by the Government and other stakeholders, to make the rural areas more attractive in order to stem the exodus of rural dwellers to the urban centres.

There is the concentration of people in the northern part of the district. Most of the high order services are therefore located at the northern part of the district. The concentration of the population at the northern part of the district can be attributed to the creation of Juaso as the district capital with the associate level of institutional infrastructure and economic development and also the presence of Senior High Schools at Bompata and Obogu which attract people to settle in these areas.

Migration Trends

Some communities in Asante Akim South Municipal consist of people who have migrated from other parts of Ghana to settle in the District. However, majority of the population 66.3 percent are natives, whilst the 32.3 percent are in-migrants. The large migrant communities in the district are linked to the availability of land for cash crop farming which is associated with these migrants.

The relatively high migrant population in the district greatly affects the development of some parts of the district.  Areas with such people are normally not well developed, as these people tend to send all their earnings to their various hometowns for development leaving relatively very little for the development of the area they are living.  

Housing Characteristics

Records show that, the nature of housing in the 103 communities within the district can be described as compound.  This is due to the fact that, the income of the populace is not able to afford them with detached houses or semi-detached. However, there are a few self-contained houses mostly found in the big settlements like Juaso, Obogu and Morso built mostly by citizens living abroad as well as successful farmers within the district.

Most of the housing stocks are of the “Atakpame” type with no foundation and roofed with corrugated metal sheets. Materials used especially in the small and remote communities to build houses are Bamboo, raffia mats, mud and sticks. Houses in the big settlements are often plastered and painted. Of recent, modern buildings/mansions comparable to those in bigger settlements like estate houses are springing up in Juaso. In view of this, the cost of land has increased causing the available land for farming and forestry to depreciate.

Household Sizes and Characteristics

The composition and structure of Asante Akim South Municipal household is a reflection of the social structure of the society. The District has a household population by structure and sex of 115,289. This is made up of 56,918 males constituting 49.37% and 58,371 females constituting 50.63%. The household structure in the District is still traditional in spite of modernisation. There are ten (10) different composition of household structures identified in the Asanti Akim South District. With this, the nuclear family structure constitutes 29.7%. This is followed by the extended family. The table below gives details of the household structure in the district.

Occupational Distribution

The District has a total labour force of 49,920. This constitutes 43% of the district total population. With this, 24,470 are males whiles 25,450 are females. This implies that 49% of males are within the labour force whiles 51% females are also within the labour force.

The table below gives the employment status of people in the district coupled with the categories of work.

From the table and the figure above, it shows that about 65.2% out of the employed labour force is engaged in the agricultural sector, 13% in the service sector and 8.3% employed in the Craft and related traders workers, 4.0 are professionals, 3.7% are in the elementary occupation, 3.3% are in the plant and machinery operators and assemblers, 1.1% been managers, 0.9% are technicians and associates professionals, 0.5% are clerical support workers and 0.0% as other occupations. Most of the people engaged in the service and the industrial sector are also engaged in agriculture as a secondary occupation.

Generally, the main cause of unemployment is the poor development of the sectors of the district economy with inadequate job opportunities to absorb the growing youthful population.

The inhabitants in the district still prefer the traditional compound housing where people live together with their extended families even though there has been a gradual shift to the nuclear family system where they live in flats and detached houses.

Spatial Analysis
Distribution of facilities

There are 103 settlements in the District. The major ones are Juaso, Obogu and Bompata. 83.5 % of the population lives in the rural area. Service distribution is positively related to population. Distribution of service is skewed towards urban settlements to the detriment of the rural areas. Communities with higher population generally have higher number of services. General observation indicates that services are concentrated in Juaso, Obogu, Bompata, Asankare, and Ofoase than others. The other higher order services are further located in the capital towns of the sub-district councils. Some facilities are located in the central towns of the town/area council’s base on the collective thresholds of the town/area councils but not to the settlements that has the threshold that merit the facility. Juaso, the district capital have higher order services such as Hospital, Senior High School, Court and a Police headquarters due to its administrative purposes. Many of the communities in the district are deficient in service facilities.

Transport and communications, pipe borne water supply, electricity and sanitary facilities are complementary utilities that enhance the economic and social prosperity of the people. They provide opportunity for opening up natural resource production areas in the district. The analysis of the current situation reveals that the absence of these in the rural areas is the main reasons for the migration of the youth to urban areas. This phenomenon has very serious repercussions for the development of the District as it is deprived of labor that could have been engaged in productive work in the rural area.

Functional Hierarchy of Settlements (Scalogram Analysis)

A scalogram was used to show the centrality level (sphere of influence) of selected facilities in the district and the relative functionality of each settlement within the district.Twenty-seven 28 settlements and 32 functions were used in preparing the scalogram. X sign was used to identify the facilities in each settlement; where there is no x sign indicates that particular settlement has no such facilities. The outcome of the scalogram shows that there are 4 levels of settlement in the district.

The First Order settlement Juaso provides higher order services to all the settlements in the district. It provides higher level education such as senior high education to the nearby communities including the second order settlements such as Obogu. In terms of health services, the District Hospital in Juaso provides higher order healthcare delivery to the whole districts. People from as far as Amentia, Saabo, Mmuronam and Banka access such services. Juaso also provides high level security and judicial services to the settlements in the districts. The police headquarters and district court are all located in Juaso.

Juaso provides high level banking services to all the communities in the district. The District agency of the Ghana Commercial Bank is located in the community. Juaso is the administrative capital of the Asante Akim South Municipal. Its thus provides various administrative functions to the district since most of the decentralised departments are located at the district assembly. These higher order services have made Juaso very functional in the district and nearby communities such as Obogu, Asankare, Nkwanta, Atwidie, Yawkwei, Asuboa, Akofikrom and Dampong will have the maximum access in terms of proximity.

The second order settlements in the district consist of Obogu, which is an urban council capital, Asankare, Bompata and Ofoase which are Area Council capitals respectively. These perform further decentralised administrative functions to the settlements within their jurisdiction. The Police Station at Bompata, though poorly endowed in terms of staff and facilities, provide security services to nearby communities in the Kumeatifi Area Council. These settlements, except Obogu, provide higher order educational services to their nearby communities. Bompata and Ofoase provide senior high education whiles Asankare provides Vocational and Technical educational services to all the other settlements in the district. They also provide medium level healthcare services to their neighboring communities.

The third order settlements in the district comprise of the other Area Council Capitals. The settlements provide sub-district administrative functions to the settlements under their jurisdiction. Some of the communities such as Adomfe and Breku perform market functions for most of the communities in the districts.    

The forth order settlements are those settlement that do not provide any special functions to order settlements. They are rather the recipients and the beneficiaries of the high order services provided by the settlements in the other orders of the hierarchy.