Housing Stock

Data from the 2010 Population and Housing Census show that there were 364, 699 houses in the Central Region compared to 223,239 houses in 2000. The annual growth in housing stock between 2000 and 2010 was 4.4 percent, same as the national growth rate. This is the highest annual growth rate for the past four inter-censal periods. In the Central Region, there has been a general decline in the number of persons per house from 9.5 persons per house in 1960 to 6.4 in 2010.

Type of dwelling Units (Occupied and Vacant)

There are 567,051 dwelling units in the Central Region of which 92.9 percent (526, 763) are occupied and the rest vacant dwelling units. The compound house is the most common type of dwelling unit in the Central Region. Just over one-half of dwelling units in the Region (51.3%) are compound houses. The proportion of compound houses in the Region is similar to the national average of 51.5 percent.

The proportion of dwelling units which are flats or apartments was 4.4 percent in 2010. Makeshift and other improvised dwellings constitute less than one percent of all dwellings. There are more dwelling units in rural than in urban areas. The proportion of separate or detached houses is higher in rural (41.4%) than urban localities. This may be due to availability of land and the relatively cheaper construction materials used in rural areas. Over one-half of houses in urban areas are compound houses (58.4%) compared with 45 percent in rural areas.

In all the Districts, the compound house is the most common form of dwelling unit accounting for more than one-half of the total number of dwelling units in 12 out of the 17 Districts. Agona West (65.2%) and Effutu (61.1%), are the two Districts with the highest proportions of compound houses while Gomoa East (40.4%) and Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (43.0%) the two Districts with the lowest proportions of compound houses in the Region. In Cape Coast about one in ten dwelling units (11.4%) are flats or apartments compared with Assin South with the lowest proportion of flats.

Tenure and Holding Arrangements

According to the data, three major types of tenure exist in Central region: owner-occupier, rented, and rent-free. Nearly one-half of all dwelling units (46.12%) are owner-occupiers while about similar proportions of houses are either rented (26.4%) or are occupied on rent-free basis (26.8%). Compared with urban areas, the proportion of owner-occupier dwelling units is higher in rural areas (56.6% vs. 35%) while renting is higher in urban areas (35.9% vs. 17.5%). This is because most people in rural areas build houses with no commercial motives in mind but are regarded as properties with bequest values, a form of investment for use by future generations. The proportion occupying their dwelling units on rent-free basis is similar in both rural (25.4%) and urban areas (28.4%).

Data on tenure arrangements of dwelling units at the District level reveal that owner-occupied tenure is highest in the rural districts: Assin South (64.7%) and Upper Denkyira West (62.4%).

Conversely, owner-occupier status is lowest in the two most urbanised districts, Cape Coast (31.3%) and Effutu (32.0%). The proportion of dwelling units occupied on rental basis is highest in Cape Coast (41.0%) and lowest in Upper Denkyira West (17.0%). The practice of occupying dwelling units on rent-fee basis is common in all Districts whether predominantly rural or urban. According to the data, the proportion of dwelling units occupied on rent-free basis ranges from 17.6 percent in Twifo-Hemang-Lower Denkyira to 35.9 percent in Gomoa West.

House Ownership

Proportion of houses owned by members of household is slightly over one-half (51.6%) in 2010. The proportion of houses owned by a relative who is not a household member is 22.0 percent while the proportion of dwelling units owned by other private individuals (not relatives) is 22.5 percent. Public or government-owned housing forms only a small proportion, 1.4 percent. Private employers own 1.0 percent of private dwelling units while less than one percent of dwelling units are owned through mortgage schemes. In rural areas the proportion of dwelling units owned by a household member is higher (61.4%) than in urban areas (41.3%).

There are notable variations in ownership status across Districts. The proportion of dwelling units owned by householders is lowest in the most urbanised Districts, Cape Coast (35.7%), and Effutu (37.4%) and highest in predominantly rural districts of Assin South (69.5%), Twifo-Hemang-Lower Denkyira (67.5%), and Upper Denkyira West (64.4%). In Cape Coast, Effutu, Upper Denkyira East as well as some Districts within the daily commuting belt of Accra such as Ewutu-Senya and Gomoa East where private ownership is high because investment in houses comes with high rental income. In each of these five Districts, about one-third of all dwelling units are owned by private individuals who do not live in the house, apparently on rented basis.

Room Occupancy

The number of rooms occupied by a household is one of the best indicators for assessing how crowded dwelling units in a locality are and the space available per person. Dwelling units in the Region are more crowded than the average Ghanaian dwelling unit. Slightly more than one-half of households (54.5%) in the Region occupy a single room in contrast with 44.5 percent nationwide. Cape Coast, the capital, has not experienced the boom in housing compared with other Regional Capitals. There appears to be little difference regarding the number of rooms per household between rural and urban areas.

The proportions of households occupying single rooms are 56.6 percent in urban areas and 52.5 percent in rural areas; for two rooms the figures are 24.0 percent and 23.8 percent respectively. The proportion of households occupying single rooms is between 50 percent and 60 percent in all Districts except in Assin South (43.3%) and Assin North (49.1%) where proportions are below 50 percent.

Number of Sleeping Rooms

The number of sleeping rooms provides an indication of the extent of crowding in households. Overcrowded rooms have health implications arising from, among others, disturbed sleep. More importantly, crowded living conditions increase the risk of the spread of infectious diseases, such as meningococcal disease, tuberculosis and respiratory infections. Considering the hot and humid conditions in Ghana, overcrowding can lead to psychological distress; lack of tolerance, reduced levels of concentration and can affect mental health.

The average household size in the Region is 4.0 persons. Nearly two-thirds of households in the Region (64.0%) have one sleeping room compared with, the national average of 54.4 percent. The data show that dwelling units in rural areas in Central region are nearly as crowded as those in urban areas. Two-thirds of all urban households (65.7%) have one sleeping room, the compared with 62.5 percent in rural areas.

There are variations at the District level in the number of sleeping rooms. The proportions of households with only one sleeping room are highest in Effutu (71.9%) and Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (68.4%) and lowest in Assin South district (53.0%), and Assin North (57.0%).

 Source of Lighting

The three main sources of non-natural lighting in households are electricity (grid) [66.1%], kerosene lamp (20.7%) and flashlight (11.2%). The proportion of dwelling units using electricity in Central region is the third highest in Ghana, after Greater Accra Region and Ashanti Region.

The proportion of dwelling units using electricity generators as the main source of lighting is under one percent (0.7%).

The use of private generators is a recent phenomenon which was brought about by the frequent power outages and load shedding. Kerosene lamp which used to be the most common source of light for majority of households in the Region decade ago is no longer the dominant source. Although flashlight has always been used in Ghana, it is gradually becoming a major source of light with the introduction of several long-lasting batteries and other rechargeable varieties. In the Region, flashlight is the main source of light for about one in ten households (11.2%).

There are rural-urban variations in the sources of domestic light. Over three quarters of households in urban areas (78.4%) obtain light from electricity (national grid), compared with 54.5 percent in rural areas. One-quarter of dwelling units in rural areas (25.5%) use kerosene lamp as main source of light, 15.7 percent in urban areas do so. Eighteen percent of rural dwelling units use flashlight as main source of light compared with only 3.9 percent in urban areas.

At the District level, the percentage of households that use electricity ranges from 42.0 percent in Assin South to 90.3 percent in Cape Coast. It is important to note that in 10 of the 17 Districts, over 60 percent of dwellings use electricity as the main source of non-natural lighting. Private generators are used by 1.0 percent or less of households as the main source of lighting in all the Districts.

Kerosene lamp is still used by a fairly large number of dwelling units, with the proportions using it ranging from 5.8 percent in Cape Coast to 39.8 in Agona East. In 10 (out of 17) Districts, at least one-fifth of dwelling units use kerosene lamp. Flash light is used most in Assin North, by nearly one-third (31.0%) of households. As expected, flashlight is least used in the two most urbanised Districts, Cape Coast Metropolis (1.8%) and Effutu (1.8%).

Although there are efforts to introduce non-conventional energy sources in the country, only a very small proportion of dwelling units, as elsewhere in Ghana, use these sources. Solar energy as the main source of lighting is consistently very low. Only 0.1 percent of dwelling units in the Region use solar as main source of lighting. The District Assemblies may need to educate households on solar energy to increase the proportion of homes using solar energy.

Source of Energy for Cooking

The three main sources of energy for cooking in households in the Central Region in 2010 are firewood (44.2%), charcoal (36.9%), and gas (12.5%). The use of gas is becoming more common with 12.5 percent dwelling units using gas. The proportion of dwelling units where no cooking is done is 5.1 percent which may be a reflection on the increase in single-member households. In rural areas, because wood is locally available, it is the main source of cooking fuel for 67.0 percent of households compared with 20.0 percent in urban areas. In contrast, charcoal, which is often produced for urban dwellers, is used by 52.9 percent of households inurban areas, and 21.8 percent in rural areas. The use of wood and charcoal as the main sources of fuel has implications for the rapid deforestation in region.

For the Districts, with the exception of Cape Coast and Effutu, where only 3.7 percent and 16.6 percent of households use wood, in all other Districts at least one-quarter of households use wood, with the highest proportions in Assin South (77.1%) and Upper Denkyira West (75.3%). Charcoal is the main source of energy for cooking in six predominantly urban Districts, with the highest proportions in Cape Coast (58.6%) and Mfantsiman (54.7%). There has been a concern on the impact of charcoal on deforestation in Ghana.

Charcoal is least used in rural Districts, particularly Assin South (12.9%), mainly because of the predominance of wood as the main source of energy for cooking. Nearly one-third of households in Cape Coast (30.6%) and a quarter in Effutu (26.9%) use gas as the main source of energy for cooking. In nearly all other Districts the proportions of households using gas are relatively low, with Upper Denkyira West recording the lowest (3.7%).

Cooking Space

The most common type of cooking space, for most households is a separate room for exclusive use by households. About one in three dwelling units (33.5%) have cooking spaces that are separate for exclusive use of households while in about one-fifth of dwelling units members cook in open spaces in the compound. In one in five households (20.6%), cooking takes place on verandas. The proportion of dwelling units in Central region with no cooking space is 6.6 percent.

The proportion of urban houses with separate room for exclusive use for household cooking is far lower (24.8%) than rural (41.6%). Similarly, the proportions cooking on verandas and in open spaces are lower in rural than in urban areas. Three Districts with the highest proportions of dwelling units with separate cooking room for exclusive use of household members are highest in Twifo-Hemang-Lower Denkyira (50.1%), Assin South (49.6%) and Upper Denkyira West (47.8%). Cooking on the veranda is also a common feature in many dwelling units.

The highest proportions of dwelling units using the veranda as cooking space are reported in Ewutu-Senya (32.6%) and Gomoa East (29.8%), the lowest is in Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam (11.2%). In one-third of dwelling units (33.4%) in Gomoa West, 29.8 percent in Mfantsiman and 29.4 percent in Effutu, households cook in open spaces in the housing compound. The lowest (8.3%) is recorded in Upper Denkyira East. Some dwelling units have no cooking space of any kind. In four Districts: Agona West, Upper Denkyira East, Upper Denkyira West and Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem, about eight percent of dwelling units have no cooking space. In Effutu, 6.7 percent of households cook in their bedrooms or living rooms.