The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has released the most recent Ghana Multidimensional Poverty Report, which presents a startling image of poverty levels throughout the nation and identifies work and living conditions as the main causes of multidimensional poverty.
In most regions, the largest contributors to multidimensional poverty are employment and living conditions, which range from 47.8 percent to 12.7 percent and 35.9 percent to 15.5 percent, respectively.
Omar Seidu, the GSS’s Director of Social Statistics, claims that the educational attainment of family heads is frequently a key factor in the underlying causes of complicated poverty.
“Four out of ten households where the head of household has no education, then that household is multidimensionally poor,” he said.
Principal Findings: Pervasive Poverty
According to the research, 24.3% of Ghanaian households, or 7.3 million people, are multidimensionally impoverished.
This kind of poverty assesses deprivation concurrently in multiple domains, such as living conditions, health, and education. 43.8% of them are living in extreme poverty.
Urban vs. Rural
A sizable section of the rural population suffers from multidimensional poverty; 36.7% of rural dwellers are below the poverty line. The percentage of people living in poverty in rural (44.0%) and urban (43.4%) areas is almost the same.
Regional Inequalities
With 49.5% of households being multidimensionally poor, the Savannah Region has the greatest percentage—nearly twice as high as the national average of 24.3%.
Nevertheless, with 959,031 people, the Ashanti Region has the highest proportion of multidimensionally impoverished people.
Seidu emphasized, “However, the Ashanti Region tops (18%) in terms of the real number of people who are multidimensionally poor due to its large population. This exceeds the majority of the regions.
According to the Multidimensional Poverty Study, over 25% of the people in nine regions have numerous deprivations, indicating worrying levels of poverty. North East (48.1%), Upper East (43.0%), Oti (40.8%), Northern (38.4%), Upper West (37.4%), Volta (27.3%), Western North (27.0%), and Western (25.7%) are some of these regions, along with Savannah (49.5%).
Jobs and Living Situations
Work and living situations are the main causes of multidimensional poverty, accounting for 32.6% and 27.9% of the total. Another important factor is health insurance, which makes up 21.5% of the poverty indicators.
When it comes to homes headed by women, the incidence of poverty is noticeably greater (27.0%) than it is for households headed by men (23.0%). Poverty is also more likely to affect household heads who are younger—under 25—and older—above 60.
Inequalities in Education
The amount of education has a big impact on poverty. According to the research, “four out of ten multidimensionally poor persons have never attended school.” The poverty rate among households headed by individuals with only a basic education is 20.0%, 12.9 percentage points greater than that of households headed by individuals with postsecondary education (7.1%).
Impact on Sectors
Agriculture-related households had the greatest rates of poverty (34.3%), followed by households led by individuals in the services sector (nearly 5.5 times better off) and households headed by individuals in the industries sector (3.8 times better off).
The results highlight the necessity of focused interventions to deal with the underlying causes of multifaceted poverty. Reducing poverty and promoting fair development in Ghana requires expanding access to education, upgrading living circumstances, and generating long-term jobs.
