• Population:
    23.8 Million (2005)
  • Population growth per annum:
    1.88 %
  • GDP (2008), (PPP):
    $34.04 Billion (2008 Estimated)
  • Poverty Rate:
    28.5% (2005/06)
  • Poverty Gap:
    9.6% (2005/6)
  • Gini Coefficient:
    39.4% (2001)

Ghana

Ghana is a country of 238,537 square kilometres located in West Africa. It is bordered to the west by Cote d'Ivoire, to the east by Togo, to the north by Burkina Faso and to the south by the Gulf of Guinea. Situated a few degrees north of the Equator and with the Greenwich Meridian passing through it, Ghana is unique in being geographically closer to the centre of the world than any other country.

Geographically, the coastline is mostly a low, sandy shore backed by plains and scrub and intersected by several rivers and streams, most of which are navigable only by canoe. A tropical rain forest belt, broken by heavily forested hills and many streams and rivers, extends northward from the shore, near the Cote d'Ivoire frontier. This area, known as the Ashanti, produces most of the country's cocoa, minerals, and timber. The northern parts of Ghana are mostly flat savannah, with the primary form of vegetation being brush and grasses. The climate is generally tropical.

The management of the economy has seen improvements over the last decade, especially since 2001. Consequently GDP growth, which averaged about 4.7% over the period between 1995 and 2005, increased to about 6.2% in 2006, 6.3% in 2007 and further to 7.3% in 2008. Ghana's current GDP stands at about US$15,647 million (2008). Using an estimated population of about 23.4 million for 2009, this 2008 GDP translates into a per capita GDP of about 669 US Dollars.

Poverty levels in Ghana remain high in spite of the significant improvements since 2000. It has declined from about 39.5% in 2000 to about 28.5% in 2005/2006. Similarly, the size of the extremely poor population decreased from about 26% in 1999/2000 to about 18.2% in 2005/2006 (Ghana Statistical Service, 2007).

The government of Ghana in 2007 started the implementation of a National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) with the aim of building a more inclusive and socially empowered society. This is being done through the provision of sustainable mechanisms for the protection of the extreme poor and vulnerable in society. The main feature of the NSPS is a social grants programme known as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme. Of a total of about 880,000 extremely poor households in Ghana, LEAP is expected to reach about 164,000 over a 5-year period starting in 2008. The LEAP grants are in the range of GHC8 to GHC15 per month for these households. The exact amount that a household gets depends on its size.