Wassa East

WASSA EAST DISTRICT
Copyright © 2014 Ghana Statistical Service
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PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
No meaningful developmental activity can be undertaken without taking into account the
characteristics of the population for whom the activity is targeted. The size of the population
and its spatial distribution, growth and change over time, in addition to its socio-economic
characteristics are all important in development planning.
A population census is the most important source of data on the size, composition, growth
and distribution of a country‟s population at the national and sub-national levels. Data from
the 2010Population and Housing Census (PHC) will serve as reference for equitable
distribution of national resources and government services, including the allocation of
government funds among various regions, districts and other sub-national populations to
education, health and other social services.
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) is delighted to provide data users, especially the
Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, with district-level analytical reports based
on the 2010 PHC data to facilitate their planning and decision-making.
The District Analytical Report for the Wassa East District is one of the 216 district census
reports aimed at making data available to planners and decision makers at the district level. In
addition to presenting the district profile, the report discusses the social and economic
dimensions of demographic variables and their implications for policy formulation, planning
and interventions. The conclusions and recommendations drawn from the district report are
expected to serve as a basis for improving the quality of life of Ghanaians through evidence-
based decision-making, monitoring and evaluation of developmental goals and intervention
programmes.
For ease of accessibility to the census data, the district report and other census reports
produced by the GSS will be disseminated widely in both print and electronic formats. The
report will also be posted on the GSS website: www.statsghana.gov.gh.
The GSS wishes to express its profound gratitude to the Government of Ghana for providing
the required resources for the conduct of the 2010 PHC. While appreciating the contribution
of our Development Partners (DPs) towards the successful implementation of the Census, we
wish to specifically acknowledge the Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and
Development (DFATD) formerly the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) for providing resources for
the preparation of all the 216 district reports. Our gratitude also goes to the Metropolitan,
Municipal and District Assemblies, the Ministry of Local Government, Consultant Guides,
Consultant Editors, Project Steering Committee members and their respective institutions for
their invaluable support during the report writing exercise. Finally, we wish to thank all the
report writers, including the GSS staff who contributed to the preparation of the reports, for
their dedication and diligence in ensuring the timely and successful completion of the district
census reports.
Dr. Philomena Nyarko

Government Statistician
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................... iii

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. vi
LIST OF FIGURES ...............................................................................................................vii
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................ viii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background ................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Physical Features ......................................................................................................... 1
1.3 Political Administration .............................................................................................. 3
1.4 Social and Cultural Structures ..................................................................................... 3
1.5 Economy...................................................................................................................... 3
1.6 Census Methodology, Concepts and Definitions ........................................................ 4
1.7 Organization of the Report ........................................................................................ 14
CHAPTER TWO: DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS......................................... 15
2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 15
2.2 Population Size and Distribution .............................................................................. 15
2.3 Age-Sex Structure ..................................................................................................... 15
2.4 Age Dependency Ratio.............................................................................................. 15
2.5 Population pyramid ................................................................................................... 16
2.6 Fertility, Motility and Migration ............................................................................... 17
CHAPTER THREE: SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS .................................................... 23
3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 23
3.2 Household Size, Composition and Structure............................................................. 23
3.3 Marital Status ............................................................................................................ 25
3.4 Nationality ................................................................................................................. 30
3.5 Religion ..................................................................................................................... 30
3.6 Literacy and Education.............................................................................................. 32
CHAPTER FOUR: ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS ............................................... 35
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 35
4.2 Economic Activity Status .......................................................................................... 35
4.3 Occupation ................................................................................................................ 37
4.4 Industry of Employment............................................................................................ 38
4.5 Employment Status ................................................................................................... 39
4.6 Employment Sector ................................................................................................... 40
CHAPTER FIVE: INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY .............. 42
5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 42
5.2 Ownership of Mobile Phones .................................................................................... 42
5.3 Use of Internet ........................................................................................................... 42
5.4 Household Ownership of Desktop or Laptop Computer ........................................... 42
CHAPTER SIX: DISABILITY ........................................................................................... 44
6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 44
6.2 Population with Disability......................................................................................... 44
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6.3 Distribution of Disability by Type of Locality.......................................................... 45
6.4 Disability and Activity Status ................................................................................... 45
6.5 Disability, Education and Literacy ............................................................................ 46
CHAPTER SEVEN: AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES ................................................... 48
7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 48
7.2 Households in Agriculture ........................................................................................ 48
7.3 Types of Livestock, and Other Animals Reared ....................................................... 49
CHAPTER EIGHT: HOUSING CONDITIONS ............................................................... 51
8.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 51
8.2 Housing Stock ........................................................................................................... 51
8.3 Type of Dwelling, Holding and Tenancy Arrangements .......................................... 52
8.4 Construction Materials .............................................................................................. 53
8.5 Room Occupancy ...................................................................................................... 55
8.6 Access to Utilities and Household Facilities ............................................................. 56
8.7 Main Source of Water for Drinking and for Other Domestic Use ............................ 59
8.8 Toilet and Bathing Facilities ..................................................................................... 61
8.9 Method of Waste Disposal ........................................................................................ 64
CHAPTER NINE: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY
RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................... 66
9.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 66
9.2 Summary of Findings ................................................................................................ 66
9.3 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 68
9.4 Policy Recommendations .......................................................................................... 68
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 70
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 71
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS ................................................................................................ 73
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: Population by age, sex and type of locality ........................................................... 16

Table 2.2: Reported total fertility rate, general fertility rate and crude birth rate ................... 18
Table 2.3: Female population 12 years and older by age, children ever born, children
surviving and sex of child ...................................................................................... 19
Table 2.4: Total population, deaths in households and crude death rate ................................ 20
Table 2.5: Cause of deaths in households ............................................................................... 21
Table 2.6: Birthplace by duration of residence of migrants.................................................... 22
Table 3.1: Household size by locality ..................................................................................... 23
Table 3.2: Household population by composition and sex ..................................................... 24
Table 3.3: Household population by structure and sex ........................................................... 25
Table 3.4: Persons 12 years and older by sex, age-group and marital status .......................... 26
Table 3.5: Persons 12 years and older by sex, marital status and level of education ............. 28
Table 3.6: Persons 12 years and older by sex, marital status and level of education ............. 29
Table 3.7: Population by nationality and sex .......................................................................... 30
Table 3.8: Population by religion and sex .............................................................................. 30
Table 3.9: Population 11 years and older by sex, age and literacy status ............................... 32
Table 3.10:Population 3 years and older by level of education, school attendance and sex ... 34
Table 4.1: Population 15 years and older by activity status and sex ...................................... 35
Table 4.2: Economic activity status of population 15 years and older by sex and ages ......... 37
Table 4.3: Employed population 15 years and older by occupation and sex .......................... 38
Table 4.4: Employed population 15 years and older by industry and sex .............................. 39
Table 4.5: Employed population 15 years and older by employment status and sex ............. 40
Table 4.6: Employed population 15 years and older by employment sector and sex ............. 41
Table 5.1: Population 12 years and older by mobile phone ownership, Internet facility
usage, and sex ........................................................................................................ 42
Table 5.2: Households having computers, fixed telephone lines and sex of head .................. 43
Table 6.1: Population by type of locality, disability type and sex .......................................... 44
Table 6.2: Persons 15 years and older by type of disability, economic activity status
and sex ................................................................................................................... 46
Table 6.3: Population 3 years and older by sex, disability type and level of education ......... 47
Table 7.1: Size of households by agricultural activities ......................................................... 48
Table 7.2: Distribution of livestock and keepers .................................................................... 50
Table 8.1: Stock of houses and households by type of locality .............................................. 51
Table 8.2: Type of occupied dwelling unit by sex of household head and type of locality ... 52
Table 8.3: Ownership status of dwelling by sex of household head and type of locality....... 53
Table 8.4: Main construction material for outer wall of dwelling unit by type of locality .... 54
Table 8.5: Main construction materials for the floor of dwelling unit by type of locality ..... 54
Table 8.6: Main construction material for roofing of dwelling unit by type of locality ......... 55
Table 8.7: Household size and number of sleeping rooms occupied in dwelling unit ........... 56
Table 8.8: Main source of lighting of dwelling unit by type of locality ................................. 56
Table 8.9: Main source of cooking fuel, and cooking space used by households .................. 58
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Table 8.10: Main source of water of dwelling unit for drinking and other domestic
purposes ................................................................................................................ 61
Table 8.11: Toilet facilities and Bathing facility used by household ...................................... 63
Table 8.12: Method of rubbish and liquid waste disposal by type of locality ......................... 65
Table A1: Population by sex, number of households and houses in the 20 largest
communities .......................................................................................................... 71
Table A2: Population by age group in he 20 largest communities ........................................ 72
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1: Map of Wassa East District .................................................................................... 2

Figure 2.1: Population pyramid .............................................................................................. 17
Figure 3.1: Persons 12 years and older by marital status ........................................................ 25
Figure 4.1: Population 15 years and older by activity status and sex ..................................... 36
Figure 4.2: Employed population 15 years and older by employment status ......................... 40
Figure 7.1: Household size and agricultural activities ............................................................ 49
Figure 8.1: Main source of water for drinking ........................................................................ 60
Figure 8.2: Type of toilet facilities ......................................................................................... 62
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ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
CEB Children Ever Born

CHIPS Community Health Planning Service
CIDA Canadian International Development Agency
CBR Crude Birth Rate
CS Children Surviving
DANIDA Danish International Development Agency
DCE District Chief Executive
DCD District Coordinating Director
DFID Department for International Development
DMTDP District Medium Term Development Plan
ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States
fCUBE Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education
GFR General Fertility Rate
GSS Ghana Statistical Service
ICT Information Communication Technology
JSS Junior Secondary School
JHS Junior High School
MMDAs Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
MP Member of Parliament
NGOs Non-governmental Organizations
PHC Population and Housing Census
PWDs Persons with disabilities
SSS Senior Secondary School
SHS Senior High School
TFR Total Fertility Rate
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNICEF United Nations International Children‟s Education Fund
W.C Water Closet
WHO World Health Organization
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
The District census report is the first of its kind since the first post-independence census was
conducted in 1960. The report provides basic information about the District. It gives a brief
background of the District, describing its physical features, political and administrative
structure, socio-cultural structure and economy. Using data from the 2010 Population and
Housing Census (2010 PHC), the report discusses the population characteristics of the District,
fertility, mortality, migration, marital status, literacy and education, economic activity status,
occupation, employment; Information and Communication Technology (ICT), disability,
agricultural activities and housing conditions of the District. The key findings of the analysis
are as follows (references are to the relevant sections of the report):
Population size, structure and composition
The population of Wassa East District, according to the 2010 Population and Housing Census,
is 81,073 accounting for about 3.4 percent of the entire Western Region‟s total population.
Males constitute 50.6 percent in the District and females represent 49.4 percent. More than
nine in ten (92.3%) of the population of the District is rural. The District has a sex ratio of
102.2. The population of the District is youthful (42.8%) depicting a broad base population
pyramid. The total age dependency ratio for the District is 87.3, the age dependency ratio for
males is higher (91.1) than that of females (83.5).
Fertility, mortality and migration
The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for the District is 4.5 per woman. The General Fertility Rate
(GFR) is 134.0 births per 1000 women aged 15-49 years which is higher than the regional
average of 105.8. The Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is 30.9 per 1000 population. The crude death
rate for the District is 11.4 per 1000 population. Accident/violence/homicide/suicide accounts
for 6.8 percent of all deaths while other causes constitute 93.2 percent of deaths in the District.
Majority of migrants (75.1%) living in the District were born in another region while 24.9
percent were born elsewhere in the Western Region. For migrants born in another region, those
born in Central Region constitute highest 49.9 percent followed by Eastern and Volta Regions
each constituting 17.0 percent.
Household size, composition and structure
The district has a household population of 79,436 with a total number of 18,624 households.
The average household size in the District is 4.4 persons per household. Children constitute the
largest composition of the household structure accounting for 45.0 percent. Spouses form about
11.4 percent and household heads constitute 23.4 percent. Nuclear households (head, spouse(s)
and children) constitute 35.9 percent of the total number of households in the District.
Marital status
A little less than half (48.6%) of the population aged 12 years and older are married, 37.4
percent have never married,3.0 percent are in consensual unions, 4.6 percent are widowed,
4.3 percent are divorced and 2.1 percent are separated. By age 25-29 years, more than half of
females (69.2%) are married compared to a little less than half of males (44.9%). At age 65
and older, widow females account for as high as 52.2 percent while widow males account for
only 11.5 percent. Among the married, 33.5 percent have no education while about 9.3
percent of the unmarried have no education. More than nine in ten of the married population
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(85.8%) are employed, 1.5 percent are unemployed and 12.8 percent are economically not
active. A greater proportion of those who have never married (65.5%) are economically not
active with 2.2 percent unemployed.
Nationality
The proportion of Ghanaians by birth in the District is 95.3 percent. Those who have
naturalised constitute 0.9 percent and the non-Ghanaian population in the District is 1.1
percent.
Literacy and education

Of the population 11 years and older, 64.0 percent are literate and 36.0 percent are non-
literate. The proportion of literate males is higher (71.5 %) than that of females (56.6%).
Seven out of ten people (71.2%) indicated they could speak and write both English and
Ghanaian languages. Of the population aged 3 years and older in the District who are
currently attending school, 49.4 percent are in primary school while 18.4 percent are in
JSS/JHS. For those who have attended school in the past, 36.1 percent have attended JSS/JHS
and 23.6 percent have attended primary school.
Economic activity status
About 73.4 percent of the population aged 15 years and older are economically active while
26.6 percent are economically not active. Of the economically active population, 97.3 percent
are employed while 2.7 percent are unemployed. For those who are economically not active,
a large percentage is students (44.8%), 30.7 percent perform household duties and 7.4 percent
are disabled or too sick to work. A little more than half (58.1%) unemployed are seeking
work for the first time.
Occupation
Of the employed population 15 years and older, about 70.7 percent are engaged as skilled
agricultural, forestry and fishery workers, 8.1 percent in service and sales, 7.7 percent in craft
and related trade, and 4.5 percent are engaged as managers, professionals, and technicians.
Employment status and sector
Of the population 15 years and older 67.2 percent are self-employed without employees, 15.9
percent are contributing family workers, 1.7 percent are casual workers and 0.7 percent are
domestic employees (house helps). Overall, female constitute the highest proportion in each
employment category except the employee, self-employed with employees and casual
worker. The private informal sector is the largest employer in the District, employing 91.2
percent of the population followed by the private formal sector with 4.7 percent.
Information Communication Technology

Of the population 12 years and older, 29.0 percent have mobile phones. Men who own
mobile phones constitute 37.2 percent as compared to 20.8 percent of females. About 1.4
percent of the population 12 years and older uses internet facilities in the District. Only 420
households representing 2.3 percent of the total households in the District have
desktop/laptop computers.
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Disability
About 4.9 percent of the District‟s total population has one form of disability or the other.
The proportion of the male population with disability is slightly higher (5.0%) than females
(4.9%). The types of disability in the District include sight, hearing, speech, physical,
intellect, and emotion. Persons with sight disability recorded the highest proportion of 45.6
percent followed by physical disability (23.9%). About 93.0 percent of the population with
disability are in the rural localities as compared to urban localities.
As high as 78.7 percent of households in the District are engage in agriculture. In the rural
localities, about nine out of ten households (94.1%) are agricultural households while in the
urban localities, 5.9 percent of households are into agriculture. Most agricultural households
in the District (96.1%) are involved in crop farming. Poultry (chicken) is the dominant
animal reared in the District.
Housing
The housing stock of Wassa East District is 15,923 representing 4.2 percent of the total
number of houses in the Western Region. The average number of persons per house is 5.1.
Type, tenancy arrangement and ownership of dwelling units
About three in ten (33.0%) of all dwelling units in the District are compound houses; 47.2
percent are separate houses and 9.7 percent are semi-detached houses. More than half
(73.2%) of the dwelling units in the District are owned by members of the household; 11.7
percent are owned by private individuals; 10.9 percent are owned by a relative who is not a
member of the household and only 1.4 percent are owned by public or government. Less
than one percent (0.8%) of the dwelling units is owned through mortgage schemes.
Material for construction of outer wall, floor and roof
The main construction material for outer walls of dwelling units in the District is mud/mud
bricks or earth accounting for 67.0 percent with cement/concrete constituting 26.7 percent of
outer walls of dwelling units in the District. Cement (80.4%) and mud/earth (17.7%) are the
two main materials used in the construction of floors of dwelling units in . Metal sheets are
the main roofing material (71.1 %) for dwelling units in the District, this is followed by
bamboo constituting 13.6 percent.
Room occupancy
One room constitutes the highest percentage (62.5%) of sleeping rooms occupied by
households in housing units in the District. About 8.6 percent of households with 10 or more
members occupy single rooms.
Utilities and household facilities

The three main sources of lighting in dwelling units in the District are electricity (35.3%),
flashlight/torch (46.0%), and kerosene lamp (16.9%). The main source of fuel for cooking for
most households is wood (77.5%); the proportion for rural (81.0%) is higher than that of
urban (41.0%). The four main sources of water in the District are borehole, river/stream,
public tap and pipe borne water. A little less than half of households (43.0%) drink water
from boreholes, while the other 30.7 percent drinks water from river/stream.
The common toilet facility used is public toilet (WC, KVIP, Pit, Pan) representing 41.3
percent followed by pit latrine (39.5%). About 10.7 percent of the population has no toilet
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facility. About two in ten households (25.2%) in the District share separate bathrooms in the
same house while 27.4 percent own bathrooms for their exclusive use.
Waste disposal
The most widely used method of solid waste disposal is by public dump in the open space
accounting for 65.6 percent. About one in ten households (12.5%) dump their solid waste
indiscriminately. House to house waste collection accounts for 3.2 percent. For liquid waste
disposal, throwing waste onto the street/outside (21.7%) and thrown into the gutter (12.5%)
are the two most common methods used by households in the District.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Wassa East District Assembly is located at the south-eastern end of the Western Region. The
District was carved out of the former Wassa Fiase Mpohor District in 1988. It is bounded on
the northeast and southeast by the Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira District, Twifo Ati
Morkwa District and Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipal all in the Central Region.
The District is again bounded on the west by the Prestea Huni-Valley District and in the south
by the Shama District. It also shares boundaries on the east with Mpohor District. It has a
total land area of 1,651.992 square kilometers. The District capital is Daboase, which is about
6.7 km from the Cape Coast -Takoradi main road.
1.2 Physical Features

1.2.1 Vegetation
The vegetation of the District is predominantly tropical rainforest. Therefore the District has a
number of forest reserves including Subri River Forest Reserve, which occupies about 375
square kilometers and the Pra Suhyen Forest Reserve covering approximately 204 square
kilometers. The others are the Ben West Block Forest Reserve and Ben East Forest Reserve.
These forests are the semblance of virgin forest in the District.
1.2.2 Landscape
The District lies within the low-lying areas of the region with most parts below 150 metres
above sea level. The landscape is generally undulating with most part of it being highlands. It
has an average height of about 70 metres. The highest elevation ranges between 150 and 200
metres above sea level.
1.2.3 Climate
The District falls within the tropical climate zone. The mean annual rainfall is 1500 mm and
ranges from 1300 to 2000 mm. The wet period in the District is between March and July
while November to February is dry. The rainfall pattern is favourable for agricultural
activities.
1.2.4 Drainage/rivers
The District is endowed with many rivers and streams. The major river Pra, runs through
Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira District through Daboase to Shama. Other rivers are the
Subri and Whini which serve as tributaries to the Pra River. While most of the rivers
overflow their banks in the rainy season, some virtually dry out in the dry season. The
drainage system of Wassa East District largely follows dendrite and radial patterns.
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Figure 1.1: Map of Wassa East District
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, GIS
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1.2.5 Soils, geology and minerals
There are four main categories of rock and soil types which underlie the District namely:
Lower Birimian, Cape Coast granite and Tarkwaian. More than half of the soil consists of
Cape Coast granitic soils. Existing underground rocks in certain communities hinder the
drilling of water facilities. The District has large deposits of gold and traces of iron hence the
upsurge of mining activities which has resulted in the pollution of water resources in the
District.
1.3 Political Administration

The District Assembly is the highest political authority in the District as stipulated under
Section 10 of the Local Government Act, 1993 (Act 462). It has been empowered to oversee
the overall development of the District as stated in Section 2 of the National Development
Planning Systems Act (Act 480). There is a District Chief Executive, who functions both as
political and administrative leader. The District has four (4) Area Councils namely; Ekutuase,
Daboase, Atieku and Enyinabrim. Wasaa East has eleven decentralized departments. The
District has a District Coordinating Director as an administrative head and a Presiding
Member who is in charge of assembly proceedings. In all, the assembly has 32 members
made up of 21 elected and eleven government appointees. The composition is further broken
down into four females and 28 males.
1.4 Social and Cultural Structures

The District has one paramount (Wassa Fiase) and most of the communities have divisional
chiefs who function under the paramountcy in Tarkwa in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality.
In most of the communities in the District, chiefs are selected from the Asana Kona royal
family. The District has diverse ethnic groups and languages as result of migration. The
major ethnic groups are the Akan, Ewe and Dagomba. These ethnic groups speak different
languages with Wassa being the predominant one. Other major languages spoken in the
District are Twi, Fante and Hausa. The inhabitants celebrate Kundum Festival.
1.5 Economy
1.5.1 Agriculture
Agriculture is the major occupation of the inhabitants of the District. The major staple food
crops produced in the District include cassava, plantain, maize, cocoyam and vegetables.
Farmers in the District practice mainly traditional methods of farming with an average farm
size of one acre per farmer.
The predominant cash crops are cocoa, oil palm and rubber. Cocoa is usually cultivated in
small to medium sized plantations mostly by settler farmers. Most of the farmers own their
lands acquired through the families by inheritance and from family heads. Abunu and Abusa
system where land is given out for farming after which proceeds are shared either into two or
three as predetermined are also practiced. Other means of land acquisition for farming are
outright purchase that is, freehold titles as well as household titles from traditional leaders
and other indigenous people. These means of acquisition is not common because most
families consider this unacceptable.
1.5.2 Manufacturing and service

The following are the large-scale industries in the District. Golden Star (Wassa mines)
Limited in Akyempim, the SOCFINAF plantations limited which is into the growing of
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rubber and oil palm and the Ghana Water Company in Daboase which supplies Daboase and
its environs with pipe borne water. A number of micro enterprises for agro-processing can be
found in most parts of the District. Specific locations include gari-processing facility in
Kwabaa. Small-scale mining activities are carried out in areas like Sekyere krobo, Senkyem,
Daboase and several other communities. An appreciable number of the inhabitants are into
teaching, health service and civil service and other public services.
1.5.3 Tourism
The Kundum festival and other allied festivals, usually performed between the months of
October and November could be packaged for tourism purposes. Wassa East District is proud
to have the Domama rock shrine which is a prominent tourist site in the Western Region and
Ghana at large. The District has in addition to the Domama rock shrine the Subri River Forest
Reserve which occupies 375 square kilometers and the Pra Suhyen forest reserve with 204
square kilometers which also attract tourist because of it canopy layout. There are two small
ones namely the Ben west block forest reserves and Ben East forest reserves.
1.6 Census Methodology, Concepts and Definitions

1.6.1 Introduction
Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) was guided by the principle of international comparability
and the need to obtain accurate information in the 2010 Population and Housing Census
(2010 PHC). The Census was, therefore, conducted using all the essential features of a
modern census as contained in the United Nations Principles and Recommendations for
countries taking part in the 2010 Round of Population and Housing Censuses.
Experience from previous post independence censuses of Ghana (1960, 1970, 1984 and 2000)
was taken into consideration in developing the methodologies for conducting the 2010 PHC.
The primary objective of the 2010 PHC was to provide information on the number,
distribution and social, economic and demographic characteristics of the population of Ghana
necessary to facilitate the socio-economic development of the country.
1.6.2 Pre-enumeration activities
Development of census project document and work plans
A large scale statistical operation, such as the 2010 Population and Housing Census required
meticulous planning for its successful implementation. A working group of the Ghana
Statistical Service prepared the census project document with the assistance of two
consultants. The document contains the rationale and objectives of the census, census
organisation, a work plan as well as a budget. The project document was launched in
November 2008 as part of the Ghana Statistics Development Plan (GSDP) and reviewed in
November 2009.
Census secretariat and committees
A well-structured management and supervisory framework that outlines the responsibilities
of the various stakeholders is essential for the effective implementation of a population and
housing census. To implement the 2010 PHC, a National Census Secretariat was set up in
January 2008 and comprised professional and technical staff of GSS as well as staff of other
Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) seconded to GSS. The Census Secretariat was
primarily responsible for the day-to-day planning and implementation of the census activities.
The Secretariat had seven units, namely; census administration, cartography, recruitment and
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training, publicity and education, field operations and logistics management, data processing,
and data analysis and dissemination.
The Census Secretariat was initially headed by an acting Census Coordinator engaged by the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in 2008 to support GSS in the planning of the
Census. In 2009, the Census Secretariat was re-organised with the Government Statistician
as the National Chief Census Officer and overall Coordinator, assisted by a Census
Management Team and a Census Coordinating Team. The Census Management Team had
oversight responsibility for the implementation of the Census. It also had the responsibility of
taking critical decisions on the census in consultation with other national committees. The
Census Coordinating Team, on the other hand, was responsible for the day-to-day
implementation of the Census programme.
A number of census committees were also set up at both national and sub-national levels to
provide guidance and assistance with respect to resource mobilization and technical advice.
At the national level, the committees were the National Census Steering Committee (NCSC),
the National Census Technical Advisory Committee (NCTAC) and the National Census
Publicity and Education Committee (NCPEC). At the regional and district levels, the
committees were the Regional Census Implementation Committee and the District Census
Implementation Committee, respectively.
The Regional and District Census Implementation Committees were inter-sectoral in their
composition. Members of the Committees were mainly from decentralized departments with
the Regional and District Coordinating Directors chairing the Regional Census
Implementation Committee and District Census Implementation Committee, respectively.
The Committees contributed to the planning of district, community and locality level
activities in areas of publicity and field operations. They supported the Regional and District
Census Officers in the recruitment and training of field personnel (enumerators and
supervisors), as well as mobilizing logistical support for the census.
Selection of census topics
The topics selected for the 2010 Population and Housing Census were based on
recommendations contained in the UN Principles and Recommendations for 2010 Round of
Population and Housing Censuses and the African Addendum to that document as well as the
needs of data users. All the core topics recommended at the global level, i.e., geographical
and internal migration characteristics, international migration, household characteristics,
demographic and social characteristics such as age, date of birth, sex, and marital status,
fertility and mortality, educational and economic characteristics, issues relating to disability
and housing conditions and amenities were included in the census.
Some topics that were not considered core by the UN recommendations but which were
found to be of great interest and importance to Ghana and were, therefore, included in the
2010 PHC are religion, ethnicity, employment sector and place of work, agricultural activity,
as well as housing topics, such as, type of dwelling, materials for outer wall, floor and roof,
tenure/holding arrangement, number of sleeping rooms, cooking fuel, cooking space and
Information Communication Technology (ICT).
Census mapping
A timely and well implemented census mapping is pivotal to the success of any population
and housing census. Mapping delineates the country into enumeration areas to facilitate
smooth enumeration of the population. The updating of the 2000 Census Enumeration Area
5
(EA) maps started in the last quarter of 2007 with the acquisition of topographic sheets of all
indices from the Survey and Mapping Division of the Lands Commission. In addition, digital
sheets were also procured for the Geographical Information System Unit.
The Cartography Unit of the Census Secretariat collaborated with the Survey and Mapping
Division of the Lands Commission and the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic
Information Services (CERSGIS) of the Department of Geography and Resource
Development, University of Ghana, to determine the viability of migrating from analog to
digital mapping for the 2010 PHC, as recommended in the 2000 PHC Administrative Report.
Field cartographic work started in March 2008 and was completed in February 2010.
Development of questionnaire and manuals

For effective data collection, there is the need to design appropriate documents to solicit the
required information from respondents. GSS consulted widely with main data users in the
process of the questionnaire development. Data users including MDAs, research institutions,
civil society organisations and development partners were given the opportunity to indicate
the type of questions they wanted to be included in the census questionnaire.
Documents developed for the census included the questionnaire and manuals, and field
operation documents. The field operation documents included Enumerator‟s Visitation
Record Book, Supervisor‟s Record Book, and other operational control forms. These record
books served as operational and quality control tools to assist enumerators and supervisors to
control and monitor their field duties respectively.
Pre-tests and trial census
It is internationally recognized that an essential element in census planning is the pre-testing
of the questionnaire and related instructions. The objective of the pre-test is to test the
questionnaire, the definition of its concepts and the instructions for filling out the
questionnaire.
The census questionnaire was pre-tested twice in the course of its development. The first pre-
test was carried out in March 2009 to find out the suitability of the questions and the
instructions provided. It also tested the adequacy and completeness of the responses and how
respondents understood the questions. The second pre-test was done in 10 selected
enumeration areas in August, 2009. The objective of the second pre-test was to examine the
sequence of the questions, test the new questions, such as, date of birth and migration, and
assess how the introduction of „date of birth‟ could help to reduce „age heaping‟. With regard
to questions on fertility, the pre-tests sought to find out the difference, if any, between proxy
responses and responses by the respondents themselves. Both pre-tests were carried in the
Greater Accra Region. Experience from the pre-tests was used to improve the final census
questionnaire.
A trial census which is a dress rehearsal of all the activities and procedures that are planned
for the main census was carried out in October/November 2009. These included recruitment
and training, distribution of census materials, administration of the questionnaire and other
census forms, enumeration of the various categories of the population (household,
institutional and floating population), and data processing. The trial census was held in six
selected districts across the country namely; Saboba (Northern Region), Chereponi (Northern
Region), Sene (Brong Ahafo Region), Bia (Western Region), Awutu Senya (Central Region),
and Osu Klottey Sub-Metro (Greater Accra Region). A number of factors were considered in
selecting the trial census districts. These included: administrative boundary issues, ecological
6
zone, and accessibility, enumeration of floating population/outdoor-sleepers, fast growing
areas, institutional population, and enumeration areas with scattered settlements.
The trial census provided GSS with an opportunity to assess its plans and procedures as well
as the state of preparedness for the conduct of the 2010 PHC. The common errors found
during editing of the completed questionnaires resulted in modifications to the census
questionnaire, enumerator manuals and other documents. The results of the trial census
assisted GSS to arrive at technically sound decisions on the ideal number of persons per
questionnaire, number of persons in the household roster, migration questions, placement of
the mortality question, serial numbering of houses/housing structures and method of
collection of information on community facilities. Lessons learnt from the trial census also
guided the planning of the recruitment process, the procedures for training of census field
staff and the publicity and education interventions.
1.6.3 Census Enumeration

Method of enumeration and field work
All post- independence censuses (1960, 1970, 1984, and 2000) conducted in Ghana used the
de facto method of enumeration where people are enumerated at where they were on census
night and not where they usually reside. The same method was adopted for the 2010 PHC.
The de facto count is preferred because it provides a simple and straight forward way of
counting the population since it is based on a physical fact of presence and can hardly be
misinterpreted. It is thought that the method also minimizes the risks of under-enumeration
and over enumeration. The canvasser method, which involves trained field personnel visiting
houses and households identified in their respective enumeration areas, was adopted for the
2010 PHC.
The main census enumeration involved the canvassing of all categories of the population by
trained enumerators, using questionnaires prepared and tested during the pre-enumeration
phase. Specific arrangements were made for the coverage of special population groups, such
as the homeless and the floating population. The fieldwork began on 21st September 2010
with the identification of EA boundaries, listing of structures, enumeration of institutional
population and floating population.
The week preceding the Census Night was used by field personnel to list houses and other
structures in their enumeration areas. Enumerators were also mobilized to enumerate
residents/inmates of institutions, such as, schools and prisons. They returned to the
institutions during the enumeration period to reconcile the information they obtained from
individuals and also to cross out names of those who were absent from the institutions on
Census Night. Out-door sleepers (floating population) were also enumerated on the Census
Night.
Enumeration of the household population started on Monday, 27th September, 2010.
Enumerators visited houses, compounds and structures in their enumeration areas and started
enumerating all households including visitors who spent the Census Night in the households.
Enumeration was carried out in the order in which houses/structures were listed and where
the members of the household were absent, the enumerator left a call-back-card indicating
when he/she would come back to enumerate the household. The enumeration process took off
smoothly with enumerators poised on completing their assignments on schedule since many
of them were teachers and had to return to school. However, many enumerators ran short of
questionnaires after a few days‟ work.
7
Enumeration resumed in all districts when the questionnaire shortage was resolved and by
17th October, 2010, enumeration was completed in most districts. Enumerators who had
finished their work were mobilized to assist in the enumeration of localities that were yet to
be enumerated in some regional capitals and other fast growing areas. Flooded areas and
other inaccessible localities were also enumerated after the end of the official enumeration
period. Because some enumeration areas in fast growing cities and towns, such as, Accra
Metropolitan Area, Kumasi, Kasoa and Techiman were not properly demarcated and some
were characterized by large EAs, some enumerators were unable to complete their assigned
tasks within the stipulated time.
1.6.4 Post Enumeration Survey
In line with United Nations recommendations, GSS conducted a Post Enumeration Survey
(PES) in April, 2011 to check content and coverage error. The PES was also to serve as an
important tool in providing feedback regarding operational matters such as concepts and
procedures in order to help improve future census operations. The PES field work was
carried out for 21 days in April 2011 and was closely monitored and supervised to ensure
quality output. The main findings of the PES were that:
 97.0 percent of all household residents who were in the country on Census Night (26th
September, 2010) were enumerated.
 1.3 percent of the population was erroneously included in the census.
 Regional differentials are observed. Upper East Region recorded the highest coverage
rate of 98.2 percent while the Volta Region had the lowest coverage rate of 95.7
percent.
 Males (3.3%) were more likely than females (2.8%) to be omitted in the census. The
coverage rate for males was 96.7 percent and the coverage rate for females was 97.2
percent. Also, the coverage rates (94.1%) for those within the 20-29 and 30-39 age
groups are relatively lower compared to the coverage rates of the other age groups.
 There was a high rate of agreement between the 2010 PHC data and the PES data for
sex (98.8%), marital status (94.6%), relationship to head of household (90.5%) and
age (83.0%).
1.6.5 Release and dissemination of results
The provisional results of the census were released in February 2011 and the final results in
May 2012. A National Analytical report, six thematic reports, a Census Atlas, 10 Regional
Reports and a report on Demographic, Social, Economic and Housing were prepared and
disseminated in 2013.
1.6.6 Concepts and definitions
Introduction
The 2010 Population and Housing Census of Ghana followed the essential concepts and
definitions of a modern Population and Housing Census as recommended by the United
Nations (UN). It is important that the concepts, definitions and recommendations are adhered
to since they form the basis upon which Ghana could compare her data with that of other
countries.
8
The concepts and definitions in this report cover all sections of the 2010 Population and
Housing Census questionnaires (PHC1A and PHC1B). The sections were: geographical
location of the population, Household and Non-household population, Literacy and
Education, Emigration, Demographic and Economic Characteristics, Disability, Information
Communication Technology (ICT), Fertility, Mortality, Agricultural Activity and Housing
Conditions.
The concepts and definitions are provided to facilitate understanding and use of the data
presented in this report. Users are therefore advised to use the results of the census within the
context of these concepts and definitions.
Region
There were ten (10) administrative regions in Ghana during the 2010 Population and Housing
Census as they were in 1984 and 2000.
District
In 1988, Ghana changed from the local authority system of administration to the district
assembly system. In that year, the then existing 140 local authorities were demarcated into
110 districts. In 2004, 28 new districts were created; this increased the number of districts in
the country to 138. In 2008, 32 additional districts were created bringing the total number of
districts to 170. The 2010 Population and Housing Census was conducted in these 170
administrative districts (these are made-up of 164 districts/municipals and 6 metropolitan
areas). In 2012, 46 new districts were created to bring the total number of districts to 216.
There was urgent need for data for the 46 newly created districts for planning and decision-
making. To meet this demand, the 2010 Census data was re-programmed into 216 districts
after carrying out additional fieldwork and consultations with stakeholders in the districts
affected by the creation of the new districts.
Locality
A locality was defined as a distinct population cluster (also designated as inhabited place,
populated centre, settlement) which has a NAME or LOCALLY RECOGNISED STATUS. It
included fishing hamlets, mining camps, ranches, farms, market towns, villages, towns, cities
and many other types of population clusters, which meet the above criteria. There were two
main types of localities, rural and urban. As in previous censuses, the classification of
localities into „urban‟ and „rural‟ was based on population size. Localities with 5,000 or more
persons were classified as urban while localities with less than 5,000 persons were classified
as rural.
Population
The 2010 Census was a “de facto” count and each person present in Ghana, irrespective of
nationality, was enumerated at the place where he/she spent the midnight of 26th September
2010.
Household
A household was defined as a person or a group of persons, who lived together in the same
house or compound and shared the same house-keeping arrangements. In general, a
household consisted of a man, his wife, children and some other relatives or a house help who
may be living with them. However, it is important to remember that members of a household
are not necessarily related (by blood or marriage) because non-relatives (e.g. house helps)
may form part of a household.
9
Head of household
The household head was defined as a male or female member of the household recognised as
such by the other household members. The head of household is generally the person who has
economic and social responsibility for the household. All relationships are defined with
reference to the head.
Household and non-household population
Household population comprised of all persons who spent the census night in a household
setting. All persons who did not spend the census night in a household setting (except
otherwise stated) were classified as non-household population. Persons who spent census
night in any of the under listed institutions and locations were classified as non-household
population:
(a) Educational Institutions
(b) Children's and old people‟s homes
(c) Hospitals and healing centres
(d) Hotels
(e) Prisons
(f) Service barracks
(g) Soldiers on field exercise
(h) Floating Population: The following are examples of persons in this category:
i. All persons who slept in lorry parks, markets, in front of stores and offices, public
bathrooms, petrol filling stations, railway stations, verandas, pavements, and all
such places which are not houses or compounds.
ii. Hunting and fishing camps.
iii. Beggars and vagrants (mentally sick or otherwise).
Age
The age of every person was recorded in completed years disregarding fractions of days and
months. For those persons who did not know their birthdays, the enumerator estimated their
ages using a list of district, regional and national historical events.
Nationality
Nationality is defined as the country to which a person belongs. A distinction is made
between Ghanaians and other nationals. Ghanaian nationals are grouped into Ghanaian by
birth, Ghanaian with dual nationality and Ghanaian by naturalization. Other nationals are
grouped into ECOWAS nationals, Africans other than ECOWAS nationals, and non-
Africans.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity refers to the ethnic group that a person belonged to. This information is collected
only from Ghanaians by birth and Ghanaians with dual nationality. The classification of
10
ethnic groups in Ghana is that officially provided by the Bureau of Ghana Languages and
which has been in use since the 1960 census.
Birthplace
The birthplace of a person refers to the locality of usual residence of the mother at the time of
birth. If after delivery a mother stayed outside her locality of usual residence for six months
or more or had the intention of staying in the new place for six or more months, then the
actual town/village of physical birth becomes the birthplace of the child.
Duration of residence
Duration of residence refers to the number of years a person has lived in a particular place.
This question is only asked of persons not born in the place where enumeration took place.
Breaks in duration of residence lasting less than 12 months are disregarded. The duration of
residence of persons who made multiple movements of one (1) year or more is assumed to be
the number of years lived in the locality (town or village) since the last movement.
Religion
Religion refers to the individual‟s religious affiliation as reported by the respondent,
irrespective of the religion of the household head or the head‟s spouse or the name of the
person. No attempt was made to find out if respondents actually practiced the faith they
professed.
Marital status
Marital status refers to the respondent‟s marital status as at Census Night. The question on
marital status was asked only of persons 12 years and older. The selection of the age limit of
12 years was based on the average age at menarche and also on the practice in some parts of
the country where girls as young as 12 years old could be given in marriage.
Literacy
The question on literacy referred to the respondent's ability to read and write in any language.
A person was considered literate if he/she could read and write a simple statement with
understanding. The question on literacy was asked only of persons 11 years and older.
Education
School Attendance
Data was collected on school attendance for all persons three (3) years and older. School
attendance refers to whether a person has ever attended, was currently attending or has never
attended school. In the census, school meant an educational institution where a person
received at least four hours of formal education.
Although the lower age limit of formal education is six years for primary one, eligibility for
the school attendance question was lowered to three years because pre-school education has
become an important phenomenon in the country.
Level of education
Level of education refers to the highest level of formal school that a person ever attended or
was attending. This information was obtained for persons 3 years and older.
11
Activity status
Activity status refers to economic or non-economic activity of respondents during the 7 days
preceding census night. Information on type of activity was collected on persons 5 years and
older. A person was regarded as economically active if he/she:
a. Worked for pay or profit or family gain for at least 1 hour within the 7 days preceding
Census Night. This included persons who were in paid employment or self-
employment or contributing family workers.
b. Did not work, but had jobs to return to.
c. Were unemployed.
The economically not active were persons who did not work and were not seeking for work.
They were classified by reasons for not being economically active. Economically not active
persons included homemakers, students, retired persons, the disabled and persons who were
unable to work due to their age or ill-health.
Occupation
This referred to the type of work the person was engaged in at the establishment where he/she
worked. This was asked only of persons 5 years and older who worked 7 days before the
census night, and those who did not work but had a job to return to as well as those
unemployed who had worked before. All persons who worked during the 7 days before the
census night were classified by the kind of work they were engaged in. The emphasis was on
the work the person did during the reference period and not what he/she was trained to do.
For those who did not work but had a job to return to, their occupation was the job they
would go back to after the period of absence. Also, for persons who had worked before and
were seeking for work and available for work, their occupation was on the last work they did
before becoming unemployed. If a person was engaged in more than one occupation, only the
main one was considered.
Industry
Industry referred to the type of product produced or service rendered at the respondent‟s work
place. Information was collected only on the main product produced or service rendered in
the establishment during the reference period.
Employment status
Employment status refers to the status of a person in the establishment where he/she currently
works or previously worked. Eight employment status categories were provided: employee,
self-employed without employees, self-employed with employees, casual worker,
contributing family worker, apprentice, domestic employee (house help). Persons who could
not be classified under any of the above categories were classified as “other”.
Employment sector
This refers to the sector in which a person worked. The employment sectors covered in the
census were public, private formal, private informal, semi-public/parastatal, NGOs and
international organizations.
12
Disability
Persons with disability were defined as those who were unable to or were restricted in the
performance of specific tasks/activities due to loss of function of some part of the body as a
result of impairment or malformation. Information was collected on persons with visual/sight
impairment, hearing impairment, mental retardation, emotional or behavioural disorders and
other physical challenges.
Information Communication Technology (ICT)
ICT questions were asked for both individuals and households. Persons having mobile
phones refer to respondents 12 years and older who owned mobile phones (irrespective of the
number of mobile phones owned by each person). Persons using internet facility refers to
those who had access to internet facility at home, internet cafe, on mobile phone or other
mobile device. Internet access is assumed to be not only via computer, but also by mobile
phones, PDA, game machine and digital television.
Households having Personal Computers/Laptops refer to households who own
desktops/laptop computers. The fixed telephone line refers to a telephone line connecting a
customer‟s terminal equipment (e.g. telephone set, facsimile machine) to the public switch
telephone network.
Fertility
Two types of fertility data were collected: lifetime fertility and current fertility. Lifetime
fertility refers to the total number of live births that females 12 years and older had ever had
during their life time. Current fertility refers to the number of live births that females 12-54
years old had in the 12 months preceding the Census Night.
Mortality
Mortality refers to all deaths that occurred in the household during the 12 months preceding
the Census Night. The report presents information on deaths due to accidents, violence,
homicide and suicide. In addition, data were collected on pregnancy-related deaths of
females 12-54 years.
Agriculture
The census sought information on household members who are engaged in agricultural
activities, including the cultivation of crops or tree planting, rearing of livestock or breeding
of fish for sale or family consumption. Information was also collected on their farms, types of
crops and number and type of livestock.
Housing conditions and facilities

The UN recommended definition of a house as “a structurally separate and independent place
of abode such that a person or group of persons can isolate themselves from the hazards of
climate such as storms and the sun‟‟ was adopted. The definition, therefore, covered any type
of shelter used as living quarters, such as separate houses, semi-detached houses,
flats/apartments, compound houses, huts, tents, kiosks and containers.
Living quarters or dwelling units refer to a specific area or space occupied by a particular
household and therefore need not necessarily be the same as the house of which the dwelling
unit may be a part.
13
Information collected on housing conditions included the type of dwelling unit, main
construction materials for walls, floor and roof, holding/tenure arrangement, ownership type,
type of lighting, source of water supply and toilet facilities. Data was also collected on
method of disposal of solid and liquid waste.
1.7 Organization of the Report

The report consists of nine chapters. Chapter one provides basic information about the
district. It gives a brief background of the district, describing its physical features, political
and administrative structure, social and cultural structure, economy and the methodology and
concepts used in the report. Chapter two discusses the population size, composition and age
structure. It further discusses the migratory pattern in the district as well as fertility and
mortality.
In chapter three, the focus is on household size, composition and headship as well as the
marital characteristics and nationality of the inhabitants of the district. The chapter also
discusses the religious affiliations and the educational statuses of the members of the district.
Chapter four focuses on economic characteristics such as economic activity status,
occupation, industries and the employment status and sectors that the people are employed.
Information Communication Technology (ICT) is discussed in chapter five. It analyses
mobile phone ownership, internet use and ownership of desktop/laptop computers while
chapter six is devoted to Persons living with disabilities (PWDs) and their socio-demographic
characteristics. Chapter seven concentrates on the agricultural activities of the households,
describing the types of farming activities, livestock rearing and numbers of livestock reared.
In chapter eight, housing conditions such as housing stock, type of dwelling and construction
materials, room occupancy, holding and tenancy, lighting and cooking facilities, bathing and
toilet facilities, waste disposal and source of water for drinking or for other domestic use in
the district are discussed and analyzed in detail. The final chapter, Chapter nine presents the
summary of findings and conclusions. It also discusses the policy implications of the findings
for the district.
14
CHAPTER TWO
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
2.1 Introduction
The demographic characteristics of a country‟s population such as the size, distribution, age-
sex structure, fertility and mortality have wide ranging consequences for a number of socio-
economic indicators such as the welfare of the people. The objective of this chapter is to
analyse the size, composition, and age-sex structure of the 2010 Population and Housing
Census for Wassa East District
2.2 Population Size and Distribution

Wassa East District has a total population of 81,073 consisting of 40,984 males and 40,089
females as shown in Table 2.2. The District is predominantly rural with 74,834 (92.3 per
cent) of the residents in the rural communities. The percentage of rural dwellers in the
District is higher than the average for the Western Region (57.6%) as well as the national
average (49.1%) .
2.3 Age-Sex Structure

The age-sex structure which is useful for population projections is presented in Table 2.1.
About 43 per cent of the total population of the District is in the 0-14 age group. The
percentage of the 0-14 years in the District is slightly higher than the proportions for the
Western Region (39 per cent) and Ghana (39.9 per cent). The aged (65+ years) in the District
accounts for 3.9 of the population.
The District has a sex ratio of 102.2 compared to 100.0 and 95.2 for Western Region and
Ghana respectively. However, the sex ratio for the people in the 20-39 age group is less than
100 which means that there are more females than males among those age groups.
2.4 Age Dependency Ratio

Age dependency ratio refers to the ratio of persons in the “dependent” ages (generally under
age 15 and over age 64) to those in the “economically productive” ages (15-64 years) in a
population. The dependency ratio is defined as the number of dependent persons per 100
working population. As shown in Table 2.1 the age dependency ratio of the District is 87.3
compared to 74.8 and 76 for Western Region and Ghana respectively. The age dependency
ratio for the male population (91.1) is higher than the females (83.5) in the District. The child
dependency ratio of 80.0 and the old age dependency is 7.3.
15
Table 2.1: Population by age, sex and type of locality
Sex
Both Sex
Age group Sexes Male Female Urban Rural ratio
All ages 81,073 40,984 40,089 6,239 74,834 102.2
0-4 12,702 6,443 6,259 764 11,938 102.9
5-9 11,593 5,955 5,638 795 10,798 105.6
10 - 14 10,348 5,603 4,745 857 9,491 118.1
15 - 19 7,954 4,234 3,720 771 7,183 113.8
20 - 24 6,087 2,843 3,244 585 5,502 87.6
25 - 29 5,926 2,736 3,190 487 5,439 85.8
30 - 34 5,092 2,512 2,580 358 4,734 97.4
35 - 39 4,764 2,271 2,493 343 4,421 91.1
40 - 44 3,939 2,012 1,927 305 3,634 104.4
45 - 49 3,155 1,592 1,563 255 2,900 101.9
50 - 54 3,000 1,459 1,541 260 2,740 94.7
55 - 59 1,778 971 807 143 1,635 120.3
60 - 64 1,593 815 778 117 1,476 104.8
65 - 69 826 437 389 55 771 112.3
70 - 74 1,109 549 560 67 1,042 98
75 - 79 461 239 222 29 432 107.7
80 – 84 378 154 224 25 353 68.8
85+ 368 159 209 23 345 76.1
All ages 81,073 40,984 40,089 6,239 74,834 102.2

0-14 34,643 18,001 16,642
15-64 43,288 21,445 21,843
65+ 3,142 1,538 1,604
Age-dependency ratio 87.3 91.1 83.5
Child dependency ratio 80 83.9 76.2
Old age dependency ratio 7.3 7.2 7.3
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census
2.5 Population pyramid

Figure 2.1, shows the structure of the population of Wassa East District. The population has a
broad base structure which indicates a youthful population and a narrow apex which denotes
fewer aged persons. The pyramid further shows a higher population of males than female
from ages 0-4 years to 15-19 years. Again, higher proportions of the population are within the
age groups 0-4 to 15-19 years indicating a high child dependency ratio for the District.
16
Figure 2.1: Population pyramid
Age
80-84
Male Female
70-74
60-64
50-54
40-44
30-34
20-24
10-14
0-4
8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000
Population
2.6 Fertility, Motility and Migration

Population change is influenced by fertility, mortality and migration. Understanding these
factors is very crucial for socio-economic policy decision-making and implementation.
2.6.1 Fertility
Fertility refers to the frequency of childbearing among women aged 15-49 years. It is
influenced by fecundity which denotes the physiological capacity of a woman, man or a
couple to produce. There are various measures of fertility. These include crude birth rate
(CER), general fertility rate (GFR), total fertility rate (TFR), children ever born (CEB) and
age specific fertility rate (ASFR).
The reported TFR, GFR and CBR by districts for the Western Region is shown in Table 2.2.
The TFR (4.5) GFR (134.0) and CBR (30.9) for the District are higher than the regional
averages of 3.6, 105.8 and 26.8 for TFR, GFR and CBR respectively. Apart from the CBR
where the District recorded the second highest, the TFR and GFR is the highest among all the
Districts in the region.
17
Table 2.2: Reported total fertility rate, general fertility rate and crude birth rate
Number Number
of women of births Total *General **Crude
15-49 in last 12 Fertility Fertility Birth
District Population years months Rate Rate Rate
All Districts 2,376,021 602,769 63,769 3.6 105.8 26.8
Jomoro 150,107 38,145 4,245 3.7 111.3 28.3
Ellembelle 87,501 22,148 2,381 3.6 107.5 27.2
Nzema East 60,828 15,155 1,734 3.7 114.4 28.5
Ahanta West 106,215 26,356 3,112 3.9 118.1 29.3
Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis 559,548 158,170 12,883 2.8 81.5 23.0
Shama 81,966 20,778 2,371 3.9 114.1 28.9
Wassa East 81,073 18,717 2,509 4.5 134.0 30.9
Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal 90,477 22,852 2,278 3.2 99.7 25.2
Prestea/Huni Valley 159,304 39,035 4,898 4.2 125.5 30.7
Wassa Amenfi East 83,478 19,368 2,481 4.4 128.1 29.7
Wassa Amenfi West 92,152 22,124 2,387 3.7 107.9 25.9
Aowin 117,886 28,511 3,253 3.9 114.1 27.6
Sefwi Akontombra 82,467 19,026 2,158 3.6 113.4 26.2
Sefwi Wiawso 139,200 34,406 3,668 3.7 106.6 26.4
Sefwi Bibiani-Ahwiaso Bekwai 123,272 30,844 2,919 3.2 94.6 23.7
Juabeso 58,435 14,521 1,792 4.2 123.4 30.7
Bia west 88,939 22,021 2,598 3.8 118.0 29.2
Mpohor 42,923 10,324 1,299 4.3 125.8 30.3
Wassa Amenfi Central 69,014 15,867 1,895 4.1 119.4 27.5
Suaman 20,529 5,141 482 3.2 93.8 23.5
Bodi 53,314 12,708 1,556 4.1 122.4 29.2
Bia East 27,393 6,552 870 4.2 132.8 31.8
Note: * Number of live births per 1,000 women aged 15-49 years
** Number of live births per 1,000 populations
Further analysis of the fertility dynamics of the female population 12 years and older in the
Wassa East District is presented in Table 2.3. The total number of females 12 years and older
is 26,148. A greater number of females 12 years and older is in the age group 15-19 years
with a population of 3,720, while the age group 55-59 years recorded the least (807). Out of
the total number of children ever born of 76,860 the number surviving is 64,491. Majority of
the children ever born are males (38,713) compared to females (38,147). In the same vein,
more male (32,280) are surviving compared to the female (32,211). The proportion of
children ever born is highest among the age group 60 years and older for both male and
female with the proportion for male (18.8%) being lower than that of the female (19.5%).
Children surviving are also higher for the age group 60 years and older for both males and
female with the proportion for females (16.9) slightly higher than that of the males (16.1%).
Out of the total population surviving, age group 65 years and older are the most dominant
(16.5%).
18
Table 2.3: Female population 12 years and older by age, children ever born,
children surviving and sex of child
Children Ever Born Children Surviving

Number
Both sexes Male Female Both sexes Male Female
of
Age Females Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
All ages 26,148 76,860 100.0 38,713 100.0 38,147 100.0 64,491 100.0 32,280 100.0 32,211 100.0
12 - 14 2,701 22 0.0 6 0.0 16 0.0 19 0.0 5 0.0 14 0.0
15 - 19 3,720 592 0.8 311 0.8 281 0.7 502 0.8 255 0.8 247 0.8
20 - 24 3,244 3,194 4.2 1,550 4.0 1,644 4.3 2,851 4.4 1,331 4.1 1,520 4.7
25 - 29 3,190 6,868 8.9 3,522 9.1 3,346 8.8 6,259 9.7 3,162 9.8 3,097 9.6
30 - 34 2,580 8,702 11.3 4,426 11.4 4,276 11.2 7,911 12.3 4,002 12.4 3,909 12.1
35 - 39 2,493 10,739 14.0 5,525 14.3 5,214 13.7 9,552 14.8 4,892 15.2 4,660 14.5
40 - 44 1,927 9,717 12.6 4,931 12.7 4,786 12.5 8,433 13.1 4,276 13.2 4,157 12.9
45 - 49 1,563 8,658 11.3 4,386 11.3 4,272 11.2 7,402 11.5 3,759 11.6 3,643 11.3
50 - 54 1,541 8,940 11.6 4,458 11.5 4,482 11.7 7,170 11.1 3,563 11.0 3,607 11.2
55 - 59 807 4,707 6.1 2,304 6.0 2,403 6.3 3,756 5.8 1,847 5.7 1,909 5.9
60 + 2,382 14,721 19.2 7,294 18.8 7,427 19.5 10,636 16.5 5,188 16.1 5,448 16.9
19
2.6.2 Mortality
The 2010 PHC captured information on mortality. Mortality has been one of the three
components of population change that plays a significant role in determining the growth or
otherwise of the population. It refers to all deaths that occurred in the household during the 12
months proceeding the census night. Its occurrence leads to a reduction in the size of the
population through deaths.
Table 2.4 shows the total population, deaths in households and crude death rate by district in
Western Region. Out of the total population of 81,073 in the Wassa East District, 926 deaths are
recorded representing 6.2 per cent. The crude death rate for the District is 11.4 per 1,000
populations which is higher than the regional average of 6.2.
Table 2.4: Total population, deaths in households and crude death rate
Total Deaths in *Crude
District Population households Percent death rate
All Districts 2,376,021 14,825 100.0 6.2
Jomoro 150,107 1,452 9.8 9.7
Ellembelle 87,501 471 3.2 5.4
Nzema East 60,828 425 2.9 7.0
Ahanta West 106,215 683 4.6 6.4
Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis 559,548 2,721 18.4 4.9
Shama 81,966 590 4.0 7.2
Wassa East 81,073 926 6.2 11.4
Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal 90,477 351 2.4 3.9
Prestea/Huni Valley 159,304 974 6.6 6.1
Wassa Amenfi East 83,478 589 4.0 7.1
Wassa Amenfi West 92,152 530 3.6 5.8
Aowin 117,886 551 3.7 4.7
Sefwi Akontombra 82,467 316 2.1 3.8
Sefwi Wiawso 139,200 890 6.0 6.4
Sefwi Bibiani-Ahwiaso Bekwai 123,272 1,053 7.1 8.5
Juabeso 58,435 355 2.4 6.1
Bia west 88,939 595 4.0 6.7
Mpohor 42,923 390 2.6 9.1
Wassa Amenfi Central 69,014 375 2.5 5.4
Suaman 20,529 98 0.7 4.8
Bodi 53,314 364 2.5 6.8
Bia East 27,393 126 0.8 4.6
Table 2.5 presents the causes of deaths in the District. The total household deaths recorded for
the past 12 months prior to the census night is 926 deaths constituting 6.3 percent of the total
regional deaths. Out of the total household deaths in the District, 93.2 percent were as a result of
other causes of death compared with 6.8 percent deaths due to accident/violent/
homicide/suicide.
20
Table 2.5: Cause of deaths in households
Death due to
Accident/
violence/
Total homicide All other
Region/District deaths /suicide causes
Western 14,825 13.4 86.6
Jomoro 1,452 12.5 87.5
Ellembelle 471 11.9 88.1
Nzema East 425 19.3 80.7
Ahanta West 683 12.0 88.0
Sekondi Takoradi Metropolis 2,721 14.0 86.0
Shama 590 12.5 87.5
Wassa East 926 6.8 93.2
Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal 351 10.8 89.2
Prestea/Huni Valley 974 16.9 83.1
Wassa Amenfi East 589 17.7 82.3
Wassa Amenfi West 531 11.7 88.3
Aowin 561 19.1 80.9
Sefwi Akontombra 316 13.3 86.7
Sefwi Wiawso 890 14.2 85.8
Sefwi Bibiani-Ahwiaso Bekwai 1,053 9.0 91.0
Juabeso 361 10.2 89.8
Bia west 595 22.4 77.6
Mpohor 390 11.3 88.7
Wassa Amenfi Central 374 9.4 90.6
Suaman 88 15.9 84.1
Bodi 358 11.7 88.3
Bia East 126 14.3 85.7
2.6.3 Migration
Migration refers to a change in one‟s usual place of residence, which involves the crossing of an
administrative boundary. Table 2.6 shows birthplace by duration of residence of migrants in the
Wassa East District. The District registered 28,827 migrants. Majority (75.1%) of the migrants in
the District were born outside the Western Region. Out of the migrants who were born in Ghana
but outside the Western Region, the highest proportion (49.9%) was born in the Central Region
compared to 0.5 percent (lowest number) born in the Upper West Region.
The highest proportion (30%) of migrants has stayed in the District for 1-4 years. The duration of
residence varies by the region of birth. For instance the highest proportion (32.5%) of the
migrants who were born in the Central Region has stayed for 20+ years while 35.2 percent of
those born in the Upper West Region have stayed for 1-4 years.
21
Table 2.6: Birthplace by duration of residence of migrants
Duration of residence (%)

Less than 1-4 5-9 10-19 20+
Birthplace Number Percent 1 year years years years years
Total 28,827 100.0 27.8 54.2 47.1 64.9 86.8
Born elsewhere in the region 7,189 24.9 16.4 30.0 16.5 16.8 20.4
Born elsewhere in another region
Western 21,235 73.7 - - - - -
Central 10,598 49.9 11.4 21.9 14.7 19.5 32.5
Greater Accra 1,113 5.2 18.6 26.8 12.3 17.9 24.4
Volta 3,600 17.0 20.4 23.3 10.8 15.6 29.9
Eastern 3,601 17.0 12.4 18.9 11.3 17.1 40.4
Ashanti 1,449 6.8 17.8 25.7 13.9 16.4 26.2
Brong Ahafo 349 1.6 24.9 31.8 12.9 12.0 18.3
Northern 276 1.3 20.7 40.2 15.6 8.7 14.9
Upper East 153 0.7 15.7 30.7 21.6 19.0 13.1
Upper west 96 0.5 10.4 30.2 16.7 22.9 19.8
Outside Ghana 403 1.4 59.0 118.0 71.0 77.0 78.0
22
CHAPTER THREE
SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
3.1 Introduction
The social characteristics considered in this chapter are household size, composition, headship
and sex. Marital status of persons 12 years and older by sex and educational level are also
discussed. Data on distribution of households is needed for planning social services in health,
education and housing. Religious affiliations, nationality and literacy are also considered in this
chapter.
3.2 Household Size, Composition and Structure

A household refers to a person or group of persons who live together in the same house or
compound, share housekeeping arrangements and are catered for as one unit. In this case, a
household may not necessarily be related by blood as adopted children, among others, form part
of the household.
Table 3.1 presents data on house size in the District by locality. From the 2010 PHC, the
Districted recorded 79,436 household populations and 18,624 number of households. This
translates to an average household size of 4.4. This is about the same as regional household size
of 4.3. The rural average household size (4.4) is higher than urban household size of 3.8. About
nine in ten (92.2%) of the total household population is found in rural localities.
Table 3.1: Household size by locality
Urban Rural
Categories Region District Number Percent Number Percent
Total household population 2,307,395 79,436 6,165 7.8 73,271 92.2
Number of households 553,634 18,624 1,647 8.8 16,977 91.2
Average household size 4.3 4.4 3.8 4.4

3.2.1 Household composition

A look at Tables 3.2 shows that out of the total household population of 79,436, children
constitute the highest proportion of 45.0 per cent followed by heads (23.4%) and spouses
(11.4%). Adopted/foster children constitute the least (0.4%). Household populations have more
males (50.5%) than female (49.5%) with the proportion of male-headed households being higher
(30.4%) than that of females (16.3%). Again, the proportion of male children is higher (46.6%)
compared to females (43.5%).
23
Table 3.2: Household population by composition and sex
Total Male Female

Household composition Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Total 79,436 100.0 40,125 100.0 39,311 100.0
Head 18,624 23.4 12,203 30.4 6,421 16.3
Spouse (wife/husband) 9,090 11.4 1,102 2.7 7,988 20.3
Child (son/daughter) 35,784 45.0 18,681 46.6 17,103 43.5
Parent/parent in-law 510 0.6 101 0.3 409 1.0
Son/daughter in-law 396 0.5 118 0.3 278 0.7
Grandchild 6,124 7.7 3,113 7.8 3,011 7.7
Brother/sister 2,477 3.1 1,472 3.7 1,005 2.6
Step child 658 0.8 340 0.8 318 0.8
Adopted/foster child 294 0.4 162 0.4 132 0.3
Other relative 4,354 5.5 2,077 5.2 2,277 5.8
Non-relative 1,125 1.4 756 1.9 369 0.9
3.2.2 Household structure

Table 3.3 shows the structure of household by sex in the Wassa East District. Households have
been classified based on their composition. The classifications include head only; head and
spouse only; head, spouses and children (biological and adopted) or a form of extended family
system which may include any of the following: grandparents, cousins, other relatives or even
nonrelatives. From Table 3.3, a higher (35.9%) proportion of households are nuclear (Head,
spouse and children). There are also about one-fifth (21.2%) of households being extended
(Head, spouse, children, Head‟s relatives). Households made up of head only constitute 4.4 per
cent while head and spouse only make up 1.7 per cent. Overall, more than half (53.3%) of
households‟ composition is nuclear.
About thirty seven per cent of male-headed households is nuclear household; 21.1 per cent are
made up of extended households. With regards to female-headed households, 34.6 per cent are
nuclear and 21.4 per cent being extended households. The least kind of household composition in
both male-headed and female-headed households is single parent, extended plus non-relative,
constituting 0.7 and 0.8 per cents respectively.
24
Table 3.3: Household population by structure and sex
Total Male Female
Household structure Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Total 79,436 100.0 40,125 100.0 39,311 100.0
Nuclear family 42,371 53.3 21,995 54.8 20,376 51.8
Head only 3,522 4.4 2,409 6.0 1,113 2.8
Head and a spouse only 1,366 1.7 689 1.7 677 1.7
Nuclear (head spouse(s) children) 28,484 35.9 14,889 37.1 13,595 34.6
Single parent nuclear 8,999 11.3 4,008 10.0 4,991 12.7
Extended family 37,065 46.5 18,130 45.3 18,935 48.2
Extended (head spouse(s) children head's
16,878 21.2 8,459 21.1 8,419 21.4
relatives)
Extended + non relatives 1,000 1.3 545 1.4 455 1.2
Head spouse(s) and other composition 2,818 3.5 1,466 3.7 1,352 3.4
Single parent extended 9,951 12.5 4,137 10.3 5,814 14.8
Single parent extended + non relative 583 0.7 278 0.7 305 0.8
Head and other composition but no spouse 5,835 7.3 3,245 8.1 2,590 6.6
3.3 Marital Status

Figure 3.1 depicts the distribution of the population 12 years and older by marital status. The
proportions of the population who are married constitute the highest (42.9%) followed by the
never married (42.0%). Those who are separated constitute the smallest category (1.9%).
Figure 3.1: Persons 12 years and older by marital status
Widowed (4.9%)
Divorced (3.4%)
Separated (1.9%)
Never
married(42%)
Married (42.9,%)
Consensual
union (5%)
25
3.3.1 Population 12 years and older by marital status and sex
Out of the total population of 52,367, 48.6 per cent are married while 37.4 per cent are never
married. Widows constitute 4.6 per cent and the divorced, 4.3 per cent. The age group 40-44
years has the highest proportion of married and the second highest category is the 35-39 years.
Overall, the age-group 30-34 years to 55-59 years have more than 70 per cent being married.
Those between 12-14 years and 15-19 years have less than10 percent of their population being
married. The District also recorded 4.5 percent persons who are divorced. The proportion of
people divorced increases with age except for 65+ years (9.8%). It is also seen that the
proportion of females divorced (5.5%) are more than that of the males (3.0%).
Table 3.4 shows that the proportions of males (44.2%) who have never married are more than
females (30.6%). This situation was not the same for those who are married. In this category,
there are a high proportion of females who married (50.2%) compared to married males (46.9%).
Majority of males who are married are in age cohort 45-49 years (81.5%). The cohort within the
female category where majority is married is the 35-39 age groups (78.3%). The never married
population is lowest among the 55-59 years group (1.9%) for both sexes.
Table 3.4: Persons 12 years and older by sex, age-group and marital status
Informal/
consensual
Both Never union/living
sexes Number Total married together Married Separated Divorced Widowed
Total 52,367 100.0 37.4 3.0 48.6 2.1 4.3 4.6
12 - 14 5,937 100.0 93.3 0.3 6.3 0.0 0.0 0.0
15 - 19 7,954 100.0 89.4 1.1 8.8 0.4 0.3 0.1
20 - 24 6,087 100.0 59.8 4.5 32.6 1.3 1.5 0.3
25 - 29 5,926 100.0 30.4 5.3 58.0 2.3 3.1 0.8
30 - 34 5,092 100.0 13.1 4.7 74.3 2.4 4.5 1.1
35 - 39 4,764 100.0 7.6 4.0 77.7 2.7 5.7 2.3
40 - 44 3,939 100.0 4.3 3.7 78.6 3.3 6.3 3.9
45 - 49 3,155 100.0 2.5 3.1 77.2 3.7 8.1 5.5
50 - 54 3,000 100.0 2.6 2.3 71.1 3.9 9.8 10.2
55 - 59 1,778 100.0 1.9 2.2 70.0 4.4 9.8 11.6
60 - 64 1,593 100.0 2.6 2.3 62.7 3.6 10.6 18.2
65+ 3,142 100.0 2.6 2.3 48.9 4.1 9.8 32.3
Male
Total 26,219 100.0 44.2 2.7 46.9 1.6 3.0 1.5
12 - 14 3,236 100.0 93.0 0.2 6.7 0.0 0.0 0.0
15 - 19 4,234 100.0 94.6 0.3 5.0 0.1 0.1 0.0
20 - 24 2,843 100.0 79.0 2.6 17.1 0.6 0.5 0.2
25 - 29 2,736 100.0 46.4 4.7 44.9 1.6 2.0 0.4
30 - 34 2,512 100.0 19.1 4.7 70.6 1.8 3.4 0.3
35 - 39 2,271 100.0 11.2 4.1 77.0 1.8 4.8 1.0
40 - 44 2,012 100.0 6.2 4.1 81.0 2.9 4.5 1.3
45 - 49 1,592 100.0 4.2 3.8 81.5 3.2 5.7 1.6
50 - 54 1,459 100.0 3.6 2.5 81.2 3.2 7.3 2.3
55 - 59 971 100.0 2.2 2.6 79.8 4.1 6.7 4.6
60 - 64 815 100.0 2.3 2.8 80.5 2.5 7.1 4.8
65+ 1,538 100.0 2.9 3.2 71.5 3.4 7.5 11.5
26
Table 3.4: Persons 12 years and older by sex, age-group and marital status (Cont’d)
Informal/
consensual
Both Never union/living
sexes Number Total married together Married Separated Divorced Widowed
Female
Total 26,148 100.0 30.6 3.4 50.2 2.7 5.5 7.6
12 - 14 2,701 100.0 93.7 0.4 5.9 0.0 0.0 0.0
15 - 19 3,720 100.0 83.4 2.1 13.1 0.8 0.5 0.1
20 - 24 3,244 100.0 42.9 6.2 46.3 1.9 2.3 0.4
25 - 29 3,190 100.0 16.8 5.9 69.2 2.8 4.1 1.2
30 - 34 2,580 100.0 7.1 4.7 77.9 2.9 5.5 1.9
35 - 39 2,493 100.0 4.3 3.9 78.3 3.6 6.4 3.5
40 - 44 1,927 100.0 2.3 3.3 76.0 3.6 8.2 6.5
45 - 49 1,563 100.0 0.7 2.4 72.9 4.2 10.4 9.4
50 - 54 1,541 100.0 1.7 2.2 61.6 4.6 12.1 17.8
55 - 59 807 100.0 1.6 1.9 58.2 4.7 13.5 20.1
60 - 64 778 100.0 2.8 1.8 44.1 4.8 14.3 32.3
65+ 1,604 100.0 2.3 1.4 27.3 4.7 12.0 52.2
Table 3.4 again depicts that divorces among females is far higher (5.5%) than males (3.0%).
Furthermore, females marry earlier than males in the Wassa East District. The age group 12-14
has the highest proportion of the never married females (93.7%). The data also shows that
consensual unions in the District are relatively higher among females (3.4%) than males (2.7%).
3.3.2 Population 12 years and older by marital status and level of education
Table 3.5 shows persons 12 years and older by sex, marital status and level of education in the
District. Majority of the never married (77.3%) have basic education, 9.7% have secondary
education and less than one percent (0.3%) have tertiary education. Among the married, more
than half (59.2%) have basic education, 33.5 percent have no education and less than one percent
(0.4%) have tertiary education. As regards the divorced, the proportion with basic education is
slightly higher (49.5%) than those with no education (46.3%). The proportion with secondary
education and higher is less than five percent.
27
Table 3.5: Persons 12 years and older by sex, marital status and level of education
Post
middle/
Voc/ secondary
All No Secon- Tech/ certificate/
Marital status/sex Number levels Education Basic dary Com diploma Tertiary
Both Sexes
Total 52,367 100.0 26.6 64.2 5.9 0.9 2.1 0.3
Never married 19,602 100.0 9.3 77.3 9.7 0.7 2.6 0.3
Informal/consensual
1,588 100.0 26.3 65.6 5.2 0.7 2.1 0.1
union/living together
Married 25,428 100.0 33.5 59.2 4.0 1.1 1.9 0.4
Separated 1,125 100.0 40.1 55.2 2.6 0.5 1.5 0.1
Divorced 2,240 100.0 46.3 49.5 2.6 0.8 0.8 0.0
Widowed 2,384 100.0 70.8 27.3 0.5 0.3 1.0 0.0
Male
Total 26,219 100.0 17.5 70.5 7.9 1.2 2.5 0.5
Never married 11,596 100.0 9.3 77.1 10.3 0.8 2.0 0.4
Informal/consensual
706 100.0 20.0 67.7 8.2 1.4 2.5 0.1
Married 12,305 100.0 23.0 65.6 6.2 1.5 3.0 0.7
Separated 424 100.0 23.8 67.7 4.5 0.7 3.1 0.2
Divorced 793 100.0 30.5 63.7 3.2 0.9 1.8 0.0
Widowed 395 100.0 47.1 48.1 1.8 1.3 1.8 0.0
Female
Total 26,148 100.0 35.8 57.9 4.0 0.6 1.6 0.1
Never married 8,006 100.0 9.3 77.5 8.9 0.6 3.5 0.2
Informal/consensual 882 100.0 31.4 63.8 2.8 0.1 1.8 0.0
Married 13,123 100.0 43.4 53.1 2.0 0.6 0.8 0.1
Separated 701 100.0 49.9 47.6 1.4 0.4 0.6 0.0
Divorced 1,447 100.0 55.0 41.7 2.3 0.7 0.2 0.1
Widowed 1,989 100.0 75.5 23.2 0.3 0.2 0.8 0.0
The proportion never married without any education is the same (9.3%) for males and females
while the proportion never married with tertiary education is higher for males (0.5%) than
females (0.2%) in the District. Widowed persons (70.8%) who were 12 years and older
constituted the majority of people who as at 2010 PHC had no education.
There are a higher proportion of males (0.4%) who are never married but have had tertiary
education over females (0.2%). The widowed female who have never had any education are
much more (75.5%) than males in the same category (47.1%). Data in Table 3.5 again indicates
that males are more likely to obtain higher education (tertiary) than females.
28
3.3.3 Population 12 years and older by marital status and economic activity status
Table 3.6 indicates that the married population 12 years and older are more likely to be
employed (85.8%). Among those married, the proportion unemployed is 1.5 percent with 19.5
percent not economically active. Respondents who are in informal/consensual union have a
greater proportion of people employed (2.8%) while widowed persons (0.9%) have the least
proportion of the unemployed.
Table 3.6: Persons 12 years and older by sex, marital status and level of education
Economically not
Total Employed Unemployed active
Sex/marital status Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Both Sexes
Total 52,367 100.0 33,764 64.5 920 1.8 17,683 33.8
Never married 19,602 100.0 6,339 32.3 423 2.2 12,840 65.5
Informal/consensual
union/living together 1,588 100.0 1,272 80.1 45 2.8 271 17.1
Married 25,428 100.0 21,811 85.8 374 1.5 3,243 12.8
Separated 1,125 100.0 882 78.4 21 1.9 222 19.7
Divorced 2,240 100.0 1,821 81.3 36 1.6 383 17.1
Widowed 2,384 100.0 1,639 68.8 21 0.9 724 30.4
Male
Total 26,219 100.0 17,279 65.9 439 1.7 8,501 32.4
Never married 11,596 100.0 4,294 37.0 247 2.1 7,055 60.8
Informal/consensual
union/living together 706 100.0 642 90.9 12 1.7 52 7.4
Married 12,305 100.0 11,057 89.9 150 1.2 1,098 8.9
Separated 424 100.0 347 81.8 7 1.7 70 16.5
Divorced 793 100.0 661 83.4 20 2.5 112 14.1
Widowed 395 100.0 278 70.4 3 0.8 114 28.9
Female
Total 26,148 100.0 16,485 63.0 481 1.8 9,182 35.1
Never married 8,006 100.0 2,045 25.5 176 2.2 5,785 72.3
Informal/consensual
union/living together 882 100.0 630 71.4 33 3.7 219 24.8
Married 13,123 100.0 10,754 81.9 224 1.7 2,145 16.3
Separated 701 100.0 535 76.3 14 2.0 152 21.7
Divorced 1,447 100.0 1,160 80.2 16 1.1 271 18.7
Widowed 1,989 100.0 1,361 68.4 18 0.9 610 30.7
29
3.4 Nationality
Table 3.7 presents the distribution of the population by nationality in the District. Nationality is
the country to which a person legally belongs. Majority (95.3%) of the people in the District are
Ghanaians by birth. Others are persons with dual nationality (2.7%), Ghanaians by naturalization
(0.9%), persons from ECOWAS countries (0.7%), other Africans (0.3%) and “Others” (0.2%).
Further inspection of the table does not reveal any striking differences between males and
females.
Table 3.7: Population by nationality and sex
Both sexes Male Female
Nationality Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Total 81,073 100.0 40,984 100.0 40,089 100.0
Ghanaian by birth 77,223 95.3 38,996 95.1 38,227 95.4
Dual nationality (Ghanaian &
Other) 2,153 2.7 1,098 2.7 1,055 2.6
Ghanaian by naturalization 692 0.9 339 0.8 353 0.9
ECOWAS 559 0.7 326 0.8 233 0.6
African other than ECOWAS 253 0.3 141 0.3 112 0.3
Other 193 0.2 84 0.2 109 0.3
3.5 Religion
Virtually everyone is born into some kind of religious context. Yet people willingly change their
religious preference during their lifetime. Despite the availability of choice, however, some
people are unlikely to alter their religious affiliation and so it is a near-permanent feature of their
social world. “Like race and ethnicity, religion set people apart from one another” (Choucri
1984).
Table 3.8 presents the distribution of the population of the District by religion and sex. It would
be noted that 32.2 percent of the population of the District are Pentecostal/Charismatic
Christians; 23.8 percent are of other Christian religions and 19.2 percent are Protestants.
Collectively, the Christians (Catholics, Protestants and Pentecostal/Charismatic) represent 83.4
percent of the population. Islam constitutes 6.5 percent of the population while the Traditionalist
constitutes 1.5 percent. About 8 percent (7.5%) of the population have no religious attachment.
In all the religious types, the differences between the males and the females are marginal except
for no religion where the proportion of the males (9.8%) is somewhat higher than the females
(5.1%).
Table 3.8: Population by religion and sex
Religion Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Total 81,073 100.0 40,984 100.0 40,089 100.0
No religion 6,054 7.5 4,024 9.8 2,030 5.1
Catholic 6,680 8.2 3,357 8.2 3,323 8.3
Protestants (Anglican Lutheran etc.) 15,575 19.2 7,563 18.5 8,012 20.0
Pentecostal/Charismatic 26,112 32.2 12,679 30.9 13,433 33.5
Other Christian 19,308 23.8 9,502 23.2 9,806 24.5
Islam 5,309 6.5 2,835 6.9 2,474 6.2
30
Traditionalist 1,195 1.5 626 1.5 569 1.4
Other 840 1.0 398 1.0 442 1.1
31
3.6 Literacy and Education
Information on literacy covered persons 11 years and older, while school attendance covered
persons 3 years and older. Interest in education lies especially in the fact that it contributes to
altering ones worldview and it also tends to influence nearly every aspect of human behaviour
and outcomes (Weeks, 1999).
3.6.1 Literacy
Literacy is measured by the ability of one to read and write with understanding. In the 2010
population and housing census, data on literacy was collected for persons 11 years and older.
From Table 3.9, 40,188 of persons aged 11 years and older in the Wassa East District are literate
in any language. More males are literate (56.3%) than females (43.7%). Furthermore, out of the
literate population, those literate in English and Ghanaian language are higher (57.1%) than
those literate in English only (31.4%). Eleven percent is literate in Ghanaian language only.
Except for the age groups 65 years and older, the population of persons literate decreases with
increasing age.
Table 3.9: Population 11 years and older by sex, age and literacy status
English English,
None Ghanaian and English French and
Both (not English language Ghanaian and Ghanaian
sexes literate) Literate Total only only language French language
Total 14,037 40,188 100.0 31.4 11 57.1 0.2 0.3
11-14 269 7,526 100.0 39.6 8.2 52 0.1 0.1
15-19 588 7,366 100.0 31.3 6.4 61.9 0.1 0.3
20-24 946 5,141 100.0 31.1 8.1 59.9 0.5 0.4
25-29 1,318 4,608 100.0 30.9 13.4 55.3 0.2 0.2
30-34 1,414 3,678 100.0 29.8 14.4 55.2 0.1 0.5
35-39 1,622 3,142 100.0 28.8 16 54.7 0.2 0.4
40-44 1,491 2,448 100.0 28.3 14.4 56.6 0.1 0.6
45-49 1,325 1,830 100.0 26.3 15.1 58.2 0.3 0.2
50-54 1,335 1,665 100.0 28.3 14.7 56.5 0.4 0.2
55-59 728 1,050 100.0 25.4 13.8 60.3 0.1 0.4
60-64 873 720 100.0 23.2 12.2 64.3 0 0.3
65+ 2,128 1,014 100.0 22.6 16.1 60.8 0.2 0.3
Male
Total 4,642 22,614 100.0 29.3 9.6 60.5 0.2 0.4
11-14 167 4,106 100.0 39.1 8.1 52.6 0.1 0.1
15-19 260 3,974 100.0 30.2 5.8 63.6 0.1 0.3
20-24 355 2,488 100.0 29.1 6.4 63.2 0.8 0.5
25-29 442 2,294 100.0 28.6 10.5 60.4 0.2 0.3
30-34 431 2,081 100.0 28 11.9 59.2 0.1 0.8
35-39 442 1,829 100.0 25.8 12.5 61.1 0.2 0.4
40-44 438 1,574 100.0 25.7 12.6 60.7 0.1 0.8
45-49 425 1,167 100.0 23.6 12.4 63.6 0.4 0
50-54 407 1,052 100.0 26.4 12.8 60.3 0.3 0.2
55-59 232 739 100.0 21.8 12 65.5 0.1 0.5
60-64 286 529 100.0 20.2 10 69.4 0 0.4
65+ 757 781 100.0 19.7 14.6 65 0.3 0.4
32
Table 3.9: Population 11 years and older by sex, age and literacy status (cont’d)
English English,
None Ghanaian and English French and
(not English language Ghanaian and Ghanaian
Both sexes literate) Literate Total only only language French language
Female
Total 9,395 17,574 100.0 34.2 12.8 52.7 0.1 0.2
11-14 102 3,420 100.0 40.3 8.3 51.2 0.1 0.1
15-19 328 3,392 100.0 32.7 7.0 59.9 0.1 0.3
20-24 591 2,653 100.0 33.0 9.7 56.8 0.2 0.3
25-29 876 2,314 100.0 33.2 16.2 50.3 0.2 0.1
30-34 983 1,597 100.0 32.1 17.8 50.0 0.1 0.1
35-39 1,180 1,313 100.0 32.9 20.9 45.8 0.2 0.2
40-44 1,053 874 100.0 33.0 17.5 49.2 0.0 0.3
45-49 900 663 100.0 31.1 19.8 48.7 0.0 0.5
50-54 928 613 100.0 31.6 17.8 49.9 0.5 0.2
55-59 496 311 100.0 34.1 18.0 47.9 0.0 0.0
60-64 587 191 100.0 31.4 18.3 50.3 0.0 0.0
65+ 1,371 233 100.0 32.2 21.0 46.8 0.0 0.0
3.6.2 Education
Table 3.10 shows population 3 years and older by level of education, school attendance and sex.
Questions on level of education were answered by persons who were 3 years and older. The data
indicates that of the 56,509 persons 3 years and older, those who attended school in the past
(46.7%) are lower than those currently attending school (52.3%). Currently, the number of
females attending school (54.9%) is higher compared to females who attended school in the past
(45.1%).
The table shows the population 3 years and older by level of education, school attendance and
sex. Primary school recorded the highest population (48.8%) for those currently attending
school. Those in vocational/technical/commercial recorded the least (0.2%). More of the male
population (48.6%) currently in school are at the primary level followed by kindergarten
(19.7%). The situation is the same for females where persons in the Primary school constitute
almost half (49.1%) followed by Kindergarten (20.4%).
Table 3.10 again shows the population who had attended school in the past and are no longer in
school. More (34.5%) of males who attended school in the past ended at the JSS/JHS level, this
is trailed by Middle school (32.7%). As regards females who attended school in the past,
approximately two fifth (41.4%) ended at JSS/JHS level followed by Primary level (32%). From
the table presented, all people went beyond kindergarten or the nursery level in their education
for both sexes. Again, while almost 3 percent of the males ended their education at the tertiary
level that of the females was just about one percent.
33
Table 3.10: Population 3 years and older by level of education, school attendance and sex
Currently attending Attended in the past

Both sexes Male Both sexes Male Both sexes Male
Level of education Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Total 30,048 100.0 16,019 100.0 14,029 100.0 26,416 100.0 14,913 100.0 11,503 100.0
Nursery 2,917 9.7 1,515 9.5 1,402 10.0 - 0.0 - 0.0 - 0.0
Kindergarten 5,934 19.7 3,072 19.2 2,862 20.4 - 0.0 - 0.0 - 0.0
Primary 14,669 48.8 7,784 48.6 6,885 49.1 6,255 23.7 2,570 17.2 3,685 32.0
JSS/JHS 4,992 16.6 2,823 17.6 2,169 15.5 9,908 37.5 5,142 34.5 4,766 41.4
Middle - 0.0 - 0.0 - 0.0 6,982 26.4 4,872 32.7 2,110 18.3
SSS/SHS 1,180 3.9 684 4.3 496 3.5 1,423 5.4 982 6.6 441 3.8
Secondary - 0.0 - 0.0 - 0.0 511 1.9 401 2.7 110 1.0
Voc./Techn./Commercial 49 0.2 33 0.2 16 0.1 401 1.5 269 1.8 132 1.1
Post middle/secondary
certificate 89 0.3 24 0.1 65 0.5 361 1.4 239 1.6 122 1.1
Tertiary 218 0.7 84 0.5 134 1.0 575 2.2 438 2.9 137 1.2
34
CHAPTER FOUR
ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS
4.1 Introduction
The deployment of the human capital of a society to the production of goods and services
determines the overall development of a country. Although persons of all age and sex
consume goods and services produced, only a section of the total population (the employed)
produces them. The 2010 Population and Housing Census collected information on
population 5 years and older who are engaged in any activity for pay (cash or kind) or profit
or family gain for at least one hour during the seven days preceding census night. This
chapter analyses the economic activity status of the population 15 years and older with regard
to the economically active (the employed and the unemployed) and economically not active
population. The chapter also focuses on the occupation, industries and the employment status
and sectors that the people are employed.
4.2 Economic Activity Status

Table 4.1 shows that 73.4 percent of the population of the District are economically active
within the seven days preceding the census night and 26.6 percent are economically not
active. Among the economically active, 97.3 percent are employed and 2.7 percent are
unemployed. Majority (92.9%) of the employed worked while only 6.5 percent did not work
but had job to go back to. About 58.1 percent of the unemployed are seeking work for the
first time and available for work. About 44.8 percent of the economically not active
population are in full time education while 30.7 percent did home duties or household chores.
Table 4.1: Population 15 years and older by activity status and sex
Total Male Female
Activity status Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Total 46,430 100.0 22,983 100.0 23,447 100.0
Economically active 34,091 73.4 17,381 75.6 16,710 71.3
Employed 33,179 97.3 16,945 97.5 16,234 97.2
Worked 30,836 92.9 15,912 93.9 14,924 91.9
Did not work but had job to go back to 2,162 6.5 944 5.6 1,218 7.5
Did voluntary work without pay 181 0.5 89 0.5 92 0.6
Unemployed 912 2.7 436 2.5 476 2.8
Worked before, seeking work and
available 382 41.9 189 43.3 193 40.5
Seeking work for the first time and
available 530 58.1 247 56.7 283 59.5
Economically not active 12,339 26.6 5,602 24.4 6,737 28.7
Did home duties (household chore) 3,788 30.7 1,191 21.3 2,597 38.5
Full time education 5,526 44.8 3,121 55.7 2,405 35.7
Pensioner/Retired 98 0.8 75 1.3 23 0.3
Disabled/Sick 909 7.4 389 6.9 520 7.7
Too old/young 1,044 8.5 376 6.7 668 9.9
Other 974 7.9 450 8.0 524 7.8
35
Likewise, 75.6 percent of the males and 71.3 percent of the females are economically active
within the seven days preceding the census night while 24.4 percent of the male and 28.7
percent of the females are economically not active. Among the economically active, the
proportion employed for males (97.5%) is almost the same as that for the females (97.2%).
Figure 4.1: Population 15 years and older by activity status and sex
50000
45000
Total Males females
40000
35000
Population
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
Total Economically active Employed Unemploed Economically not
active
Activity Status
Table 4.2 shows the economic activity status of the population 15 years and older by sex and
age. Out of the total population of 46,430, 71.5 percent are employed and 2.0 percent
unemployed. The rest (26.6%) are economically not active. Considering by age groups, over
80 percent of population aged 25-29 years to 60-64 years are employed. The unemployed in
the age group 25 years and older is less than 3 percent. Only about 23 (22.8%) percent of
population in the age group 15-19 years are employed because they are likely to be in school.
The proportion of males employed is higher (73.7%) compared to that of females (69.2%).
Close to 25 percent (24.4%) of males are economically not active and only 1.9 percent
unemployed. On the other hand, 28.7 percent of females are economically not active with 2.0
percent unemployed. The age group 40–44 years among males have the highest proportion
(94.7%) employed while the proportion employed is higher (92.5%) among the age group 45-
49 years for the females.
36
Table 4.2: Economic activity status of population 15 years and older by sex and ages
Economically not
All Status Employed Unemployed active
Age group Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Both sexes
Total 46,430 100.0 33,179 71.5 912 2.0 12,339 26.6
15-19 7,954 100.0 1,811 22.8 160 2.0 5,983 75.2
20-24 6,087 100.0 3,575 58.7 278 4.6 2,234 36.7
25-29 5,926 100.0 4,792 80.9 164 2.8 970 16.4
30-34 5,092 100.0 4,487 88.1 86 1.7 519 10.2
35-39 4,764 100.0 4,209 88.4 80 1.7 475 10.0
40-44 3,939 100.0 3,649 92.6 37 0.9 253 6.4
45-49 3,155 100.0 2,945 93.3 25 0.8 185 5.9
50-54 3,000 100.0 2,730 91.0 24 0.8 246 8.2
55-59 1,778 100.0 1,593 89.6 16 0.9 169 9.5
60-64 1,593 100.0 1,323 83.1 35 2.2 235 14.8
65+ 3,142 100.0 2,065 65.7 7 0.2 1,070 34.1
Male
Total 22,983 100.0 16,945 73.7 436 1.9 5,602 24.4
15-19 4,234 100.0 974 23.0 68 1.6 3,192 75.4
20-24 2,843 100.0 1,741 61.2 133 4.7 969 34.1
25-29 2,736 100.0 2,325 85.0 74 2.7 337 12.3
30-34 2,512 100.0 2,327 92.6 43 1.7 142 5.7
35-39 2,271 100.0 2,079 91.5 37 1.6 155 6.8
40-44 2,012 100.0 1,906 94.7 26 1.3 80 4.0
45-49 1,592 100.0 1,499 94.2 16 1.0 77 4.8
50-54 1,459 100.0 1,356 92.9 12 0.8 91 6.2
55-59 971 100.0 892 91.9 5 0.5 74 7.6
60-64 815 100.0 707 86.7 17 2.1 91 11.2
65+ 1,538 100.0 1,139 74.1 5 0.3 394 25.6
Female
Total 23,447 100.0 16,234 69.2 476 2.0 6,737 28.7
15-19 3,720 100.0 837 22.5 92 2.5 2,791 75.0
20-24 3,244 100.0 1,834 56.5 145 4.5 1,265 39.0
25-29 3,190 100.0 2,467 77.3 90 2.8 633 19.8
30-34 2,580 100.0 2,160 83.7 43 1.7 377 14.6
35-39 2,493 100.0 2,130 85.4 43 1.7 320 12.8
40-44 1,927 100.0 1,743 90.5 11 0.6 173 9.0
45-49 1,563 100.0 1,446 92.5 9 0.6 108 6.9
50-54 1,541 100.0 1,374 89.2 12 0.8 155 10.1
55-59 807 100.0 701 86.9 11 1.4 95 11.8
60-64 778 100.0 616 79.2 18 2.3 144 18.5
65+ 1,604 100.0 926 57.7 2 0.1 676 42.1
4.3 Occupation
Occupation is an important defining aspect of social identity in society. It can provide a
useful clue to education, income and residence, general life-style and an indicator of social
status. It provides information about what kind of behaviour can be expected from a person as
well as how others will be expected to behave towards that person (Weeks, 1999).
Out of the total number of 33,179 persons employed, a greater proportion (70.7%) is engaged
in skilled agricultural forestry and fishery workers. Services and sales workers constitute 8.1
percent, craft and related trades workers constitute 7.7 percent while plants and machine
37
operators and assemblers constitute 6.0 percent. The rest of the occupations types each
constituted less than 3 percent (Table 4.3).
Disaggregated by sex, there are about equal proportion of males (71.1%) and females
(70.2%) engaged as skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers. The proportion of
females (13.6%) engaged as service and sales workers is about five times more than that of
the males (2.7%) while proportion of males (11.0%) engaged as plant and machine operators
and assemblers is about thirteen times that of females (0.8%).
Table 4.3: Employed population 15 years and older by occupation and sex
Occupation Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Total 33,179 100.0 16,945 100.0 16,234 100.0
Managers 345 1.0 138 0.8 207 1.3
Professionals 900 2.7 567 3.3 333 2.1
Technicians and associate
professionals 280 0.8 236 1.4 44 0.3
Clerical support workers 114 0.3 84 0.5 30 0.2
Service and sales workers 2,676 8.1 461 2.7 2,215 13.6
Skilled agricultural forestry and
23,448 70.7 12,049 71.1 11,399 70.2
fishery workers
Craft and related trades workers 2,549 7.7 1,252 7.4 1,297 8.0
Plant and machine operators and
1,990 6.0 1,866 11.0 124 0.8
assemblers
Elementary occupations 869 2.7 285 1.7 584 3.5
Other occupations 8 0.0 7 0.0 1 0.0
4.4 Industry of Employment

Table 4.4 shows employment by industry. It indicates that agriculture, forestry and fishing
constitute the dominant (71.2%) industry in the Wassa East District. Other common
industries are wholesale and retail trade (6.8%) on one hand and repair of motor vehicles and
motorcycles and manufacturing on the other hand (6.4%).
For males and females, agriculture, forestry and fishing industry employ majority of the
population with the proportion of males (72.7%) slightly higher than that of females (69.7%).
While mining and quarrying is the second dominant industry for the males (6.7%), wholesale
and retail, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles is the second dominant industry for
females (10.1%).
Industries such as electricity, gas stream and air conditioning supply, information and
communication, extraterritorial organizations and bodies, and real estate‟s activities are minor
with little or no female involvement.
38
Table 4.4: Employed population 15 years and older by industry and sex
Industry Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Total 33,179 100.0 16,945 100.0 16,234 100.0
Agriculture forestry and fishing 23,630 71.2 12,311 72.7 11,319 69.7
Mining and quarrying 1,232 3.7 1,130 6.7 102 0.6
Manufacturing 2,125 6.4 814 4.8 1,311 8.1
Electricity gas stream and air conditioning
supply 2 0.0 2 0.0 0 0.0
Water supply; sewerage waste
management and remediation activities 67 0.2 38 0.2 29 0.2
Construction 383 1.2 379 2.2 4 0.0
Wholesale and retail; repair of motor
vehicles and motorcycles 2,256 6.8 613 3.6 1,643 10.1
Transportation and storage 445 1.3 425 2.5 20 0.1
Accommodation and food service
activities 1,068 3.2 80 0.5 988 6.1
Information and communication 5 0.0 5 0.0 0 0.0
Financial and insurance activities 26 0.1 17 0.1 9 0.1
Real estate activities 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0
Professional scientific and technical
activities 77 0.2 62 0.4 15 0.1
Administrative and support service
activities 77 0.2 68 0.4 9 0.1
Public administration and defense;
compulsory social security 231 0.7 200 1.2 31 0.2
Education 793 2.4 479 2.8 314 1.9
Human health and social work activities 160 0.5 85 0.5 75 0.5
Arts entertainment and recreation 24 0.1 23 0.1 1 0.0
Other service activities 517 1.6 183 1.1 334 2.1
Activities of households as employers;
undifferentiated goods - and services -
producing activities of households for
own use 60 0.2 30 0.2 30 0.2
Activities of extraterritorial organizations
and bodies 1 0.0 1 0.0 0 0.0
4.5 Employment Status

About two-thirds (67.2%) of the employed population 15 years and older in the District are
self-employed without employee(s) while 15.9 percent are contributing family workers.
Employees constitute 10.4 percent. All the other employment sectors put together form less
than 10 percent of the employed population (Figure 4.2).
39
Figure 4.2: Employed population 15 years and older by employment status
100
90
80
Employed Population
67.2
70
60
50
40
30
20 15.9
10.4
10 3.1 1.7 0.9 0.7 0.1
0
Employee Self-employed Self-employed Casual worker Contributing Apprentice Domestic other
without with family worker employee
employee(s) employee(s) (Househelp)
Employment Status
The proportion of self-employed without employees for females (67.8%) is slightly higher
compared to the males (66.6%). Again, the proportion of females (22.0%) engaged as
contributing family workers is about two times the proportion of males (10.1%). On the other
hand, the proportion of males (15.7%) engaged as employees is about three times the
proportion of females (Table 4.5).
Table 4.5: Employed population 15 years and older by employment status and sex
Employment sector Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Total 33,179 100.0 16,945 100.0 16,234 100.0
Employee 3,449 10.4 2,660 15.7 789 4.9
Self-employed without employee(s) 22,299 67.2 11,292 66.6 11,007 67.8
Self-employed with employee(s) 1,034 3.1 596 3.5 438 2.7
Casual worker 577 1.7 472 2.8 105 0.6
Contributing family worker 5,276 15.9 1,708 10.1 3,568 22.0
Apprentice 294 0.9 118 0.7 176 1.1
Domestic employee (househelp) 224 0.7 88 0.5 136 0.8
Other 26 0.1 11 0.1 15 0.1
4.6 Employment Sector

The leading sector of employment in the Wassa East District is the private informal,
employing 91.2 percent of the population 15 years and older. It is followed by private formal
(4.7%) and public (Government) constituting 3.7 percent of the sectors. As shown in Table
4.6 the situation is the same for the males and females where the private informal sector is the
dominant sector (95.8%) of females as against 86.9 percent of males. While private formal is
the second leading sector of employment for males (7.8%), public (Government) is the
second leading sector for the females (2.5%).
40
Table 4.6: Employed population 15 years and older by employment sector and sex

Employment sector Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Total 33,179 100.0 16,945 100.0 16,234 100.0
Public (Government) 1,227 3.7 821 4.8 406 2.5
Private /Formal 1,573 4.7 1,324 7.8 249 1.5
Private /Informal 30,272 91.2 14,725 86.9 15,547 95.8
Semi-Public/Parastatal 19 0.1 13 0.1 6 0.0
NGOs (Local and International) 88 0.3 62 0.4 26 0.2
Other International Organisations 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0
41
CHAPTER FIVE
INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
5.1 Introduction
Information Communication Technology (ICT) has become important tool in today‟s
knowledge-based information society and economy. This role of ICT in an emerging
economy such as Ghana‟s has been widely recognized at various levels. The recognition is
reflected in actions such as the development and deployment of a national ICT infrastructure
and institutional and regulatory framework for managing the sector. This chapter analyses
mobile phone ownership, Internet use and ownership of desktop/laptop computers.
5.2 Ownership of Mobile Phones

From Table 5.1, the total population of persons 12 years and older who were asked questions
on mobile phones and Internet facility usage was 52,367 of which 50.1 percent and 49.9
percent are males and females respectively. Ownership of mobile phones in the District is
less than a third (29.0%) of the total population. In terms of sex, 37.2 percent of males‟
population have mobile phones as against 20.8 percent for the females.
5.3 Use of Internet

Access to Internet is very low (1.4%) in the District (Table 5.1). In relation to sex, only 2.0
percent of males compare to 0.9 percent of females use Internet in Wassa East District.
Table 5.1: Population 12 years and older by mobile phone ownership, Internet
facility usage, and sex
Population 12 years Population having Population using

and older mobile phone internet facility
Sex Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Total 52,367 100.0 15,197 29.0 757 1.4
Male 26,216 50.1 9,763 37.2 513 2.0
Female 26,148 49.9 5,434 20.8 244 0.9
5.4 Household Ownership of Desktop or Laptop Computer

Desktop and laptop computers are useful for accessing and processing information, including
the use of the Internet, electronic mail and other services. Table 5.2 shows that only 2.3
percent of households have desktops or laptop computers with the proportion of male-headed
households being higher (2.8%) than that of the females (1.3%).
42
Table 5.2: Households having computers, fixed telephone lines and sex of head
Households having
Households desktop/laptop computers
Sex Number Percent Number Percent
Total 18,624 100.0 420 2.3
Male 12,203 65.5 339 2.8
Female 6,421 34.5 81 1.3
43
CHAPTER SIX
DISABILITY
6.1 Introduction
Persons with disabilities (PWD) have been defined as those who are unable to or are
restricted in the performance of specific tasks/activities due to loss of function of some part
of the body as a result of impairment or malformation. PWDs face a wide range of life
challenges because disability, in whatever form or type, can reduce an individual‟s ability to
perform to his or her full potential though some of them can still rise to the top most level
with perseverance and endurance.
6.2 Population with Disability

Table 6.1 shows that out of the 81,073 persons in the District 4.9 percent have one form of
disability or another. Sight disability is the commonest (45.6%) type of disability in the
District with the second prevalent condition being physical disability (23.9%) while those
with speech disability reported the least (11.4%) identifiable disabilities.
Inspection of table 6.1 reveals that roughly half (51.2%) of those with disabilities are males
with the rest being females. Apart from hearing, physical and „other‟ disabilities, there are
more males than females in the other categories of disabilities.
Table 6.1: Population by type of locality, disability type and sex
Disability/type Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Total 81,073 100.0 40,984 100.0 40,089 100.0
No disability 77,076 95.1 38,937 95.0 38,139 95.1
With a disability 3,997 4.9 2,047 5.0 1,950 4.9
Sight 1,821 45.6 943 46.1 878 45.0
Hearing 534 13.4 266 13.0 268 13.7
Speech 457 11.4 263 12.8 194 9.9
Physical 955 23.9 485 23.7 470 24.1
Intellectual 471 11.8 255 12.5 216 11.1
Emotional 778 19.5 409 20.0 369 18.9
Other 390 9.8 190 9.3 200 10.3
Urban
Total 6,239 100.0 2,957 100.0 3,282 100.0
No disability 5,957 95.5 2,843 96.1 3,114 94.9
With a disability 282 4.5 114 3.9 168 5.1
Sight 164 58.2 59 51.8 105 62.5
Hearing 37 13.1 12 10.5 25 14.9
Speech 40 14.2 27 23.7 13 7.7
Physical 54 19.1 30 26.3 24 14.3
Intellectual 18 6.4 11 9.6 7 4.2
Emotional 48 17.0 27 23.7 21 12.5
Other 7 2.5 4 3.5 3 1.8
44
Table 6.1: Population by type of locality, disability type and sex (cont’d)
Disability/type Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Rural
Total 74,834 100.0 38,027 100.0 36,807 100.0
No disability 71,119 95.0 36,094 94.9 35,025 95.2
With a disability 3,715 5.0 1,933 5.1 1,782 4.8
Sight 1,657 44.6 884 45.7 773 43.4
Hearing 497 13.4 254 13.1 243 13.6
Speech 417 11.2 236 12.2 181 10.2
Physical 901 24.3 455 23.5 446 25.0
Intellectual 453 12.2 244 12.6 209 11.7
Emotional 730 19.7 382 19.8 348 19.5
Other 383 10.3 186 9.6 197 11.1
6.3 Distribution of Disability by Type of Locality

Disabilities of various kinds are highly prevalent in rural areas (93.0%) than in urban areas
(7.0%). In both the urban and rural localities, males constitute a higher percent than females
for all the disability types except for sight and hearing in urban and other types of disability
for rural. Again, all the various forms of disabilities are predominant in rural than in urban
areas except sight and speech disabilities as shown in table 6.1.
6.4 Disability and Activity Status

Table 6.2 shows that out of the total population 3,194 of people 15 years and older who are
with disability, 67.1 percent are employed, 1.2 percent are unemployed whiles 31.7 percent
are economically not active. About 72.0 percent of persons with emotional impairment are
employed, 2.3 percent unemployed and 25.8 percent economically not active. Again the
proportion of persons with emotional disability employed is higher than those reported for the
other types of disability.
From the 1,631 males with disabilities, 70.4 percent are employed, 1.2 percent unemployed
and the remaining (28.3%) not economically active. The proportion of males with emotional
disabilities employed (74.4%) is the highest followed by sight (71.4%) and speech (71.0%).
With respect to females with disabilities, 63.6 percent are employed, 1.2 percent is
unemployed and 35.2 percent are economically not active. The pattern for those with various
types of disability employed among the females is not that different from that of the males.
45
Table 6.2: Persons 15 years and older by type of disability, economic activity
status and sex
Economically not
Sex/disability All status Employed Unemployed active
type Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Both Sexes
Total 46,430 100.0 33,179 71.5 912 2.0 12,339 26.6
No disability 43,236 100.0 31,036 71.8 873 2.0 11,327 26.2
With a disability 3,194 100.0 2,143 67.1 39 1.2 1,012 31.7
Sight 1,623 100.0 1,111 68.5 11 0.7 501 30.9
Hearing 349 100.0 220 63.0 3 0.9 126 36.1
Speech 241 100.0 152 63.1 2 0.8 87 36.1
Physical 721 100.0 415 57.6 6 0.8 300 41.6
Intellectual 266 100.0 154 57.9 6 2.3 106 39.8
Emotional 532 100.0 383 72.0 12 2.3 137 25.8
Other 306 100.0 211 69.0 5 1.6 90 29.4
Male
Total 22,983 100.0 16,945 73.7 436 1.9 5,602 24.4
No disability 21,352 100.0 15,796 74.0 416 1.9 5,140 24.1
With a disability 1,631 100.0 1,149 70.4 20 1.2 462 28.3
Sight 829 100.0 592 71.4 3 0.4 234 28.2
Hearing 174 100.0 119 68.4 0 0.0 55 31.6
Speech 145 100.0 103 71.0 0 0.0 42 29.0
Physical 360 100.0 221 61.4 3 0.8 136 37.8
Intellectual 145 100.0 81 55.9 5 3.4 59 40.7
Emotional 277 100.0 206 74.4 9 3.2 62 22.4
Other 143 100.0 101 70.6 3 2.1 39 27.3
Female
Total 23,447 100.0 16,234 69.2 476 2.0 6,737 28.7
No disability 21,884 100.0 15,240 69.6 457 2.1 6,187 28.3
With a disability 1,563 100.0 994 63.6 19 1.2 550 35.2
Sight 794 100.0 519 65.4 8 1.0 267 33.6
Hearing 175 100.0 101 57.7 3 1.7 71 40.6
Speech 96 100.0 49 51.0 2 2.1 45 46.9
Physical 361 100.0 194 53.7 3 0.8 164 45.4
Intellectual 121 100.0 73 60.3 1 0.8 47 38.8
Emotional 255 100.0 177 69.4 3 1.2 75 29.4
Other 163 100.0 110 67.5 2 1.2 51 31.3
6.5 Disability, Education and Literacy

There were 3,832 persons 3 years and older in the District with various kinds of disabilities.
Out of this, 38.2 percent have no education, 52.3 percent have basic education and 5.5
percent have secondary and higher level education. Again females PWDs have higher
proportion (48.8%) of never attended school compared with their male counterparts (28.0%).
While the proportion of male PWDs with secondary and higher level of education is 7.6
percent, their female counterparts constitute only 3.2 percent.
46
Table 6.3: Population 3 years and older by sex, disability type and level
of education
Number Percent
Sec/SHS Sec/SHS
Pre- and Pre- and
Sex/disability type Total Never Prim Basic higher Total Never Prim Basic higher
Both Sexes
Total 73,580 17,116 8,851 42,806 4,807 100.0 23.3 12.0 58.2 6.5
No disability 69,748 15,654 8,695 40,801 4,598 100.0 22.4 12.5 58.5 6.6
With a disability 3,832 1,462 156 2,005 209 100.0 38.2 4.1 52.3 5.5
Sight 1,787 709 39 920 119 100.0 39.7 2.2 51.5 6.7
Hearing 487 211 29 232 15 100.0 43.3 6.0 47.6 3.1
Speech 376 175 30 160 11 100.0 46.5 8.0 42.6 2.9
Physical 852 401 24 392 35 100.0 47.1 2.8 46.0 4.1
Intellectual 388 179 23 178 8 100.0 46.1 5.9 45.9 2.1
Emotional 688 187 37 418 46 100.0 27.2 5.4 60.8 6.7
Other 379 141 11 216 11 100.0 37.2 2.9 57.0 2.9
Male
Total 37,236 6,304 4,587 23,191 3,154 100.0 16.9 12.3 62.3 8.5
No disability 35,274 5,755 4,511 22,003 3,005 100.0 16.3 12.8 62.4 8.5
With a disability 1,962 549 76 1,188 149 100.0 28.0 3.9 60.6 7.6
Sight 920 243 20 573 84 100.0 26.4 2.2 62.3 9.1
Hearing 239 89 11 126 13 100.0 37.2 4.6 52.7 5.4
Speech 222 91 16 106 9 100.0 41.0 7.2 47.7 4.1
Physical 428 156 11 231 30 100.0 36.4 2.6 54.0 7.0
Intellectual 210 85 9 108 8 100.0 40.5 4.3 51.4 3.8
Emotional 360 79 18 237 26 100.0 21.9 5.0 65.8 7.2
Other 185 47 5 125 8 100.0 25.4 2.7 67.6 4.3
Female
Total 36,344 10,812 4,264 19,615 1,653 100.0 29.7 11.7 54.0 4.5
No disability 34,474 9,899 4,184 18,798 1,593 100.0 28.7 12.1 54.5 4.6
With a disability 1,870 913 80 817 60 100.0 48.8 4.3 43.7 3.2
Sight 867 466 19 347 35 100.0 53.7 2.2 40.0 4.0
Hearing 248 122 18 106 2 100.0 49.2 7.3 42.7 0.8
Speech 154 84 14 54 2 100.0 54.5 9.1 35.1 1.3
Physical 424 245 13 161 5 100.0 57.8 3.1 38.0 1.2
Intellectual 178 94 14 70 0 100.0 52.8 7.9 39.3 0.0
Emotional 328 108 19 181 20 100.0 32.9 5.8 55.2 6.1
Other 194 94 6 91 3 100.0 48.5 3.1 46.9 1.5
47
CHAPTER SEVEN
AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES
7.1 Introduction
Like in the many districts of the country, agriculture is the predominant source of
employment and serves as the main stay of the economy of Wassa East District. Yet in
reality, the exact proportion and characteristics of the population in agriculture has not been
really considered in previous national censuses. As a precursor to a national agriculture
survey, the 2010 collected data on agriculture.
For the census, an agricultural household was defined as where, at least, one person in the
household was engaged in any type of farming activity, namely crop farming, tree growing,
livestock rearing and fish farming.
Agriculture is a crucial sector for reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGS) in Ghana. This chapter therefore analyses agricultural activities
in the District, with a main focus on households in agriculture, types of farming activities,
livestock reared and fish farming in the District.
7.2 Households in Agriculture

Table 7.1 shows the distribution of households in agriculture. Out of the entire households of
18,624 in the District, 78.7 percent (14,662) are engaged in agriculture. From the table, a
greater proportion (94.1%) of households in agriculture is in rural areas while the rest are in
the urban localities (5.9%). Crop farming (96.1%) is the major activity undertaken by
households engaged in agriculture followed by livestock constituting 47.5 percent.
Households engaged in tree planting (0.20%) accounts for the least.
The percentage of households in crop farming is greater (94.4%) in rural areas than the case
in urban areas (5.6%). Following this pattern, urban households account for less than ten
percent of the population engaged in agriculture except for fish farming where about one-fifth
(18.2%) is in found in urban localities.
Table 7.1: Size of households by agricultural activities
Total
Households engages in agriculture Number Percent Urban Rural
Total households 18,624 100.0 8.8 91.2
Households engaged in agriculture 14,662 100.0 5.9 94.1
Crop farming 14,085 100.0 5.6 94.4
Tree planting 30 100.0 6.7 93.3
Livestock rearing 6,966 100.0 5.9 94.1
Fish farming 11 100.0 18.2 81.8
48
Figure 7.1: Household size and agricultural activities
120%
100% 94.4% 94.9%

94.1% 93.3%
81.8%
80%
Percent
60%
40% TOTAL
18.2% URBAN
20% 5.9% 6.7% 5.9%
5.6%
RURAL
0%
Households Crop Farming Tree Planting Livestock Fish Farming
engaged Rearing
engaged in
Agriculture
Agriculture Activity
7.3 Types of Livestock, and Other Animals Reared

Table 7.2 shows the distribution of various types of livestock and fishes the household‟s rear
or farm by the number of keepers. A total 9,763 keepers manage 146,794 livestock in the
District. Chicken is the dominant livestock accounting for 76.7 percent of the livestock kept.
Rearing of goat (12.3%) is the next highest followed by sheep rearing (4.5%). The least
among the livestock kept is Beehives (0.02%).
In terms of the number of keepers, those tending chicken constitute the highest (60.1%),
followed by goat (25.2%) and sheep (8.5%). The lowest number of keepers is reported among
fish farming (2). Fishes have the highest average per keeper followed by snail rearing perhaps
because of the small number of keepers involved.
49
Table 7.2: Distribution of livestock and keepers
Average
Livestock/other Animal Keepers animal per
animals Number Percent Number Percent keeper
Total 146,794 100.0 9,763 100.0 15
Beehives 31 0.0 6 0.1 5
Cattle 304 0.2 28 0.3 11
Chicken 112,644 76.7 5,864 60.1 19
Dove 555 0.4 24 0.2 23
Duck 1,511 1.0 152 1.6 10
Goat 18,009 12.3 2,463 25.2 7
Grass-cutter 226 0.2 20 0.2 11
Guinea fowl 318 0.2 28 0.3 11
Ostrich 363 0.2 23 0.2 16
Pig 614 0.4 99 1.0 6
Rabbit 294 0.2 27 0.3 11
Sheep 6,574 4.5 834 8.5 8
Silk worm 58 0.0 9 0.1 6
Snail 488 0.3 7 0.1 70
Turkey 37 0.0 11 0.1 3
Other 669 0.5 156 1.6 4
Fish farming 4,037 2.8 10 0.1 404
Inland fishing 62 0.0 2 0.0 31
Marine fishing 0 0.0 0 0.0 0
50
CHAPTER EIGHT
HOUSING CONDITIONS
8.1 Introduction
It has been established that the basic needs of man are food, clothing and shelter. Although
these necessities have not come to all in the same proportions, one of the present deficiencies
is shelter. Quantity and quality of housing remains a national challenge. Among the issues
covered during the 2010 Population and Housing Census include the number of occupied and
unoccupied dwelling units, the type of dwelling and main materials used in construction of
houses, occupancy status, and methods of waste disposal, utilities and household facilities.
These issues are discussed in this chapter.
8.2 Housing Stock

Table 8.1 shows the stock of houses and households in the Wassa East District. The Wassa
East District contributes 3.4 percent (79,436) to the total household population in the Western
Region (2,307,395). Out of this, 7.8 percent of the household population are in urban
localities with the remaining being rural household population. The number of houses
recorded in the District from the 2010 PHC is 15,923 with majority (95.4%) of the houses
located in the rural localities.
Table 8.1: Stock of houses and households by type of locality
Total District
Categories country Region Total Urban Rural
Total population 24,658,823 2,376,021 81,073 6,239 74,834
Total household population 24,076,327 2,307,395 79,436 6,165 73,271
Number of houses 3,392,745 380,104 15,923 878 15,045
Number of households 5,467,054 553,634 18,624 1,647 16,977
Average households per house 1.6 1.5 1.2 1.9 1.1

Population per house* 7.3 6.3 5.1 7.1 5.0
Average household size 4.5 4.3 4.4 3.8 4.4
*This excludes homeless and institutional households
The average household per house of 1.2 for the District is lower than the regional (1.5) and
national (1.6) averages. There are 5.1 persons per house in the District, which is also lower
than the regional and national averages. In terms of urban and rural interfaces, the urban
localities (7.1) have the highest population per house compared to that of the rural localities
(5.0). The average household size for rural localities (4.4) is higher than that of urban
localities (3.8).
51
8.3 Type of Dwelling, Holding and Tenancy Arrangements
This section describes the type of dwelling, holding and tenancy arrangements. The analysis
is based on the total number of both occupied and unoccupied dwellings.
8.3.1 Type of occupied dwelling unit
Table 8.2 shows that a total of 18,642 dwelling units were in the District during the 2010
PHC. Nearly half (47.2%) of all these dwelling units are separate houses, making this type of
dwelling the predominant type of dwelling unit in the District. The proportion of male-headed
households dwelling in separate houses is higher (49.5%) higher than the proportion for
female-headed households (42.8%). Separate houses are the major dwelling type in rural
localities (49.5%) compared with 23.7 percent in the urban localities.
The next major type of dwelling unit is the compound house, which recorded 33.0 percent.
The proportion of male-headed households dwelling in compound houses is lower (31.0%)
compared with the proportion for the female (37.0%). The compound house is the major
dwelling type in the urban locality accounting for 49.5 percent of all the dwelling types
compared with 31.4 percent in the urban localities.
Hut/buildings, tent, improvised home (kiosk, containers, etc.), living quarters attached to
office/shop, uncompleted building and other types of dwelling, not defined, each recorded
less than 0.5 percent.
Table 8.2: Type of occupied dwelling unit by sex of household head and type
of locality
District
Total Total Male Female
Type of dwelling country Region Number Percent headed headed Urban Rural
Total 5,467,054 553,634 18,624 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Separate house 1,471,391 185,809 8,796 47.2 49.5 42.8 23.7 49.5
Semi-detached house 391,548 48,683 1,799 9.7 9.3 10.4 10.7 9.6
Flat/apartment 256,355 33,980 465 2.5 2.6 2.3 7.9 2.0
Compound house (rooms) 2,942,147 259,471 6,153 33.0 31.0 37.0 49.5 31.4
Huts/buildings (same compound) 170,957 13,962 1,169 6.3 6.3 6.2 6.9 6.2
Huts/buildings (different
compound) 36,410 2,158 66 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4
Tent 10,343 1,120 36 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.2
Improvised home 90,934 3,707 42 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.2
(kiosk/container, etc.)
Living quarters attached to 20,499 1,743 73 0.4 0.5 0.2 0.4 0.4
office/shop
Uncompleted building 66,624 2,049 15 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1
Other 9,846 952 10 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1
8.3.2 Ownership status of dwelling

Table 8.2 depicts the ownership status of dwellings recorded in the 2010 PHC. About seven
main ownership statuses of dwellings were identified. About three-forth (73.2%) of the total
dwelling units (18,624) in the District is owned by household members. Dwellings owned by
other private individual (11.7%) and those owned by relatives not household members
(10.9%) are the other major ownership types.
52
Majority (73.8%) of the male-headed households (9,008 out of 12,203) and approximately 72
percent of female-headed households (4,622 out of 6,421) live in houses owned by a
household member. The least type of dwelling ownership is that of other private agency (90)
with only 48 and 42 of the male-headed households and female-headed households
respectively living in this type of dwellings
Regarding locality, the majority of dwellings in both urban (58.1%) and rural (74.3%)
localities in the District are owned by a household member, with most of the dwellings
owned by household member in rural localities. There are dwellings units owned by other
private individuals in urban localities (20.8%) than in rural localities (10.8%).
Table 8.3: Ownership status of dwelling by sex of household head and type of locality
District
Total Total Male Female
Ownership status Country Region Number Percent headed headed Urban Rural
Total 5,467,054 553,634 18,624 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Owned by household member 2,883,236 313,579 13,630 73.2 73.8 72.0 61.6 74.3
Being purchased (e.g. mortgage) 45,630 5,093 141 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.6 0.8
Relative not a household member 851,630 71,742 2,036 10.9 9.7 13.3 7.9 11.2
Other private individual 1,439,021 123,401 2,172 11.7 12.1 10.7 20.8 10.8
Private employer 83,610 15,343 147 0.8 0.9 0.5 1.7 0.7
Other private agency 21,123 2,689 90 0.5 0.4 0.7 3.9 0.2
Public/Government ownership 118,804 19,307 261 1.4 1.5 1.3 2.9 1.3
Other 24,000 2,480 147 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.5 0.8
8.4 Construction Materials

Various materials are used for the construction of dwellings. Materials used for the walls may
differ from that used for the floors and the roofs. The materials used may be influenced by the
local condition and or the environmental conditions or socioeconomic status. These materials
may affect the appearance, quality and life span of a house and even the health status of the
households‟ occupants. This section describes the various types of construction materials for
the construction of dwelling units in the Wassa East District.
8.4.1 Materials for outer wall
The main materials used for the construction of outer walls of dwellings are mud bricks/earth
(67.0%) and cement blocks/concrete (26.7%) (Table 8.4). Dwellings with outer walls
constructed with bamboo (0.1%) are the least in the District.
Table 8.4 also shows that in terms of urban and rural locality, the main materials used for the
construction of outer walls of dwellings in the rural locality is mud bricks/earth accounting
for 71.6 percent while the main construction materials used in urban areas is cement
blocks/concrete which also accounted for 71.8 percent of materials for the outer walls. A
relatively small proportion of dwelling units in the rural localities (0.3%) have outer walls
made of burnt brick compared to 1.0 percent in the urban localities.
53
Table 8.4: Main construction material for outer wall of dwelling unit by type
of locality
District
Total Total
Material for outer wall country Region Number Percent Urban Rural
Total 5,817,607 594,292 20,737 100.0 100.0 100.0
Mud brick/earth 1,991,540 241,414 13,891 67.0 20.8 71.6
Wood 200,594 19,221 373 1.8 2.5 1.7
Metal sheet/slate/asbestos 43,708 3,170 103 0.5 1.2 0.4
Stone 11,330 835 26 0.1 0.6 0.1
Burnt bricks 38,237 5,273 199 1.0 0.3 1.0
Cement blocks/concrete 3,342,462 297,909 5,541 26.7 71.8 22.2
Landcrete 104,270 9,463 506 2.4 2.3 2.5
Bamboo 8,206 1,957 19 0.1 0.2 0.1
Palm leaf/thatch (grass)/raffia 38,054 11,618 39 0.2 0.0 0.2
Other 39,206 3,432 40 0.2 0.4 0.2
8.4.2 Main construction materials for floor

Table 8.5 shows that the main materials used for the construction of floors of dwellings are
cement/concrete (80.4%) and earth/ mud (17.7%). Dwelling units with floors constructed
with wood or vinyl tiles or terrazzo/terrazzo tiles accounts for the least, each constituting just
0.1 percent.
Both urban (90.8%) and rural (79.4%) dwelling units have cement/concrete as the main
materials used for the construction of floors of dwellings in the localities. Earth/mud
constitutes only 4.7 percent of floors in urban areas while in rural areas it is 19.0 percent.
Table 8.5: Main construction materials for the floor of dwelling unit by type
of locality
District
Total Total
Materials for the floor country Region Number Percent Urban Rural
Total 5,467,054 553,634 18,624 100.0 100.0 100.0
Earth/mud 872,161 77,859 3,296 17.7 4.7 19.0
Cement/concrete 4,255,611 450,286 14,973 80.4 90.8 79.4
Stone 32,817 2,432 91 0.5 1.6 0.4
Burnt brick 6,537 569 41 0.2 0.1 0.2
Wood 52,856 2,848 23 0.1 0.1 0.1
Vinyl tiles 57,032 4,158 26 0.1 0.2 0.1
Ceramic/porcelain/granite/marble
tiles 88,500 6,608 123 0.7 1.7 0.6
Terrazzo/terrazzo tiles 85,973 7,055 12 0.1 0.4 0.0
Other 15,567 1,819 39 0.2 0.4 0.2
8.4.3 Main construction materials for roofing

The main construction materials for roofing are metal sheets, bamboo, thatch/palm leaf or
raffia, slates/asbestos, and cement/concrete. From table 8.6, 71.1 percent of dwelling units in
the District are roofed with metal sheets and 13.6 percent are roofed with bamboo while 10.7
percent are roofed with thatch/palm leaf or raffia. The situation is similar in both urban and
rural localities where the main material for roofing is metal sheets; 84.4 percent in urban
54
areas and 69.8 percent in rural areas. The use of bamboo and thatch/palm leaf or raffia is
more common in rural areas (14.3% and 11.7% respectively) than in it is reported in the
urban (6.5% and 0.7% respectively) localities. Interestingly, the percentage of urban dwelling
units (0.6%) that are roofed with wood is almost the same with rural dwelling units (0.7%).
Table 8.6: Main construction material for roofing of dwelling unit by type
of locality
District
Total Total
Main roofing material country Region Number Percent Urban Rural
Total 5,817,607 594,292 20,737 100.0 100.0 100.0
Mud/mud bricks/earth 80,644 4,795 165 0.8 0.3 0.8
Wood 45,547 4,333 150 0.7 0.6 0.7
Metal sheet 4,152,259 375,579 14,752 71.1 84.4 69.8
Slate/asbestos 759,039 90,669 385 1.9 5.1 1.5
Cement/concrete 141,072 35,736 91 0.4 0.9 0.4
Roofing tile 31,456 2,538 28 0.1 0.4 0.1
Bamboo 71,049 32,363 2,813 13.6 6.5 14.3
Thatch/palm leaf or raffia 500,606 43,836 2,219 10.7 0.7 11.7
Other 35,935 4,443 134 0.6 1.1 0.6
8.5 Room Occupancy

The number of „sleeping rooms‟ provides an indication of the extent of crowding in
households. Over crowded rooms have health implications; crowded living conditions
increase the risk of spread of infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, measles and
respiratory infections. This situation can lead to psychological distress; lack of tolerance,
reduced levels of concentration and can affect mental health taking into consideration the hot
conditions.
Table 8.7 describes household size and number of sleeping rooms occupied in dwelling unit.
As stated and observed in section 8.2, the average household size of the District is 4.4. More
than half of households in the District (62.5%) occupy one sleeping room and less than a
quarter occupy two sleeping rooms. Those occupying three rooms are less than 10 percent
(8.0%). This gives an indication that people are sleeping in crowded rooms.
Ninety percent, of one-member households occupy one room, 80 percent of two-member
household, 72.2 percent of three-member household, 65.0 percent of four-member
households and 58.1 percent of five-member households occupy one room. The proportion of
households reduces as the number of sleeping rooms increases for all household sizes. Except
for households sizes six to ten plus which recorded between 12 percent and about 23 percent,
household sizes of one to five each recorded less than 10 percent occupying three sleeping
rooms.
Less than 3.0 percent of households with four members, 5.9 percent of those with six
members and 6.7 percent of those with seven members have four sleeping room.
55
Table 8.7: Household size and number of sleeping rooms occupied in dwelling unit
Total Number of sleeping rooms
House- Nine
hold One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight rooms or
size Number Percent room rooms rooms rooms rooms rooms rooms rooms more
Total 18,624 100.0 62.5 22.4 8.0 4.0 1.5 0.7 0.4 0.3 0.3
1 3,522 100.0 90.0 6.9 1.4 0.7 0.5 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1
2 2,297 100.0 80.1 16.1 2.0 0.7 0.7 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1
3 2,460 100.0 72.2 20.5 4.6 1.6 0.7 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.0
4 2,524 100.0 65.0 23.8 7.4 2.8 0.4 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.0
5 2,251 100.0 58.1 28.6 8.2 3.2 1.1 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1
6 1,928 100.0 46.8 32.0 12.2 5.9 2.0 1.0 0.2 0.0 0.0
7 1,345 100.0 38.9 34.4 16.4 6.7 2.2 0.7 0.4 0.2 0.0
8 920 100.0 30.9 38.3 17.6 8.2 2.5 1.0 0.4 0.4 0.8
9 564 100.0 22.7 32.4 20.2 14.5 5.0 1.8 1.2 0.7 1.4
10+ 813 100.0 8.6 23.4 22.8 18.6 9.2 7.4 3.7 3.6 2.8
8.6 Access to Utilities and Household Facilities

Access to utilities and households facilities such as energy for cooking, cooking space, source
of lighting water, bathing and toilet facility and waste disposal is essential for healthy living
practices. This section analyses these utilities and facilities in the District.
8.6.1 Main source of lighting

The main source of lighting for households in the District is flashlight/torch, which
constitutes 46.0 percent. One of the reasons accounting for this is the fact that the District is
mainly rural where power from the national grid is gradually being extended to the
hinterlands. This is evident from table 8.8 where almost 50 percent of the rural dwelling units
used flashlight compared to 9.5 percent of urban units. The use of electricity (mains)
constituted 35.3 percent which is second to flashlight/torch.
The Table also shows that in terms of urban and rural locality, the main source of lighting in
urban localities is electricity (Main) constituting 71.2 percent and followed by kerosene lamp
(17.4%) as against flashlight/torch (49.6%), electricity (31.9%) and kerosene (16.8%) in rural
areas. However, the proportion of dwelling units using kerosene as a source of lighting is
slightly higher in urban (17.4%) than rural localities (16.8%).
Table 8.8: Main source of lighting of dwelling unit by type of locality

District
Total Total
Main source of light country Region Number Percent Urban Rural
Total 5,467,054 553,634 18,624 100.0 100.0 100.0
Electricity (mains) 3,511,065 360,079 6,581 35.3 71.2 31.9
Electricity (private generator) 36,142 4,931 115 0.6 0.9 0.6
Kerosene lamp 971,807 67,662 3,139 16.9 17.4 16.8
Gas lamp 9,378 915 59 0.3 0.1 0.3
Solar energy 9,194 928 27 0.1 0.0 0.2
Candle 41,214 2,085 40 0.2 0.4 0.2
Flashlight/torch 858,651 114,514 8,572 46.0 9.5 49.6
Firewood 13,241 1,055 28 0.2 0.2 0.1
Crop residue 4,623 315 18 0.1 0.2 0.1
Other 11,739 1,150 45 0.2 0.2 0.2
56
8.6.2 Main source of cooking fuel
The distribution of main source of cooking fuel is shown in tables 8.9. From the table, 77.5
percent of households in the District use wood as the main source of cooking fuel followed
by charcoal (11.9%). The use of gas constitutes only 4.7 percent. The use of crop residue,
saw dust, animal waste and other sources collectively accounts for less than one percent
(0.5%).
As shown in the table, wood remains the main source of cooking fuel in rural localities
(81.0%) households in the District. In contrast, less than half (41.0%) of households in urban
localities use wood albeit being the predominant source of fuel for cooking. The use of
charcoal is the second most used source of fuel for cooking in urban localities (40.0%). The
use of gas as a source of fuel for cooking is generally low in both urban and rural localities,
though higher in the former (13.4%) than the later (3.9%).
57
Table 8.9: Main source of cooking fuel, and cooking space used by households
District
Total Total Urban Rural
Main source of cooking fuel for household country Region Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Main source of cooking fuel
Total 5,467,054 553,634 18,624 100.0 1,647 100.0 16,977 100.0
None no cooking 306,118 29,196 929 5.0 64 3.9 865 5.1
Wood 2,197,083 267,976 14,426 77.5 676 41.0 13,750 81.0
Gas 996,518 82,912 884 4.7 221 13.4 663 3.9
Electricity 29,794 3,314 38 0.2 9 0.5 29 0.2
Kerosene 29,868 2,413 40 0.2 8 0.5 32 0.2
Charcoal 1,844,290 164,627 2,211 11.9 658 40.0 1,553 9.1
Crop residue 45,292 1,864 78 0.4 7 0.4 71 0.4
Saw dust 8,000 597 11 0.1 2 0.1 9 0.1
Animal waste 2,332 211 2 0.0 1 0.1 1 0.0
Other 7,759 524 5 0.0 1 0.1 4 0.0
Cooking space used by household
Total 5,467,054 553,634 18,624 100.0 1,647 100.0 16,977 100.0
No cooking space 386,883 38,816 1,275 6.8 96 5.8 1,179 6.9
Separate room for exclusive use of household 1,817,018 258,116 10,597 56.9 596 36.2 10,001 58.9
Separate room shared with other household(s) 410,765 43,983 1,436 7.7 153 9.3 1,283 7.6
Enclosure without roof 117,614 6,279 292 1.6 105 6.4 187 1.1
Structure with roof but without walls 349,832 26,140 1,037 5.6 42 2.6 995 5.9
Bedroom/hall/living room) 74,525 3,685 124 0.7 10 0.6 114 0.7
Veranda 1,173,946 115,053 2,814 15.1 515 31.3 2,299 13.5
Open space in compound 1,115,464 60,015 1,003 5.4 124 7.5 879 5.2
Other 21,007 1,547 46 0.2 6 0.4 40 0.2
58
8.6.3 Main cooking space used by household
Table 8.9 also shows the distribution of the main cooking space used by households in the
District. More than half (56.9%) of households have separate rooms for exclusive use while
15.1 percent use verandas as the main cooking space. Less than one percent (0.7%) uses the
bedroom/hall/living room as cooking space.
Further, as shown in table 8.9, there are clear urban/rural variations in the type of cooking
space used by households. The proportion of households in rural areas with separate rooms
for exclusive use is 58.9 percent compared with 36.2 percent in urban localities. However, a
higher proportion of households in urban localities cooked on the veranda (31.3%) compared
to rural localities (13.5%). In both rural and urban localities, less than 1.0 percent of
households use bedroom/hall/living room as cooking space.
8.7 Main Source of Water for Drinking and for Other Domestic Use
Water is one of the basic necessities of life. The source of water used by a household, either
for drinking or other domestic uses can affect the health of the occupants. Generally, water
sources are classified into two categories namely „improved‟ and „unimproved‟: the improved
sources are piped public water into homes, public standpipe, borehole, protected dug well,
protected spring, and rainwater collection; unimproved are unprotected wells and springs,
river/ stream, dug out, vendors, and tanker-trucks (WHO & UNICEF, 2000).
8.7.1 Main source of water for drinking

Figure 8.1 shows the distribution of the main sources of drinking water for households in the
District. Bore-hole/pump/tube well (43.0%) is the main source of drinking water for dwelling
units in the District. Another key source of drinking water for the District is rivers/streams
(30.7%). Put together, these two sources provide drinking water to 73.7 percent of
households. Pipe-borne inside dwelling unit, pipe-borne outside dwelling unit and public
tap/standpipe each constitute less than 10 percent of drinking water sources for households
but collectively constitute 18.3 percent.
The main source of drinking water for households in rural localities is bore-hole/pump/tube
well (46.2%) with rivers/streams (33.3%) being another popular source. In urban areas
however, pipe-borne outside dwelling unit (28.1%) is the prominent source of drinking water.
The use of rainwater is not very common among households in the District; it is almost non-
existence in urban localities with barely 0.1 percent of households in rural localities use this
source. Sachet water as a source of drinking water is less prevalent in rural localities (1.8%)
than in the urban (3.7%) areas (Table 8.10).
59
Figure 8.1: Main source of water for drinking
100
90
80
70
60
50 43
40
30.7
30
20
8.1 9.1
10 1.1 2.5 2 2.5
0.1 0.2 0.2 0 0.3 0.2
0
8.7.2 Main source of water for other domestic use

Table 8.10 also shows the distribution of the main source of water for other domestic use.
The distribution is similar to that for the drinking water source. Bore-hole/pump/tube well
(44.5%) is the dominant source of water for other domestic use followed by river/stream
(32%), pipe-borne outside dwelling (7.4%) and public tap/stand pipe (6.1%).
Bore-hole/pump/tube well is again the dominant source of water for other domestic uses in
both urban/rural localities with the proportion of households using this source in rural
(46.0%) about double that in the urban (28.8%). The use of water from river/stream (32%) for
other domestic use comes next after bore-hole/pump/tube well in rural areas but in the case of
urban localities, pipe-borne outside dwelling (23.2%) comes next. Only 3.9 percent of
households in urban localities use river/stream.
60
Table 8.10: Main source of water of dwelling unit for drinking and other
domestic purposes
District
Total Total
Sources of water country Region Number Percent Urban Rural
Main source of drinking water
Total 5,467,054 553,634 18,624 100.0 100.0 100.0
Pipe-borne inside dwelling 790,493 58,258 213 1.1 10.0 0.3
Pipe-borne outside dwelling 1,039,667 108,321 1,516 8.1 28.1 6.2
Public tap/standpipe 712,375 90,198 1,696 9.1 40.1 6.1
Bore-hole/pump/tube well 1,267,688 100,915 8,014 43.0 10.5 46.2
Protected well 321,091 39,026 457 2.5 1.3 2.6
Rain water 39,438 707 21 0.1 0.0 0.1
Protected spring 19,345 1,857 31 0.2 0.3 0.2
Bottled water 20,261 1,734 35 0.2 0.7 0.1
Sachet water 490,283 30,053 366 2.0 3.7 1.8
Tanker supply/vendor provided 58,400 3,328 2 0.0 0.0 0.0
Unprotected well 112,567 22,976 467 2.5 1.9 2.6
Unprotected spring 12,222 1,850 54 0.3 0.0 0.3
River/stream 502,804 90,453 5,711 30.7 3.5 33.3
Dugout/pond/lake/dam/canal 76,448 3,517 32 0.2 0.0 0.2
Other 3,972 441 9 0.0 0.0 0.1
Main source of water for other domestic use
Total 5,467,054 553,634 18,624 100.0 100.0 100.0
Pipe-borne inside dwelling 905,566 61,523 266 1.4 11.7 0.4
Pipe-borne outside dwelling 1,089,030 100,763 1,371 7.4 23.2 5.8
Public tap/standpipe 704,293 85,182 1,140 6.1 20.1 4.8
Bore-hole/pump/tube well 1,280,465 104,503 8,281 44.5 28.8 46.0
Protected well 465,775 61,075 626 3.4 4.7 3.2
Rain water 39,916 1,171 40 0.2 0.1 0.2
Protected spring 18,854 1,860 21 0.1 0.4 0.1
Tanker supply/vendor provided 100,048 3,467 11 0.1 0.2 0.0
Unprotected well 152,055 30,543 725 3.9 6.5 3.6
Unprotected spring 15,738 1,885 68 0.4 0.2 0.4
River/stream 588,590 96,641 5,959 32.0 3.9 34.7
Dugout/pond/lake/dam/canal 96,422 3,644 25 0.1 0.0 0.1
Other 10,302 1,377 91 0.5 0.2 0.5
8.8 Toilet and Bathing Facilities

8.8.1 Toilet facilities
A critical indicator of the sanitary condition of a dwelling unit is the availability of an
efficient and hygienic method of waste disposal. This provides an indirect measure of the
socio-economic status of a household. As shown in Table 8.11, four main types of toilet
facilities were recorded in the 2010 PHC for the District. The predominant facilities used by
households in the District are public toilet (41.3%), pit latrine (39.5%), Ventilated Improved
Pit Latrine (VIP) (5.4%) and Water Closet (WC) (2.1%). Though bucket/pan has been banned
in the country, 0.6 percent of households in the District use this unapproved facility. A little
over 10.0 percent of households within the District have no toilet facility and rather resort to
the use of bush/beach/field.
61
Public toilet and pit latrine is still the dominant toilet facilities used in both urban (39.5%)
and rural (41.5%) localities with the proportion in the rural locality being higher than that of
the urban. The proportion using pit latrine (41.1%) is almost the same as those using public
toilet (41.5%) in rural localities. Households using pit latrine and W. C. in urban localities
constitute 22.9 percent and 10.1 percent respectively. Households using W. C. in the rural
localities accounts for only 1.3 percent.
Figure 8.2: Type of toilet facilities
45 41.3
39.5
40
35
30
25
20
15 10.7
10 5.4
5 2.1 0.6 0.2
0
Bucket/Pan
(WCKVIPPitPan etc)
W.C.
Pit latrine
(bush/beach/field)
Other
KVIP
No facilities
Public toilet
8.8.2 Bathing facilities

Bathing facilities used by households are categorized primarily into three main types. These
are bathroom for exclusive use, shared separate bathroom in the same house and shared open
cubicle.
From Table 8.11, the proportion of households with bathrooms for exclusive use by
household members is 27.4 percent, while those using shared separate bathroom in the same
house constitute 25.2 percent. The use of shared open cubicle accounts for 20.8 percent of the
bathing facilities while the uses of open space around houses constitute about 5 percent in the
District.
The proportion of households with bathrooms for exclusive use by household members is
higher in rural localities (28.5%) than in urban (16.7%) localities while the proportion using
shared separate bathroom in the same house is higher in urban localities (46.6%) than rural in
areas (23.1%). The use of open space around houses account for 5.5 percent of households
in rural communities compared to 1.5 percent for the urban.
62
Table 8.11: Toilet facilities and Bathing facility used by household
District
Toilet facility used by household country Region Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Toilet facility used by household
Total 5,467,054 553,634 18,624 100.0 1,647 100.0 16,977 100.0
No facilities (bush/beach/field) 1,056,382 65,781 2,002 10.7 263 16.0 1,739 10.2
W.C. 839,611 74,100 392 2.1 166 10.1 226 1.3
Pit latrine 1,040,883 166,530 7,359 39.5 377 22.9 6,982 41.1
KVIP 572,824 34,822 1,010 5.4 119 7.2 891 5.2
Bucket/Pan 40,678 2,263 120 0.6 67 4.1 53 0.3
Public toilet (WC/KVIP/Pit/Pan, etc.) 1,893,291 207,221 7,701 41.3 650 39.5 7,051 41.5
Other 23,385 2,917 40 0.2 5 0.3 35 0.2
Bathing facility used by household
Total 5,467,054 553,634 18,624 100.0 1,647 100.0 16,977 100.0
Own bathroom for exclusive use 1,535,392 172,397 5,106 27.4 275 16.7 4,831 28.5
Shared separate bathroom in the same 1,818,522 184,496 4,687 25.2 767 46.6 3,920 23.1
house
Private open cubicle 381,979 29,430 1,767 9.5 101 6.1 1,666 9.8
Shared open cubicle 1,000,257 81,605 3,867 20.8 375 22.8 3,492 20.6
Public bath house 140,501 12,880 256 1.4 19 1.2 237 1.4
Bathroom in another house 187,337 32,531 1,755 9.4 84 5.1 1,671 9.8
Open space around house 372,556 34,738 957 5.1 25 1.5 932 5.5
River/pond/lake/dam 14,234 4,159 151 0.8 1 0.1 150 0.9
Other 16,276 1,398 78 0.4 0 0.0 78 0.5
63
8.9 Method of Waste Disposal
Management of solid and liquid waste is one of the major challenges confronting local authorities
in Ghana. Acceptable and proper waste management helps to prevent the spread of some types of
infectious diseases and improves the quality of the environment. The methods of waste disposal
at the household level determine the level of sanitation and the health status of the household
members.
8.9.1 Solid waste disposal
Table 8.12 shows the method of rubbish (solid waste) disposal by households in the District.
From the table, the most widely used means of disposing solid waste (refuse) by households is
dumping unto public dump (open space) constituting 65.6 percent followed by indiscriminate
dumping of refuse (12.5%). Burring of refuse is practice by 3.1 percent of the households. The
main method of solid waste disposal for rural localities is dumping in an open space (69.2%)
followed by dumping of refuse in public containers practiced by 13.6 percent of households.
With regard to the urban localities, majority (61.3%) of households dump their refuse in public
dump (containers) while 29.0 percent resort to the public dump (open space). The least method
of rubbish disposal practiced by households in urban localities is door to door refuse collection,
accounting for 0.4 percent of the methods of disposals, while the use of public dump (containers)
is the least method in rural localities (1.9%).
8.9.2 Liquid waste disposal
Table 8.12 again shows the distribution of the methods of liquid waste disposals practiced by
households in the District. Among these methods, households that dispose liquid waste by
throwing onto compounds constitute 59.8 percent, onto the street/outside constitute 21.7 percent
and into gutters constitute 12.5 percent. Households that dispose liquid waste through sewerage
systems account for 0.4 percent. The most dominant or widely practiced method of liquid waste
disposal by households in rural localities is throwing liquid waste onto compound (63.3%)
followed by households that throw liquid waste onto the street/outside (21.4%). On the other
hand, the most widely practiced method of liquid waste disposal by households in urban
localities is throwing of liquid waste into gutters (38.1%) followed by households who throw
liquid waste onto streets/outside (24.8%) and onto compound (23.8%). The proportion of
households that throw liquid waste through the sewerage system is the same for rural and urban
households (0.4%) in each case.
64
Table 8.12: Method of rubbish and liquid waste disposal by type of locality
District
Method of solid/liquid disposal country Region Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Solid waste disposal
Collected 785,889 598 598 3.2 7 0.4 591 3.5
Burned by household 584,820 1,101 1,101 5.9 100 6.1 1,001 5.9
Public dump (container) 1,299,654 1,327 1,327 7.1 1,010 61.3 317 1.9
Public dump (open space) 2,061,403 12,224 12,224 65.6 478 29.0 11,746 69.2
Dumped indiscriminately 498,868 2,337 2,337 12.5 20 1.2 2,317 13.6
Buried by household 182,615 583 583 3.1 30 1.8 553 3.3
Other 53,805 454 454 2.4 2 0.1 452 2.7
Liquid waste disposal
Total 5,467,054 18,624 18,624 100.0 1,647 100.0 16,977 100.0
Through the sewerage system 183,169 75 75 0.4 6 0.4 69 0.4
Through drainage system into a gutter 594,404 398 398 2.1 181 11.0 217 1.3
Through drainage into a pit (soak away) 167,555 295 295 1.6 25 1.5 270 1.6
Thrown onto the street/outside 1,538,550 4,036 4,036 21.7 409 24.8 3,627 21.4
Thrown into gutter 1,020,096 2,335 2,335 12.5 628 38.1 1,707 10.1
Thrown onto compound 1,924,986 11,145 11,145 59.8 392 23.8 10,753 63.3
Other 38,294 340 340 1.8 6 0.4 334 2.0
65
CHAPTER NINE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
9.1 Introduction
The chapter presents the summary of main findings of the analysis of demographic and socio-
economic characteristics of Wassa East District in the Western Region. Conclusions based
on the results are presented and policy recommendations outlined.
9.2 Summary of Findings

The 2010 Population and Housing Census data for Wassa East District provides relevant
information needed to inform policy makers, planners, academia and the general public to
make informed decisions aimed at socio-economic development of the District. This section
focuses on the key findings on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics,
Information and Communication Technology (ICT), disability, agricultural activities and
housing conditions in the District.
9.2.1 Demographic characteristics

From the 2010 PHC, the population of Wassa East District is 81,073 accounting for about 3.4
percent of the population of the entire Western region. There are slightly more males (50.6%)
in the District than females (49.4%).
The District generally depicts a typically youthful population with a dependency ratio of
87.3. The proportion of the District‟s population under 15 years is 42.8 percent of the total
population. Wassa East recorded a general fertility rate (GFR) of 134.0 per 1000 women and
the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 4.5 per woman. Crude death rate in the District is 11.4
deaths per 1000 population. The District recorded a total of 28,827 migrants out of which
24.9 percent (7,189) are migrants born elsewhere in the Western Region.
9.2.2 Social characteristics
There are 18,624 households in the District of which male-headed households 12,203 are
more than the female 6,421. About 48.6 percent of the population 12 years and older are
married, 3.0 percent are living together or in informal consensual union and 37.4 percent
have never married. The age-group 12-14 and 15-19 have less than10 percent of their
population being married.
Ghanaians by birth (95.3%) constitute the highest proportion in the District, followed by
those with dual nationality (2.7%). Ghanaians by naturalization constitutes 0.9 percent and
the least are those with other forms of citizenship (0.2%). On Religious affiliation, 90.9
percent of the population professes to be Christians, followed by Islam (6.5%) and the least
being the Traditionalist (1.5%). The proportion of the population 11 years and older that are
literate is 74.1 percent while the non-literates are 25.9 percent. About 67 percent of the non-
literate population are females (66.9%) and the rest are males (33.1%). Persons 3 years and
older who attended school in the past are more than person‟s currently attending school.
66
9.2.3 Economic characteristics
About 73 percent of the population 15 years and older in the District are economically active.
About 97 percent of the economically active population are employed with 2.7 percent
unemployed. About 76 percent of males and 71.3 percent of females are economically active
seven days preceding the census night. The age group 40–44 years among males have the
highest proportion (94.7%) of the employed while the proportion employed is higher (92.5%)
among those between 45 and 49 years among females. Skilled agricultural, forestry and
fishery workers are the biggest occupational group (70.7%). Service and sales workers
(8.1%) are the second largest group in the District.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (71.2%) employ the highest proportion of the employed
population with wholesale and retailers being the next highest category (6.8%) while the least
are financial and insurance activities (0.1%). About 67 percent of the workforce is self-
employed without employee(s). Males who worked as casual workers (2.8%) are more than
females working in the same category (0.9%). Females working as domestic employees are
greater than females involved in casual work (0.6%). The private informal is the leading
sector of employment in the Wassa East District, employing 91.2 percent of the employed
population.
9.2.4 Information Communication Technology (ICT)

Of the population 12 years and older (52,367) who were asked questions on mobile phones
and Internet use in the Wassa East District, roughly 29% had mobile phones. In terms of the
use of the Internet, 1.4 percent of the population are using the facility. Ownership of
desktops or laptop computers is just a little over two percent (2.3%) of households.
9.2.5 Disability
Approximately five percent (4.9%) out of the total (81,073) population of the District have
some form of disability. Persons suffering from sight disability constitute the highest
followed by those with physical disability. The commonest form of disability among males is
speech (57.5%), while among females, the “others” category forms the highest (51.3%).
Speech disability is also common among females (42.5%). PWDs are more likely to be found
in rural localities than in urban areas. Employment records for PWDs seems satisfactory
given that more than two-thirds (67.1%) are employed. In terms of the different types of
disabilities, persons with emotional difficulties tend to be more (72.0%) employed than the
others.
9.2.6 Agricultural activities
Fourteen thousand, six hundred and sixty two (78.7%) out of the 18,624 households in the
District are engaged in agriculture with 95.1 percent of the households are into crop farming.
Consistent with expectation, there are high proportions of households engaged in agriculture
in the rural areas (94.1%) than there are in urban areas (5.9%). The total number of livestock
in the District is 146,794 with 9,763 keepers, culminating into an average 15 livestock per
keeper. The most dominant livestock reared is chicken (112,644), followed by goat 18,009.
9.2.7 Housing conditions
The total number of houses in the District is 15,923 with the majority (94.5%) in rural areas.
The average household per house is 1.2, and population per house is 5.1 persons with an
average household size of 4.4. There are 18,624 dwelling units in the District with little
67
below half (47.2%) being separate houses, which is also the most common type of dwelling
unit in the District.
A total of 13,630 (73.2%) dwelling units out of the total dwelling units of 18,624 are owned
by household members. Majority of houses in both rural and urban localities are owned by
members of the household. The main construction material for outer walls of dwellings is
mud/earth brick. Floors are largely made of cement or concrete (80.4%) while the main
construction material used for roofing of the dwellings is metal sheet.
Out of the total households of 18,624, 62.5 percent sleep in one room. About 22.4 percent of
households occupy two rooms and 8.0 percent occupy three rooms. Flashlight/torch (46.2%)
is the main source of lighting in households in the District while wood constitutes the main
source of cooking fuel. Households that have separate room for exclusive use for cooking are
56.9 percent with the proportion for rural localities being higher (58.9%) than urban (36.2%).
Bore-hole/pump/tube well constitutes the major source of both drinking water (43.0%) and
water for other domestic uses (44.5%). The proportion of households using rivers and streams
is still high (30.7%) in the District. Pipe-borne inside dwelling unit is the source of drinking
water for 10.0 percent of the households in urban and 0.3 percent of households in rural
localities.
Public toilet (41.3%) and pit latrine (39.5%) are the two major toilet facilities used by
households in the District. The use of bucket/pan latrine though banned by law in the country
is still used by 0.6 percent of households in the District. The commonest type of bathing
facility used by inhabitants of the District is own bathroom for exclusive use (27.4%).
The major means of solid waste disposal (refuse) by households is dumping unto public
dump (open space) which constitute 65.6 percent. Majority of households in urban localities
dump their refuse in public dump (containers) (61.3%) while 29.0 percent resort to the public
dump (open space). Households that dispose liquid waste by throwing onto compounds
constitute 59.8 percent and those who dispose liquid waste onto the street/outside constitute
21.7 percent while those who dispose of their liquid waste through the sewerage system
account for only 0.4 percent.
9.3 Conclusions
Results from the 2010 PHC provide holistic information on the demographic, social, and
economic and other indicators of the District. The report shows the status of key demographic
and socio-economic indicators in the District. It highlights the dynamics of the households‟
characteristics and challenges in other social and economic issues such as education,
information communication technology, disability, agriculture, housing and the amenities
available to the households. These issues include the youthful nature of the population, high
age dependency ratio, low level of educational attainment, low ICT usage, incidence of
disability, dominance of agriculture in the economy of the District with crop farming being
the dominant agriculture activity, poor water and sanitation conditions as well as over
reliance on wood and charcoal as main source of cooking fuel. The data from the 2010
Census thus provides a wealth of information to inform policy decision-making and planning.
9.4 Policy Recommendations

Fertility is still high in the District coupled with a youthful structure of the population.
Advocacy and awareness creation on population issues and their implications need to be
intensified in the District. The National Population Council and The Ministry of Gender,
68
Children and Social Protection for example need to collaborate more effectively with the
District Assembly to intensify the education on the relevance and benefits of family in respect
of quantity and spacing.
The fact that about 10 percent of the population in the age-group 12-14 years and 15-19 years
are married is indicative of the practice of child marriage in the District. The District
Assembly, the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection need to collaborate to curb
this practice.
Illiteracy levels are relatively high in the District. Persons who attended school in the past are
higher than those currently attending. The free Compulsory Universal Basic Education
(fCUBE) programme should be fully implemented in all the Districts in order to expand
access to educational opportunities for a significant majority population.
The situation where about 58.1 percent of the unemployed are first time job seekers reveals
the unavailability of jobs for fresh entrants into the labour market. Steps must be taken to
provide the infrastructure, start-up capital and other factors needed for the establishment of
small businesses by fresh entrants to the labour market. This would help reduce
unemployment and lead to high productivity.
Skilled agricultural forestry and fishery workers accounts for over 70 percent of the
occupations and industries. The population engaged in agriculture should be given incentives
and loans to enable them procure improved storage facilities to preserve their farm products
and ensure food security. Provision of good and accessible roads in the District can be used to
facilitate the transport of farm produce to market centres, which would reduce post-harvest
losses.
The causes of the sight and physical disabilities may be due to poor environmental conditions
and lack of immunization of children during the relevant ages. The District Planning and Co-
ordinating Unit (DPCU) and the Ghana Health Service should intensify their immunization
and sanitation campaigns through the mass media to reach all persons in the desired ages.
Environmental and housing conditions can be improved by increasing the housing stock to
eliminate over-crowding, and provision of portable water to all communities (rural and
urban). This can help eliminate water borne diseases. Education on proper and safe disposal
of liquid and solid waste can also help in reducing the burden of disease. More boreholes
should be constructed in the District since it‟s relatively cheaper to construct. Again the
District Assembly and the Community Water and Sanitation Agency should explore the
potential of rainwater harvesting in the District. This will reduce the reliance on
rivers/streams.
The use of gas for cooking fuel is limited in the District since charcoal and wood are
overwhelmingly used. This could continually cause depletion of the forest cover in the
District and leading to a negative impact on rainfall and farming. In order to reduce this
practice, the government‟s policy of making utilisation of gas for cooking should be re-
ignited and intensified. Indeed cheaper and smaller single-ring gas cylinder cookers could be
manufactured for the rural folks who are relatively poor. This will cut down on the extreme
reliance on wood and charcoal.
69
REFERENCES
Ghana Statistical Service, (2009). 2010 Population and Housing Census, Enumerator’s
Manual.
Ghana Statistical Service, (2012). 2010 Population and Housing Census. Summary report of
final results.
Ghana Statistical Service (2013). 2010 Population and Housing Census. Western Region.
Regional analytical report.
70
APPENDICES
Table A1: Population by sex, number of households and houses in the 20 largest
communities
House
S/No. Community Name Total Male Female holds Houses
1 Daboase 6,239 2,957 3,282 1,647 878
2 Atobiase 3,375 1,619 1,756 764 578
3 Akyempim 3,304 1,694 1,610 983 657
4 Sekyere Krobo 2,731 1,398 1,333 775 505
5 Wassa Akutuase 2,383 1,194 1,189 568 561
6 New Subri 2,026 1,048 978 519 379
7 Nsadweso 1,870 945 925 413 322
8 Sekyere Himan 1,833 964 869 443 332
9 Essamang 1,706 835 871 447 370
10 Yaw Ntim 1,698 856 842 317 289
11 Domama 1,630 770 860 382 321
12 Ateiku 1,608 809 799 382 374
13 Wassa Dwenase 1,409 698 711 359 322
14 Old Subri 1,399 704 695 347 280
15 Abrodziwuram 1,367 702 665 371 272
16 Aboaboso No. 2 1,340 718 622 224 178
17 Senchem 1,326 634 692 278 224
18 Bokorikrom 1,207 609 598 183 199
19 Adiembra 1,204 617 587 266 256
20 Kevor Kope - Prato Number 1 1,187 602 585 177 96
71
Table A2: Population by age group in he 20 largest communities
Community All
S/No. Name ages 0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+
1 Daboase 6,239 764 795 857 771 585 487 358 343 305 255 260 143 117 55 67 77
2 Atobiase 3,375 579 468 461 316 241 225 194 177 160 144 138 64 72 27 62 47
3 Akyempim 3,304 536 431 393 283 218 293 297 284 172 133 94 48 32 32 27 31
4 Sekyere Krobo 2,731 418 383 290 234 231 223 207 163 128 105 112 61 38 40 45 53
5 Wassa Akutuase 2,383 349 368 343 224 139 144 102 145 131 107 97 50 51 26 52 55
6 New Subri 2,026 308 282 278 222 146 118 102 97 117 77 86 40 49 30 38 36
7 Nsadweso 1,870 308 271 229 156 145 135 127 116 95 93 66 34 33 18 29 15
8 Sekyere Himan 1,833 287 237 160 141 215 215 161 101 84 65 44 35 29 14 20 25
9 Essamang 1,706 293 285 586 143 99 143 133 82 92 51 76 27 32 16 22 16
10 Yaw Ntim 1,698 274 234 223 161 143 116 105 112 69 68 66 36 38 18 9 26
11 Domama 1,630 252 241 224 135 113 157 247 77 82 51 69 47 30 16 22 30
12 Ateiku 1,608 211 221 221 189 129 100 81 110 71 61 55 56 36 21 21 25
13 Wassa Dwenase 1,409 193 202 183 146 93 81 88 85 85 57 52 41 33 9 28 33
14 Old Subri 1,399 228 203 223 123 86 91 88 78 71 57 63 28 23 14 14 9
15 Abrodziwuram 1,367 221 206 183 114 104 97 86 82 54 50 62 34 31 9 23 11
16 Aboaboso No. 2 1,340 254 186 147 113 96 96 87 65 54 48 64 31 36 19 26 18
17 Senchem 1,326 197 175 161 104 114 110 83 81 73 51 54 34 38 12 17 22
18 Bokorikrom 1,207 205 163 167 122 101 80 66 64 58 54 41 20 20 7 19 20
19 Adiembra 1,204 176 201 142 136 85 89 73 78 54 48 42 27 14 8 11 20
Kevor Kope -
20 1,187 227 176 134 134 120 76 60 59 51 32 37 17 21 10 19 14
Prato Number 1
72
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Project Secretariat
Dr. Philomena Nyarko, Government Statistician
Mr. Baah Wadieh, Deputy Government Statistician
Mr. David Yenukwa Kombat, Acting Census Coordinator
Mr. Sylvester Gyamfi, DISDAP Project Coordinator
Mrs. Abena A. Osei-Akoto, Data Processing
Mr. Rochester Appiah Kubi Boateng, Data Processing
Mrs. Jacqueline Anum, Data Processing
Mrs. Samilia Mintah, Data Processing
Mr. Yaw Misefa, Data Processing
Mr. Ernest Enyan, Data Processing
Mr. Emmanuel Nana Opoku, Regional Statistician
Ms. Hanna Frempong Konadu, Formatting/Typesetting
Mrs. Hellen Ayitevie, Formatting/Typesetting
Ms. Margaret Hervie, Formatting/Typesetting
Writers
Theophilus Dodoo
Anthony Quaicoe
Consultant
Dr. Akwasi Kumi-Kyereme
Editor/ Reviewers
Prof. George Owusu
Mr. George Agbenyo
73

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WASSA EAST DISTRICT

Copyright © 2014 Ghana Statistical Service

Dr. Philomena Nyarko

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................... iii

Table 2.1: Population by age, sex and type of locality ........................................................... 16

Figure 1.1: Map of Wassa East District .................................................................................... 2

CEB Children Ever Born

Literacy and education

Information Communication Technology

Utilities and household facilities

1.2 Physical Features

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, GIS

1.3 Political Administration

1.4 Social and Cultural Structures

1.5.2 Manufacturing and service

1.6 Census Methodology, Concepts and Definitions

Development of questionnaire and manuals

1.6.3 Census Enumeration

Housing conditions and facilities

1.7 Organization of the Report

2.2 Population Size and Distribution

2.3 Age-Sex Structure

2.4 Age Dependency Ratio

All ages 81,073 40,984 40,089 6,239 74,834 102.2

2.5 Population pyramid

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

2.6 Fertility, Motility and Migration

Children Ever Born Children Surviving

Duration of residence (%)

3.2 Household Size, Composition and Structure

Categories Region District Number Percent Number Percent

Total household population 2,307,395 79,436 6,165 7.8 73,271 92.2

Number of households 553,634 18,624 1,647 8.8 16,977 91.2

Average household size 4.3 4.4 3.8 4.4

3.2.1 Household composition

Total Male Female

3.2.2 Household structure

3.3 Marital Status

Figure 3.1: Persons 12 years and older by marital status

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

Currently attending Attended in the past

4.2 Economic Activity Status

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

4.4 Industry of Employment

4.5 Employment Status

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

4.6 Employment Sector

Both sexes Male Female

5.2 Ownership of Mobile Phones

5.3 Use of Internet

Population 12 years Population having Population using

5.4 Household Ownership of Desktop or Laptop Computer

6.2 Population with Disability

6.3 Distribution of Disability by Type of Locality

6.4 Disability and Activity Status

6.5 Disability, Education and Literacy

7.2 Households in Agriculture

100% 94.4% 94.9%

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

7.3 Types of Livestock, and Other Animals Reared