Volta region incurred the largest net loss of people due to migration-2021 PHC Report
The 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) Thematic Report on Migration has revealed that the Volta region experienced the largest net loss of people out of the sixteen regions of Ghana.
Of six regions that had a net gain of migrants, Greater Accra had the highest gain.
Furthermore, the leading destinations for persons emigrating from Ghana to settle outside the country are Europe and America.
The report indicates that there are gender differences in the main drivers of migration being that female migrants mostly move due to marriage and family reunions whereas males move for economic reasons.
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) released the report on 9th March 2023.
The program chaired by Mrs. Adelaide Anno-Kumi, Chief Director, Ministry of the Interior in her remarks, highlighted the importance of the report and congratulated GSS for releasing statistics on migration.
“The data provides the basis for planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluating the needs of the population within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Ministry of the Interior counts so much on the rich data emanating from the 2021 Population and Housing Census to address the issues relating to migration in the country to move forward with our sectorial policies and programs. With the commitment of the Ministry of the Interior to engaging further with the Statistical Service on the production of analytical reports to answer policy-relevant research questions on migration,” she explained.
She urged all stakeholders, including the media to support the GSS with the effective dissemination of the 2021 PHC data for national development.
Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, indicated that the service is focused on the importance of data utilization keeping in mind the “leaving no one behind” sustainable development agenda.
He noted that Ghana in recent times has not been able to do a survey solely on migration. He added that it was important such surveys are conducted in collaboration with the Ghana Immigration Service and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, to accurately capture the issues relating to travel and tourism.
Chief of Mission for Ghana, Togo, and Benin, Mrs. Fatou Ndiaye Diallo, who spoke on behalf of the International Organisation of Migration(IOM) stated that “Ghana requires up-to-date migration data to facilitate reporting and evidence-based policymaking as a country of origin, transit, and destination.
“While this has been identified as a key need by the Government of Ghana through the National Migration Policy, the achievement of this goal has proven to be a challenge.I commended the Statistical Service for producing the report which provides the very much-needed data to interrogate the state of play of migration in Ghana to inform the right policy engineering. Additionally, the data will support the review of the migration profile of Ghana,” she expressed.
The report posits that 30% of Ghanaians are classified as migrants (i.e. persons whose place of birth was different from the place of enumeration) indicating that Ghanaians are mobile and (2) the leading reason for migration being to settle permanently with 36% of migrants moving for long-term or permanent stays (3) Greater Accra leading the regions which gained population through migration, followed by Ashanti region while on the other hand, among the 10 regions which lost population through migration, the Volta region was the highest.
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) provides comprehensive, reliable, quality, relevant, accurate and timely statistical information to guide national development as stipulated in Section 3 of the Statistical Service Act, 2019 (Act 1003). The Statistical Service produces monthly and quarterly data on important economic indicators such as inflation, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Producer Price Index (PPI), and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GSS also regularly generates periodic population, housing, demographic and economic data at the locality, district, and national levels from routine surveys and censuses.