Almost half of Ghanaians are poor – new report
Adnan Adams Mohammed
A new survey report from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)
indicates that, about 45.6 percent of Ghana’s population (that is; almost one
out every two Ghanaians) are currently in a state of multidimensional poverty.
The report disclosed that, the intensity of poverty, which
reflects the share of deprivations each poor person experiences on average, is
51.7 percent. This means, the poor are disadvantaged in six or more of the
following twelve indicators: electricity, water, housing, assets, overcrowding,
cooking fuel, sanitation, school attendance, school attainment, school lag,
nutrition, and health insurance.
Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report, measures the
rate at which ‘a person is deprived in at least one third of the weighted
indicators as captured above. The indicators that contribute most to
multidimensional poverty in Ghana are lack of health insurance coverage,
undernutrition, school lag and households with members without any educational
qualification. The MPI requires an individual to be deprived in multiple
indicators at the same time. The current MPI, which is the product of the
incidence and intensity of poverty, is 0.236.
“The incidence of multidimensional poverty in Ghana reduced
by nine percentage points from 55 percent in 2011 to 46 percent in 2017. The
intensity of poverty also reduced from 54.2 percent in 2011 to 51.7 percent in
2017, showing that the improvement is ‘pro-poor’”, Government Statistician,
Prof. Kobina Annim stated in a trend analyses, indicating that, there has been
substantial progress in multidimensional poverty reduction.
Also, based on the results, Prof. Kobina Annim said, it is
paramount that resources are allocated to the Health Sector in terms of health
insurance coverage and nutrition, and efforts coordinated to increase school
attainment among the populace and reduce the number of school-age children that
are not in school and their counterparts who are two or more years behind in
school.”
“Complementary policies should also be adopted to reduce the
co-occurrence of multidimensional and consumption expenditure poverty in the
country. Going forward, the Ghana 2020 Population and Housing Census will
engender MPI analyses at the district/municipal and locality levels to inform
specific and efficient allocation of resources,” Prof. Annim recommended.
A further break-down of the report shows 86.8 percent of
poor Ghanaians, irrespective of their poverty status, are deprived of
sanitation; i.e., households which have no toilet facilities, use buckets or
pans, public toilets, or share toilets outside the house. The next thing that
poor Ghanaians are deprived of is health insurance, as the data says 64.6
percent of them are not covered by health insurance; rather surprisingly, as
politicians always boast about the National Health Insurance Scheme covering a
large number of the population.
Housing is next on the list, as the study shows 36.6 percent
of the poor population use inadequate flooring or walls made with one or
multiple of the following materials: earth, mud, palm-leaves, thatch made with
grass or raffia.
Furthermore, the data shows 35.4 of poor households have, on
average, more than three people per sleeping room. And again, 22.4 percent of
the poor population drinks water from an unclean source – i.e., from tanker
supply or vendor-provided; unprotected well; unprotected spring; river or
stream; dugout, pond, lake, dam, canal or some other source; or a round-trip distance
to collect water which takes 30 minutes or more.
The percentage of the population that is vulnerable to
multidimensional poverty is 31 percent – and 21.4 percent of the population are
considered to be in severe poverty. On geographical considerations, the report
shows the levels of deprivation for all the indicators are higher in the
savannah compared to the remaining two ecological zones.
Another important revelation in the report is the age
groupings of multidimensionally poor people. The data surprisingly reveals
multidimensional poverty is prevalent among children under 15 years – contrary
to the previous belief that the risk of poverty is prevalent among the elderly.
The results suggest that households without a child are likely to be less poor.
In prescribing solutions based on the data collected, the
report advised policymakers to prioritise the use of resources in order to
reduce the high deprivations in the indicators of wellbeing.
“Against the backdrop that the percentage of multidimensional
poor individuals deprived in each of these indicators varies across ecological
zones and administrative regions, it is important to prioritise and sequence
policy actions as functions of the percentage of individuals and households
facing each deprivation.
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