Ghana’s population to hit 25m by 2010

Ghana’s population will hit 25 million by the 2010 census, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has projected.
The service intends to undertake a census as part of the preparation for the 2012 general election.
Making the announcement in Accra on Thursday, the Head of the GSS, Dr Grace Bediako, said about 50,000 recruits would be engaged to conduct the census.
Dr Bediako was receiving 10 computers presented by the Chinese government as technical support to the GSS for the census.
She said the census required of them to collect the background details of all Ghanaians identified as having been in the country throughout the three weeks duration of the exercise.
Presently, she said, they were at a very important stage, where they were ascertaining people living in designated areas to devise a strategy for their prospective recruits to undertake the exercise.
“We are also preparing questionnaires which we would use to collect basic information about the individuals and also preparing a strategy document for the 50,000 recruits,” she pointed out, noting that the exercise was in fulfilment of Ghana’s obligation as a member of the United Nations Statistical Division under the United Nations Population Programme, which obliged every member country to conduct the exercise every decade.
Ghanaians should expect that when the time was due, people would come around during the three-week period to ask them basic information, Dr Bediako stated, and said it was important for everyone to familiarise themselves with basic details of their relatives.
“We need the actual age of citizens, where they work, and the type of work they do, to be able to estimate population distribution properly,” she noted.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Yu Wenzhe, who presented the items to the leadership of the service in Accra yesterday, said the exercise involved huge capital and believed that Ghana needed help from its development partners to make the exercise successful.
He said census was the basis for making informed decision by the government for good governance.
Mr Wenzhe expressed the hope that the support offered would make the exercise successful.
The Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) thanked the Chinese government for the gesture.