A total of 9,240,000 constituting 28.5 per cent of Ghana’s population of 30.8m (2021 census) are migrants, a study on Migration by the Ghana Statistical Service, has said.
The report, among others, defined migration as the movement in space often involving a change in the usual place of residence.
Thus, the migrants being referred to constitute both Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians.
A total of 4,851,000, constituting 52.5 per cent of the migrants, were females and the remaining 4,389,000, constituting 47.5 per cent, males.
Out of the number, non-Ghanaian migrants per the Census in 2021 stood at 294, 341, compared with 398,585 in 2010.
Estimated 60.5 per cent of the non-Ghanaian migrants were males and the 39.5 per cent females.
The report, titled 2021 Population and Housing Census Thematic Report on Migration, said more of the migrants in the country live in rural areas, indicating that the proportion of migrants in rural areas accounted for 33.9 per cent and those in the urban centres stood at 22.2 per cent of the migrant population.
It further said among the 16 regions, Greater Accra received the most migrants, followed by Ashanti and Western regions.
Presenting the highlight of the study findings, Professor John K. Anarfi, the Lead writer of the report, explained that migration played an integral role in the development of any nation.
He said it was in light of that the United Nations had recognised that countries include in their census questionnaires questions to elicit migration information.