8-) GHANA ACHIEVES MDG GOAL ONE (Y) The Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS) Report has revealed that Ghana has consistently been experiencing a reduction in poverty since the 1990s—implying that Ghana has achieved the Millennium Development Goal one (MDG) of halving its poverty level in 2013. The Director of Industrial Research of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Mr Anthony Krakah, made this known at the launch of the National Dissemination of GLSS Report in Accra, yesterday. According to the report, 24.2 per cent of Ghanaians are poor and, therefore, cannot afford to spend GH¢3.60 per day while 8.4 per cent are extremely poor, i.e., in putting all their expenditure together, they cannot afford to spend GH¢2.17 per day on food. The report indicates that poverty has decreased in all regions except the Eastern region, with Greater Accra recording the lowest poverty rate while the three northern regions recorded the highest poverty rates even though there were improvements. According to the report, access to potable water, toilet facilities, electricity and ownership of assets has increased across all regions. Presenting a report on the labour force in Ghana, a staff of GSS, Mr Owusu Kagya, said one-third (33.3%) of employed persons are underemployed. Mr Kagya said of the underemployed persons, 50.6 per cent are self-employed and more than one-third (35.0%) are contributing family workers while persons engaged in agricultural activities (61.5%) are more likely than those in non-agricultural activities (38.5%) to be underemployed. The report indicates that labour force participation rate among persons 15 years and older is 82 per cent for males and 77 per cent for females, with data further revealing that about 26 per cent of children aged 5-17 years engage in child labour and 25 per cent of children are found in hazardous work. The report says at the community level, over 50 per cent of rural communities have a Junior High School certificate and nearly half of these communities have electricity from the national grid. Also, about 80 per cent of rural communities have access to a mobile phone network while less than a tenth have a post office and banking services and that overall, about half of the rural communities visited indicate that their living conditions have improved over the last ten years. In his remarks, the Chairman of the Governing Board of GSS, Dr Osei Boeh- Ocansey, said the report shows that about 14 per cent of the population suffered from an illness or injury two weeks preceding the survey and that of these, 66 per cent consulted medical practitioners, mostly in public health facilities. Source: ISD (Nana Ama Bonnah) ghana.gov.gh/index.php/news-slider/6256-ghana-achieves-mdg-goal-one
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 04:05:06 +0000
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