Findings from an upcoming report from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) reveal that 7.9 million persons aged six years and older in Ghana are illiterate.
This means that they cannot read and write with understanding.
“The report also finds that between the 2010 and 2021 Population and Housing Censuses (PHC), 1.2 million more illiterate adults (15 years and older) were added to the population – from 4.3 million in 2010 to 5.5 million in 2021,” the Ghana Statistical Service said last Thursday on the occasion of World Literacy Day.
Of the number, 4.6 million illiterate are females while 3.3 million are males, indicating a female disadvantage that had been persistent over time.
Literacy rate
This is also a confirmation that Ghana has lower levels of adult literacy compared to its counterparts (lower-middle-income and sub-Saharan African countries), after three years of the provisions on illiteracy captured in the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2018-2030.
In February this year, a report of the 2021 PHC, conducted by the GSS, indicated that the literacy rate in the country was 69.8 per cent.
The data was an improvement on the statistics of the 2010 census when the rate was 67.1 per cent.
The 2021 data also covered persons from age six and above who could read and write in any language.
Males made up 74.1 per cent, with females constituting 65.4 per cent.
Drivers of illiteracy
The GSS statement said the report provided direction for stakeholders to target hot spots and drivers of illiteracy in the country as it focused on three broad areas: trends, patterns and correlates of illiteracy.
An Assistant Chief Statistician at the GSS, Godwin Odei Gyebi, explained further in an interview: “The statement is to emphasise the theme to mark the World Literacy Day. After the Census from which about 13 reports were produced, there were specific data on literacy and education. For the purposes of World Literacy Day, we decided to choose the illiterate population to highlight the situation,” he explained.
Regional breakdown of literacy
In the 2021 PHC report, the Greater Accra Region had the highest figure of 87.9 per cent, while the Savannah Region recorded the lowest of 32.8 per cent.
It was titled: “Ghana 2021 Population and Housing Census General Report Volume 3D, Literacy and Education”.
It presented the educational profile of the population — three years, and older and the literacy of persons six years and older.
The data on literacy, school attendance and educational attainment are disaggregated by sex, age, type of locality and region of residence.
The highlights on literacy pertained to three age brackets: six years and older, 11 years and older and 15 years and older, while education was three years and older, 15 years and older and 18 years and older.
The regional breakdown was as follows: Ashanti, 78 per cent; Eastern, 75.7 per cent; Central, 75.2 per cent; Western, 72.6 per cent, and Bono, 71.5 per cent.
Others are Volta, 70.9 per cent; Ahafo, 68.6 per cent; Western North, 62.8 per cent; Bono East, 56.3 per cent, and Oti, 50.6 per cent.
The rest are Upper East, 48.1 per cent; Upper West, 46.0 per cent; Northern, 41.3 per cent; North East, 35.9 per cent, and Savannah, 32.8 per cent.
Also, the detail reveals that four in five (80.6 per cent) of the urban population six years and older are literate in at least one language, compared to half, 55.2 per cent of the rural population of the same age, with the rural-urban differential being similar for males and females.
It further states that four out of the 16 regions have more than three-quarters, 75 per cent, of their population six years and older being literate, with Greater Accra recording the highest, 87.9 per cent, while Savannah has the lowest 32.8 per cent.