Ghana data questions answered
The 15 questions people search most about Ghana's official figures, each answered from the body that publishes them, with a link to check the latest number yourself.
What is the population of Ghana?
Ghana's projected population for 2026 is 34,378,768, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) "Ghana at a Glance" panel on 13 October 2026. The World Bank's World Development Indicators give a higher estimate of 35,064,272 for 2025.
GSS projections start from the 2021 Population and Housing Census, whose results, maps and tables are on the census portal, and are rolled forward using birth, death and migration assumptions. The World Bank uses its own modelling, so the two series differ; for regional and district figures use GSS.
What is the inflation rate in Ghana?
Ghana's annual consumer price inflation was 5.2% in September 2026, up 0.2 percentage points from August, according to the Ghana Statistical Service. The Bank of Ghana home page gives the same current rate against its inflation target of 8% plus or minus 2 percentage points.
GSS publishes the CPI each month with food and non-food inflation and regional rates, and offers a CPI inflation calculator on its website. Year-on-year inflation compares prices with the same month a year earlier, so it can fall quickly once a period of large price rises drops out of the comparison. Producer price inflation was 4.4% in August 2026, according to GSS.
What is Ghana's GDP growth rate?
Ghana's real GDP grew by 6.0% in the second quarter of 2026, and by 6.0% in 2025 as a whole, according to the Ghana Statistical Service. GSS's monthly indicator of economic growth was 6.5% in June 2026. In US dollars, the World Bank puts Ghana's GDP at US$114.2 billion in 2025 at current prices.
GSS estimates GDP from the production side and the expenditure side and publishes both. Quarterly growth rates compare a quarter with the same quarter a year earlier. Dollar GDP moves with the cedi exchange rate, so it can rise sharply in a year when the cedi strengthens even if output growth is steady.
What is the Bank of Ghana policy rate?
The Bank of Ghana's Monetary Policy Rate is 14.0%, after the Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep it unchanged at its 132nd meeting, held on 23 and 24 September 2026, according to the Bank's MPC decision statement. The 91-day Treasury bill rate was 4.55%, according to the Bank of Ghana home page on 13 October 2026.
The policy rate is the benchmark for the Bank's monetary operations; banks' lending rates are higher and vary by borrower. The Bank publishes the MPC members' submissions with each decision, and monthly interest rate statistics on its economic data pages.
What is the unemployment rate in Ghana?
Ghana's unemployment rate was 13.0% in the third quarter of 2025, up 0.4 percentage points from the second quarter, according to the Ghana Statistical Service's quarterly Labour Force Survey.
The GSS rate is based on the quarterly survey of households and follows International Labour Organization definitions. It is much higher than the World Bank's modelled ILO estimate of 3.0% for 2025, because the two use different sources and methods, so do not mix them in one comparison. GSS also reports youth unemployment and labour underutilisation, which are higher than the headline rate.
What is the cedi to dollar exchange rate?
The Bank of Ghana publishes the official interbank exchange rates for the cedi against the US dollar, pound, euro and other currencies each business day, with a full history back to 1996 on its historical interbank FX rates page. The latest rate could not be read automatically on 13 October 2026, so it is not quoted here.
The Bank's rates show buying, selling and mid rates; the mid rate is the usual reference. Retail rates at banks and forex bureaux include a margin. Monthly averages are in the Bank's economic data series, which is better for comparing periods than a single day's rate.
What are the income tax rates in Ghana?
For resident individuals in the 2026 year of assessment, the first GH¢7,056 of annual chargeable income is tax-free, and the bands then rise through 5%, 10%, 17.5%, 25% and 30% to 35% on income above GH¢600,000, according to the Ghana Revenue Authority. GRA says these rates took effect on 1 September 2026. Non-resident individuals are generally taxed at a flat 25%.
The rates are marginal: each applies only to the slice of income within its band. Employers deduct the tax through PAYE each month, using monthly bands that start with a tax-free first GH¢588. Social security contributions and reliefs are applied before tax is calculated.
What is the VAT rate in Ghana?
Ghana's standard VAT rate is 15%, according to the Ghana Revenue Authority, which lists separate NHIL and GETFund levies alongside it and a 3% VAT flat rate scheme for some retailers.
The levies (the National Health Insurance Levy and the Ghana Education Trust Fund levy) are charged on top of, or alongside, VAT, so the total rate a shopper pays is higher than 15%. When checking a claim about the "VAT rate", confirm whether it includes the levies and which year it refers to, since the rules were changed by successive budgets. GRA publishes the current guidance and forms on its website.
How much debt does Ghana have?
General government gross debt was 48.8% of GDP in 2025, according to the IMF's World Economic Outlook database; the IMF flags recent years as estimates.
The Ministry of Finance publishes the government's own debt figures in the annual budget statement and debt reports, and the Bank of Ghana publishes monthly government fiscal operations and public debt data in its statistical releases. Ghana restructured much of its debt after 2022, so figures before and after the restructuring are not directly comparable, and a stronger or weaker cedi changes the cedi value of foreign-currency debt.
What is the poverty rate in Ghana?
Multidimensional poverty in Ghana was 21.9% in the third quarter of 2025, down 2.0 percentage points from the first quarter, according to the Ghana Statistical Service. GSS also reports food insecurity of 38.1% for the same quarter.
The multidimensional measure counts people deprived in several areas at once, such as education, health, living conditions and employment, so it is not the same as income or consumption poverty. GSS publishes the figures quarterly from its household survey programme. The World Bank's latest figure at the national poverty line for Ghana, 23.4%, is for 2016, so it is much older.
What is Ghana's GDP per capita?
Ghana's GDP per person was US$3,257.16 in 2025, according to the World Bank's World Development Indicators. It divides GDP at current prices, converted to dollars, by the mid-year population.
The dollar figure is sensitive to the cedi exchange rate: World Bank GDP for Ghana rose from US$83.3 billion in 2024 to US$114.2 billion in 2025. The population used is the World Bank's estimate, which is higher than GSS's projection, so a per-person figure calculated with GSS's population would be somewhat higher.
What is the life expectancy in Ghana?
Life expectancy at birth in Ghana was 65.7 years in 2024, according to the World Bank's World Development Indicators.
Life expectancy at birth summarises death rates at all ages in one year; high child mortality lowers it, so adults who survive childhood typically live longer than the headline number. The Ghana Statistical Service publishes its own estimates by sex and region from the 2021 Population and Housing Census, available through the census portal, and from the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey.
What is the birth rate in Ghana?
Ghana's crude birth rate was 25.9 births per 1,000 people in 2024, according to the World Bank's World Development Indicators, and the total fertility rate was 3.34 births per woman, according to the World Bank.
The crude birth rate counts births relative to the whole population; the fertility rate estimates how many children a woman would have over her lifetime at current rates, so it is the better measure for comparing countries. National estimates come from the Ghana Statistical Service's census and Demographic and Health Surveys, and from birth registration by the Births and Deaths Registry.
Where can I find Ghana's election results?
The Electoral Commission of Ghana declares and publishes official results for presidential and parliamentary elections. Its 2024 election results page and its 2024 presidential results page hold the declared results; the figures are published as images and documents that could not be read automatically on 13 October 2026, so none are quoted here.
The declared result is the one announced by the Commission's chair after collation of constituency and regional results. Results for individual constituencies can be challenged in court, and the Parliament of Ghana website lists the members who took their seats.
What is in Ghana's national budget?
The Ministry of Finance publishes each year's Budget Statement and Economic Policy, mid-year reviews and supplementary estimates on its budget statements page. The totals could not be read automatically on 13 October 2026, so none are quoted here.
Ghana's fiscal year runs from January to December, and the budget is presented to Parliament before the year it covers. Actual revenue and spending are reported in the Bank of Ghana's monthly fiscal operations data, and the Ghana Audit Service audits the public accounts, so planned and actual figures should not be confused.
Source guides
- Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)
- Bank of Ghana (BoG)
- Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA)
- Electoral Commission of Ghana
Questions were chosen from the searches people make most about this country's figures, and each answer was written from the official page it links to, read on 14 October 2026. These answers give no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request.