Yearbook 2004
Ghana. President John Kufuor was re-elected by a large majority already in the first round of elections in December. He got close to 53% of the vote against just over 44% for main opponent John Atta Mills. The total population in Ghana is 31,072,951 people in 2020. The election was largely calm and participation was over 83%. Ghana, thus corresponded to his reputation as a democratic example in West Africa. Kufuor succeeded in his first five years in power i.e. reduce inflation sharply.
In the enlarged parliament, the President’s New Patriotic Party received 129 of the 230 seats. Atta Mill’s National Democratic Congress party, with its roots in the latest military regime, received 88 seats. A few months before the election, the government revoked the state of emergency that has prevailed since March 2002 in the Dagombariket (Dagbon region) in the north. The exception rules were introduced after the murder of a traditional chieftain and 40 of his followers.
In August, the state assumed control of the airline Ghana Airways and dismissed the board. The airline, which then had a debt of about $ 160 million, had been banned from flying to the United States a few weeks earlier, citing a lack of security. During the fall, the state negotiated with foreign stakeholders for a restructuring of the company and a bid went to the US-based conglomerate Ghana International Airways.
Population. – The 1984 census found a population of 12,296,081 residents with a density of 51 residents / km 2, with an increase of 3,736,768 residents. compared to the previous census (1970), equal to an average annual rate of 30 ‰. In the period 1984-89, the annual growth rate continued to remain high (3.3%), making the demographic problem one of the most serious problems in the country. For 1990, UN estimates raise the population to 15,028,000 residents, with a density of 63 residents / km 2. A consequence of this phenomenon is the reversal of migratory currents, once coming from the poorest neighboring countries and then transformed into outgoing currents towards Nigeria, affected by the boom. oil. But in 1982, following the drop in oil sales, Nigeria expelled 1.2 million workers from the Ghana, creating further employment problems for this country.
During the 1980s, agriculture increased significantly, the rural exodus continued, which further increased the urban population (which rose to 33% in 1989). An urban agglomeration of over one and a half million residents has formed around Accra (pop. 949,100), while Kumasi, the capital of Ashanti, is now close to half a million; cities with more than 100,000 residents have risen to 6 (Sekondi-Takoradi, Tamale, Bolgatanga, Wa, Asamanchese and Sunyani). Christians, mostly Protestants, now exceed half of the population (52%), but Muslims (13%) have also gained at the expense of animists (35%). The government’s schooling policy has reduced illiteracy to 40% (1990). See barblejewelry.com for Ghana sights, UNESCO, climate, and geography.
Economy. – Well endowed with natural water, agricultural and mineral resources, the Ghana, among the African countries that reached independence after the Second World War, is perhaps the one that has made the greatest progress towards a modern economic organization: an objective pursued with a policy aimed at freeing the State from dependence on foreign energy and food products. Internal political events and the fall in the price of cocoa, the main export commodity, however, caused a serious economic crisis in the 1970s that lasted until the middle of the last decade of the century. Subsequently, the application of the rigorous measures envisaged in the structural adjustment and development plans of the international financial institutions allowed the Ghana gross domestic product estimated at 6.3% in 2008, decrease in inflation and recovery of the main productions and exports). However, factors of fragility of the economic system remain, mainly linked to the fact that the production structure remains anchored to raw materials strongly influenced by the price fluctuations of international markets. Cocoa, timber and gold make up 85% of the export value. For cocoa, Ghana (with 734,000 t in 2006) is the second largest producer in the world, after the Ivory Coast; the cultivation, introduced only in the 20th century, has spread above all in Ashanti, spreading to the detriment of other plants, and especially of the oil palm, which has lost its traditional role as an export crop. Among the crops destined for internal consumption, those of some cereals stand out (corn and rice in the south; millet and sorghum in the north), as well as cassava and yam. A prominent place belongs to the forestry economy: timber (34 million m3 in 2006, mostly Ashanti mahogany) in turn makes an important contribution to the trade balance. Sea fishing is very active and provides a fair amount of fish.