Economics and Statistics Administration BUREAU OF THE CENSUS

Ghana, one of the most popu-lous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, is home to nearly 18 mil-lion people. Fertility in Ghana, which was high and fairly constant in the past, has now begun to decline. Contraceptive prevalence rose by half, from 13 percent to 20 percent, in a period of 5 years, an indication that the Ghana family planning program is final-ly making progress. Despite a rise in contraceptive prevalence, nearly 4 out of 10, or almost 1 million, married women have unmet need for family planning. Population Ghana is one of the most popu-lous countries in Western Africa, second only to Nigeria. Since achieving political independence in 1957, its population has nearly tripled in size, from about 6 million to nearly 18 million in 1996, and is expected to increase to 27 million by 2020. The past rapid growth of Ghana’s population is an outcome of high fertility, which until recently remained fairly constant, and de-clining mortality. This combination of high fertility and declining mortality is also the cause for the young age structure of the Gha-naian population with 43 percent under 15 years of age (figure 1). However, Ghana’s age structure is changing, a consequence of falling fertility. The most important changes are the declining propor-tion of children and increasing share of the working age group; between now and 2020 the num-ber of children under 15 (now nearly 8 million) will remain virtual-ly constant while the 15 to 64 year age group will nearly double from 9 million to 18 million. There also will be a substantial increase in the elderly population (65 and over), from 549 thousand to over 1 mil-lion, but their share of the total population will still be smal