Yearbook 2016

Ghana. The year was marked by the presidential and parliamentary elections in December. In July, the Supreme Court ruled that the elections would be held as planned and thus went along the same lines as Parliament, which previously voted down a proposal to postpone the elections by one month. Even long before the election day, tensions between government supporters and the opposition began. In September, fighting in the capital Accra broke out between loyal people with the two largest parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which is in office, and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

A couple of months earlier, in July, a radio reporter and two of his employees were sentenced to four months in prison by the Supreme Court for threatening to kill a judge after ordering that 56,000 names be removed from the voting lists. These individuals had used health insurance cards as credentials when registering for the upcoming election. According to thereligionfaqs, the opposition had filed a complaint alleging that these persons were not necessarily citizens of Ghana.

In September, it was also announced that President John Dramani Mahama was acquitted of bribery charges. Admittedly, the president was criticized by the state commission that examined the case for receiving a car as a gift from a company that subsequently received a contract on a road construction. However, the Commission found that it was not possible to establish that Mahama was bribed.

Ghana Population 2016

The December election ended with a loss for Mahama. According to countryaah, the current population of Ghana is 31,072,951. The victory went to Nana Akufo-Addo, who lost barely in the 2008 and 2012 elections. Akufo-Addo, who represents NPP, got 54 percent of the vote against 44 percent for Mahama, who confessed to being defeated as soon as the Election Commission announced the result.

Demography and economic geography. – West African state. With a life expectancy of 61.1 years (2013), the population (24,658,823 at the 2010 census; 26,442,178 according to an estimate by UNDESA, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in 2014), 50% under 19, grew by 2.5% (period 200510), then by 2.1% (2010-15). The urban population (53%) is distributed mainly in the capital, Accra (2,242,000 residents, according to an estimate of 2014), and to Kumasi (2,482,000 residents). Positive results in literacy (77%), in the fight against poverty (32% in 2006, 24% in 2012) and AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). Ghana ranks 138th in the Human Development Index, with per capita GDP with purchasing power parity (PPA) of $ 4173 (2014). Economic growth (7-9% in recent years, with 15% in 2011) is based on: agriculture (50% of the workforce), manufacturing sector (25% of GDP), services (50% of GDP). The production of cocoa (700,000 tons, 3rd world producer in 2011), wood, gold, diamonds, oil is important.

  • Abbreviation Finder: Check to see how the 3-letter abbreviation of GHA stands for the nation of Ghana in geography.

History. – Country on the whole stable from a political point of view, marked by a low ethnic tension, the Ghana continued under the administration of President John Kufuor, leader of the New patriotic party (NPP) in office from 2001 to 2009, the process of democratization and modernization started in 1992 with the launch of a new Constitution. The priorities pursued by the government were the fight against inflation, the stabilization of the exchange rate and the implementation of some maneuvers to repay the foreign debt. These measures, flanked by structural reforms as part of programs agreed with the International Monetary Fund, allowed for sustained GDP growth, albeit in a context of permanent widespread poverty. New prospects for economic development were guaranteed by the discovery (2007) of oil fields offshore. In 2008 John Atta Mills, candidate of the opposition party – the National Democratic Congress (NDC) – managed to beat Nana Akufo-Addo of the NPP in the second round, with a gap of only half a percentage point (50.2% against 49, 8%). Despite some riots, the transfer of power took place peacefully as evidence of the democratic stability achieved by the country, and the new president took office in January 2009. Mills continued the consolidation of the budget and the fight against inflation and started the oil and gas extraction activities. On the social level, programs in favor of the fight against poverty were launched and various measures were taken to support families, but serious inequalities remained in the quality and provision of services, especially in rural areas. Re-nominated by the party, Mills died a month before the election. Vice President John Dramani Mahama assumed the post ad interim and was then a candidate in the presidential elections of December 2012, winning the first round. Once again the gap with the NPP opponent, Akufo-Addo, was reduced (50.7% against 47.7% of the votes) and this led the NPP to contest the regularity of the vote and to appeal to the Court supreme. When the latter confirmed Mahama’s victory in 2013, Akufo-Addo still accepted the verdict.

The new administration continued the economic policy initiated by Mills, insisting on the need to invest in infrastructure and new technologies and to improve the living and educational conditions of a greater number of citizens. On the international level, the country has intensified relations with China in recent years and in 2014 offered its help to Nigeria to fight the terrorist organization Boko Haram. Also in 2014, Ghana became the logistical headquarters of the UN mission sent to fight the Ebola epidemic in West Africa (UNMEER, United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response).