International Day of Families

Today is International Day of Families so we are presenting some family characteristics in Ghana over the past two decades using statistics from from five Demographic and Health Surveys (1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2014).

Families have become smaller over the period - decline in completed fertility (i.e. number of children born) and move towards living in traditional nuclear families. Nuptiality has also declined, a trend that is more pronounced for women.

One of the concerns of this year's International Day of Families 2020 is vulnerability and social protection so we also  look at available indicators in the DHS. Positive gains have been made in nutrition for children with underweight prevalance having over the two decades. Health insurance coverage has declined which is a cause for concern. Elderly dependency is trending upward indicating a need for building social support systems now to take care of the aging population in the future.