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Where is Ghana?
About Ghana
The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

Ghana is an above average size country in western Africa.

Ghana borders the Atlantic Ocean.

The land is mostly low plains.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Ghana, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 8 00N
Longitude - 2 00W

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Check the weather in Accra now.

This is the time in Accra now

The Ghanaian flag is three equal horizontal stripes of red, at the top, yellow and green with a large black five-pointed star centred in the yellow stripe. Red represents the blood shed for independence, yellow the country's mineral wealth and green stands for its forests and natural wealth. The black star is for African freedom.

The capital of Ghana is Accra.

Ghana is a presidential republic with a president as head of state and head of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Ghana is the cedi. Ghana is a member of the Commonwealth.

English is the official language.

Hear the National Anthem


These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Ghanaian National Anthem called God Bless Our Homeland Ghana. It was adopted in 1966. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong,
Bold to defend forever the cause of Freedom and of Right;
Fill our hearts with true humility, make us cherish fearless honesty,
And help us to resist oppressors’ rule with all our will and might evermore. 
And help us to resist oppressors’ rule with all our will and might evermore.

Hail to thy name, O Ghana, To thee we make our solemn vow:
Steadfast to build together, a nation strong in Unity;
With our gifts of mind and strength of arm, whether night or day, in the midst of storm,
In ev’ry need, whate’er the call may be, to serve thee, Ghana, now and evermore.
In ev’ry need, whate’er the call may be, to serve thee, Ghana, now and evermore.

Raise high the flag of Ghana and one with Africa advance;
Black star of hope and honor to all who thirst for liberty;
Where the banner of Ghana free flies, may the way to freedom truly lie;
Arise, arise, O sons of Ghanaland, and under God march on for evermore!
Arise, arise, O sons of Ghanaland, and under God march on for evermore!

We have already written our own history of England but are asking schools in Ghana to provide us with a detailed history of their own country. Check how here.


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The total land area of Ghana is 227,533 sq kms which is the 33rd largest in Africa.

Ghana has lakes, rivers and canals which total 11,000 sq kms.

Ghana has boundaries with 3 countries

• Togo 1,098 kms
• Cote d'Ivoire 720 kms
• Burkina Faso 602 kms

Ghana has a coastline of 539 kms which is the 21st longest in Africa.

The highest point in Ghana is Mount Afadjato at 885 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Ghana is 28.10 million people, making it the 12th largest country in Africa by population.

Of this number 14.25 million are females and 13.85 million are males.

A person from Ghana is called a Ghanaian.

To be a citizen of Ghana, one of your parents or grandparents must be a citizen of Ghana. It is not sufficient to be born in Ghana. You have to live in Ghana for 5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Ghana, by population are:-

• Accra 1,963,264 people
• Kumasi 1,468,609
• Tamale 360,579
• Takoradze 232,919
• Achiaman 202,932

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



56.1% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Ghana is 30.2 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Ghana is 6.8 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 30.1 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 38.0 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 21.7 and for males is 20.7. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 22.3.

The elderly dependency ratio is 5.9. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 17.1. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Ghana spends 3.6% of its total income on health care.

There are 0.18 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 0.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

10.9% of the population are estimated as obese.

92.6% of the urban population and 84.0% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

20.2% of the urban population and 8.6% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Ghana releases 11.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 11th highest in Africa.

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Ghana spends 4.5% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 6 in Ghana. Primary education is for six years until age 12 and secondary education must continue till 15 but can go on to 18/19. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the second week of September and finishes in the third week in July. There is usually a 3 week break at Christmas and a 3 week break in the middle of April.

71.4% of females and 82.0% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

15.2% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 14.6% are unemployed while with males 15.8% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Ghana is 12.49 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

11.9% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 7 paved airports in Ghana, which is the 30th highest number in Africa.


There are 947 kilometres of railways in Ghana, the 18th longest in Africa.


There are 109,515 kilometres of roads in Ghana, which means Ghana is in 8th place for the most kilometres of roads in Africa.

There are 4 major national newspapers in Ghana.

There are 36.75 million mobile phone users.

1% of the people have a fixed landline.



9.33 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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