MULTIDIMENSIONAL poverty, a measure of various deprivations poor people experience in their daily lives, increased to 46.7 percent in the second quarter in Ghana, the Ghana Statistical Service has revealed.
This represents a 2.6-percentage-point jump from the 44.1 percent recorded in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, Koku Devitor reports.
Launching the 2022 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) report covering the first two quarters of the year on Thursday, Samuel Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician, said in real terms, the multidimensionally poor increased from about 13.6 million people in Q1 to 14.4 million in Q2.
He said the survey would help Ghana to improve upon its measure of GDP, introduce policies towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and improve upon the quality of life of the population.
‘Even though about 803,000 more people were poor in Q2, the extent of poverty reduced across the two quarters,’ said Prof. Annim.
Access to electricity, housing, assets, overcrowding, cooking fuel, drinking water, and improved toilets was among the indicators used in determining multidimensional poverty.
The other indicators include school attendance, academic attainment, lag in education, health insurance coverage, and nutrition.
Out of all the indicators for multidimensional poverty, Prof. Annim said health insurance coverage and improved toilet facilities had the lowest access.
He added that deprivation in health insurance coverage was the highest contributor to multidimensional poverty in both quarters, recording 33.6 percent in Q1 and 34.4 percent in Q2.
Out of about 30.8 million people in Ghana, according to the 2021 population and housing census, he said 14 million did not have health insurance coverage.
The AHIES report also revealed the nature of labour and food security in the country over the two quarters under review.
‘Unemployment increased by 0.5 percentage points from 13.4 percent in Q1 to 13.9 percent in Q2,’ the government statistician added.
The labour force statistics also indicated that about two-thirds of the employed population was engaged in vulnerable employment, with significant variation across urban areas (56.4 percent) and rural (80 percent).
The government statistician explained that this category of workers was less likely to have formal work arrangements and more likely to lack decent working conditions and adequate earnings.
On the gender dimensions of labour, the report said gender inequalities in the labour force existed, with the unadjusted gender pay gap in Q1 standing at 37.3 percent. Males earned a mean hourly pay of 11.00 Ghana cedis (1.1 U.S. dollars), and females 6.90 cedis (0.69 dollars).
Severe food insecurity, on the other hand, reduced by almost half from 12.3 percent in Q1 to 6.4 percent in Q2, said the report.
‘The AHIES survey aims to provide nationally and regionally representative disaggregated data on the expenditure, incomes, and living conditions of households in Ghana to support decision-making for development,’ Prof. Annim said.
He said it would guide research, policy, and planning to identify vulnerable households and individuals, ‘Particularly those burdened with multiple socio-economic challenges for the delivery of targeted interventions.’
‘As a country, we have great challenges and great opportunities,’ said Kwaku Appiah-Adu, Senior Advisor to Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.
Prof. Appiah-Adu, who chaired the launching ceremony, added that ‘the comprehensive quarterly labour force, food insecurity, and multidimensional poverty report will support the government in evidence-based decision-making and the design of its programmes.’