According to the findings of an upcoming report from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), 7.9 million people in Ghana aged 6 and older are illiterate, meaning they cannot read or write with comprehension. This figure is divided into 4.6 million illiterate females and 3.3 million illiterate males, indicating a persistent female disadvantage.
The report further notes that , 1.2 million more illiterate adults (15 years and older) were added to the population between the 2010 and 2021 Population and Housing Censuses (PHC), rising from 4.3 million in 2010 to 5.5 million in 2021.
Ghana has lower levels of adult literacy compared to its comparators (lower middle income and sub-Saharan African countries), after three years of the provisions on illiteracy captured in the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2018-2030. This has necessitated the production of the 2021 PHC Thematic Report Brief on Illiteracy in
Ghana which will be released later this month. The report provides direction for stakeholders to target hotspots and drivers of illiteracy in Ghana as it focuses on three broad areas; trends, patterns and correlates of illiteracy.
An earlier report, the 2021 PHC General Report on Literacy and Education which presents data on literacy in English and local languages, current school attendance, and educational attainment disaggregated by sex, region and type of locality, is available to download from www.census2021.statsghana.gov.gh (Page 2 of 2).
About the Ghana Statistical Service
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) provides comprehensive, reliable, quality, relevant, accurate and timely statistical information to guide national development as stipulated in Section 3 of the Statistical Service Act, 2019 (Act 1003).
The organisation’s vision is to be a trusted provider of statistical services for good governance and its mission to lead the efficient production and management of quality official statistics based on international standards, using competent staff for evidence-based decision- making, in support of national development.
GSS also produces monthly and quarterly data on important economic indicators such as inflation, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Producer Price Index (PPI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as population, housing, demographic and economic data at the locality, district, and national levels from routine surveys and censuses. The statistics generated by GSS can be utilised by a wide cross-section of users including the public sector, businesses, academia, civil society organisations and development partners.
