Literacy and Education
The 2021 PHC aims to provide relevant and timely data to be used to address the nation's development challenges. As such, the census questionnaire featured modules meant to elicit information on key development indicators including education, one of the three components of the Human Development Index, and both a fundamental human right and a constitutional right.
Volume 3D: Literacy and Education, presents data on literacy in English and local languages, current school attendance, and educational attainment disaggregated by sex, region and type of locality.
Table of contents
- Highlights
- Literacy status of persons 6 years and older by sex
- Persons 6 years and older by literacy status, sex and type of locality
- Population 6 years and older who are literate by sex and region
- Education
- School attendance status of population 3 years and older by locality
- Population 18 years and older who have ever attended school by level of education attained
- Background information
- Definition of concepts
- Related links
Highlights
Literacy status of persons 6 years and older by sex
Three in ten (30.2%) persons 6 years and older are not literate in any language and is higher among females (34.4%) than males (25.9%).
Figure 1: Proportion of persons 6 years and older by literacy status and sex
Persons 6 years and older by literacy status, sex and type of locality
Four in five (80.6%) of the urban population 6 years and older are literate in at least one language compared to half (55.2%) of the rural population of the same age and the rural-urban differential is similar for males and females.
Figure 2: Proportion of persons 6 years and older by literacy status, sex and type of locality
Urban
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2021 Census Report
Rural
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2021 Census Report
Population 6 years and older who are literate by sex and region
Literacy rate among population 6 years and older in nine out of the 16 regions is below the national figure (69.8%), with Greater Accra Region (87.9%) recording the highest and Savannah Region (32.8%) the lowest. The male population in eight regions have literacy rate below the national figure compared to females in 12 regions.
Four out of the 16 regions have more than three-quarters (75%) of their population 6 years and older being literate, with Greater Accra Region (87.9%) recording the highest and Savannah Region (32.8%) the lowest. For males, there are seven regions and for females one region (Greater Accra) with more than three-quarters (75%) of the population 6 years and older being literate.
Figure 3: Proportion of the population 6 years and older who are literate by sex and region
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2021 Census Report
Education
One in five persons (20.8%) 3 years and older have never attended school; 17.0 percent for males and 24.4 percent for females.
Figure 4: School attendance status of population 3 years and older by sex
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2021 Census Report
School attendance status of population 3 years and older by locality
One in ten (13.2%) of the urban population 3 years and older have never attended school compared to three in ten of the rural population of the same age bracket.
Figure 5: SCHOOL ATTENDANCE STATUS OF POPULATION 3 YEARS AND OLDER BY TYPE OF LOCALITY
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2021 Census Report
Population 18 years and older who have ever attended school by level of education attained
Four in ten (40.7%) of the population 18 years and older currently attending school are at the tertiary level while 13.0 percent of those who have attended school in the past have tertiary education as the highest level attained.
Figure 6: Proportion of the population 18 years and older who have ever attended school by level of education attained
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2021 Census Report
Background information
Definition of concepts
Literacy
Literacy refers to the ability to read and write with understanding in any language.
Formal Education
education refers to the process of giving and receiving standardized systematic instruction from a recognized and accredited institution to individuals for knowledge acquisition and skill development.
School Attendance
School attendance is defined as regular attendance at an educational institution or programme for organised learning at any level and classified as never attended, attending now and attended in the past.
Level of Schooling
The level of schooling refers to educational stages or subdivisions of formal learning attained by a person, categorised into nursery, kindergarten, primary, JSS/JHS, middle school, secondary and tertiary levels.
Highest Grade Completed
It refers to the highest year completed at the reported level of schooling.
Related links
Illiteracy In Ghana: Trends, Patterns And Correlates
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