Urban population hits 19.8m as housing deficit stands at 1.8m – GSS

Ghana's urban population has reached an estimated 19.8 million, representing 58.7 per cent of the national population, as rapid urbanisation continues to intensify demand for housing and basic services across the country.

The growing urban population comes against the backdrop of an estimated housing deficit of 1.8 million units in 2021, highlighting the challenge of providing adequate accommodation as more Ghanaians move into urban settlements.

The figures are contained in the GSS Ghana in Numbers, 2025, the maiden edition of the Statistical Service's new flagship publication, which examines changes in the country's population distribution, housing conditions and access to essential services.

A nation that turned urban in 2010

According to the Service, the country became more urban than rural in 2010, when 12.55 million people lived in urban areas, compared with 12.11 million in rural communities — a historic tipping point after decades of steady rural-to-urban drift.

The trend has continued unabated, with the urban population rising to 17.47 million in 2021 before reaching the projected 19.8 million in 2025. The rural population stood at 13.36 million in 2021, and the 2025 projections put it at about 13.9 million, meaning the gap between town and village has widened to nearly six million people in just 15 years.

The expansion of urban settlements, the GSS added, has increased the importance of housing, roads, water supply, sanitation, schools, healthcare facilities and waste management in meeting the needs of growing communities.

Greater Accra and Ashanti alone hold more than a third of all Ghanaians — 6.1 million (18.2 per cent) and 5.8 million (17.0 per cent) respectively in 2025 — which helps explain where jobs, services and investment gather. Greater Accra's population density rose from 1,236 people per square kilometre in 2010 to 1,681 in 2021, while Savannah Region remains the least dense, at 18.8 people per square kilometre.

Housing deficit down, but still significant

Although Ghana's estimated housing deficit declined from approximately 2.8 million units in 2010 to 1.8 million in 2021, the shortfall remains significant.

The 2021 Population and Housing Census counted about 10 million dwelling units and 8.3 million households, against a population of 30.8 million at the time.

The GSS, however, clarified that the housing deficit is an estimate of the difference between the number of homes required and those available, and does not directly measure housing quality or affordability.

Housing and settlement challenges are also reflected in the finding that 30.8 per cent of Ghana's urban population lives in slums or informal settlements — equivalent to 1,404,266 households, or 29.5 per cent of all households in the country.

Services improve, but sanitation lags

Access to basic services has improved, with household access to electricity rising from 43.8 per cent in 2000 to 86.3 per cent in 2021. Access to improved drinking water also increased from 60.7 per cent to 92 per cent over the same period.

However, almost one in three households still lacks access to an improved toilet. Improved sanitation rose from 44.8 per cent of households in 2010 to 69.0 per cent in 2022 — meaning about 31 per cent, or nearly one household in three, still relies on unimproved facilities.

The report notes that the national averages conceal wide disparities. A rural girl, for instance, is almost twice as likely to become a mother before 20 as her urban counterpart — 17.2 per cent against 9.1 per cent — reflecting the uneven distribution of services and opportunity across the country.

The wider picture

The housing figures sit within a broader picture of a country adding between 0.5 and 0.7 million people every year — the equivalent of a new city annually. Population growth has slowed from 2.7 per cent a year between 1984 and 2000 to 2.1 per cent between 2010 and 2021, stretching the doubling time from 25.9 years to 33.3 years, but the absolute numbers continue to climb.

Households are also getting smaller — averaging 3.6 people in 2021, the smallest on record, down from 5.1 in 2000 — meaning more dwellings are needed for the same number of people, adding pressure on an already stretched housing stock.

The GSS warns that cities are growing faster than the homes and services they need, and identifies the trend as one of the ten policy implications in the report. It calls on district assemblies to use their own district figures, rather than national averages, to decide where the next cedi goes, and on government to anchor budgets in these baselines.

"Ghana adds 0.5 to 0.7 million people a year, is 58.7 per cent urban, and households average 3.6 people and falling," the report notes, describing where services are built as one of five key decisions that should be led by evidence.

The publication will be produced annually, with the full volume, district breakdowns, interactive maps and downloadable data available through the GSS website, StatsBank and the GSS Stats App.