Only 7.7% of Ghana’s 2.64 million businesses operate formally, new GSS data reveals

Just 7.7% of Ghana’s 2.64 million business establishments operated formally in 2024, according to new data from the Ghana Statistical Service, underscoring persistent structural challenges in business formalisation and job creation.

Government Statistician Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu disclosed the findings at the launch of the maiden edition of “Ghana in Numbers 2025” in Accra on Thursday, October 29. The publication consolidates statistics on population, social development, governance, the environment and the Sustainable Development Goals into a single reference document .

Growth Without Jobs

The data reveals a troubling paradox: while the number of business establishments nearly tripled between 2014 and 2024, employment within them only doubled. Micro enterprises—businesses employing between one and five people—now account for approximately 90% of all establishments.

“Establishments nearly tripled between 2014 and 2024, while the people working in them doubled,” Dr. Iddrisu said. “Businesses are multiplying faster than the jobs inside them” .

The trend raises concerns about the capacity of Ghana’s expanding business sector to generate sufficient employment. Although the unemployment rate fell from 14.6% in 2023 to 12.8% in 2025, more than 70% of jobs remain informal, according to the Government Statistician.

Dr. Iddrisu said the findings underscored the need for policies that encourage businesses to formalise their operations and create more sustainable employment opportunities. Formalisation would broaden the tax base, improve access to credit and social protection, and enable small firms to scale .

The Youth Employment Challenge

The report also highlighted the precarious position of Ghana’s youth. About 12 million Ghanaians are aged between 15 and 35, yet nearly one in three young jobseekers aged 15 to 24 cannot find work. Close to 2 million young people are neither working nor in education or training, and more than six in ten of them are young women.

“Ghana’s youth window is open, but it is closing,” Dr. Iddrisu warned. “Our choices on schooling, skills, and jobs in the next 10 years will decide whether it becomes a dividend or a burden” .

Informal Cross-Border Trade Valued at GH¢38.4bn

The report also shed light on economic activity that has long escaped official statistics. Ghana’s first survey on informal cross-border trade recorded goods worth GH¢38.4 billion exchanged with Togo, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire—equivalent to 1.4 times previously recorded trade flows with the three neighbouring countries .

“This indicates that a significant volume of commercial activity had been missing from official statistics,” Dr. Iddrisu said.

Ghana also recorded a goods trade surplus of GH¢148.3 billion in 2025, with exports exceeding imports.

A Shared Evidence Base

Ghana in Numbers 2025 is accompanied by a web portal offering district-level data, interactive maps and downloadable statistics. Dr. Iddrisu said the initiative was intended to provide policymakers, businesses and other stakeholders with a shared evidence base for decision-making.

“When we have our cabinets, parliaments, boardrooms, and newsrooms working from the same figures, the debate moves from whose figures are right to what do we do about them,” he said.

The Government Statistician stressed that reliable data must translate into practical decisions. “A statistic changes nothing until someone acts on it,” he added.

The launch comes as the government prepares to present its 2027 Budget on November 12, with job creation, productivity and economic transformation slated as central priorities . The GSS findings will likely inform deliberations on how to support small enterprises to grow and formalise—a challenge Dr. Iddrisu said “deserves serious attention” .