GNHR register 487,678 households in three Northern regions
The Ghana National Households Registry (GNHR), under the auspices of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), has successfully registered 487,678 households across the Northern, Savannah and North East regions earlier this year.
Available data shows that 304,975 households were registered in the Northern, 91,710 in the Savannah and 90,993 in the North East regions.
Dr Prosper Laari, the National Coordinator for the GNHR, made this known in Tamale when the GNHR organized a forum to disseminate data it had collected on households in the three Northern regions.
Dr Laari said the household register contained ready information that could assist government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to implement policies to improve the living standards of vulnerable groups in the three regions.
He highlighted the data and said, “In the Northern Region, socio-economic data on a total of 304,975 households and 1,511,680 member-population in 1,666 communities were collected. The average size of a household was 6 persons per household. 51% of the household member population were female”.
“Household poverty analysis reveals that 15 per cent of the household population of households falls below the national extreme poverty line and over half of the household population (40%) falls below the national poverty line.”
He noted that “for the Savannah region, socio-economic data on 91,710 households and 533,890 member-population in 591 communities were collected.
The average size of the household was 6 persons per household. 51% of the household member population were female.”
“Household poverty analysis reveals that about a third (32%) of the household population of households fall below the national extreme poverty line and over half of the household population (55%) fall below the national poverty line”.
Dr Laari further stated that “in the North East region, socio-economic data on a total of 90,993 households and 523,631 member-population in 548 communities were collected. The average size of the household was 6 persons per household. 51% of the household member population were female”.
The GNHR National Coordinator said other findings from the data collected revealed that the majority of residents in the three regions had poor living standards.
Dr Laari, therefore, called on government and other development partners to work assiduously to improve their wellbeing.
Alhaji Alhassan Shani Saibu, Northern Regional Minister, in a speech read on his behalf, said the government was committed to carrying out programmes that would help to enhance the living conditions of rural dwellers.
He said the household register would aid the government to fine-tune its implementation of social protection programmes such as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) to select eligible beneficiaries to help reduce the rate of poverty in the country.
Source: GNA