The Ashanti and Eastern regions have the largest numbers of multidimensionally poor people in Ghana, with each region seeing over one million affected. This highlights how population size is increasingly shaping the distribution of poverty across the country, even as overall national indicators show improvement. Meanwhile, regions like North East and Savannah still have the highest poverty incidence rates—exceeding 50%—but it is the more populous regions that now bear the greatest absolute numbers of deprived individuals.
National data also reveal a stark rural-urban divide: in the third quarter of 2025, multidimensional poverty in rural areas stood at 31.9%, more than twice the 14.2% rate in urban areas, underscoring persistent disparities in access to essential services and economic opportunities.
Meanwhile, Greater Accra and the Western Region recorded the lowest poverty incidence, both remaining below 20%, highlighting wide regional disparities that demand geographically targeted policy responses. The drivers of poverty remain largely structural. Living conditions and health deprivations dominate, with lack of health insurance coverage accounting for 26.5% of multidimensional poverty, followed by nutrition (14.4%), employment (12.3%), school attendance (8.5%), overcrowding (8.4%), and limited access to toilet facilities (8.0%) in Q3 2025.
However, the report also flags emerging pressures that could undermine recent gains. Between Q2 and Q3 2025, overcrowding deprivation nearly doubled, rising from 11.4% to 21.6%, while school attendance deprivation increased from 7.0% to 9.4%. Employment deprivation also edged up from 3.8% to 4.5%, signalling growing vulnerability in labour market outcomes among poor households.
Together, the data suggest that poverty reduction in Ghana is no longer just about where poverty is most intense, but where the largest numbers of people are affected — a shift with major implications for public spending, infrastructure investment, and social protection design.
Source: Emmanuel Oppong
