Abstract

The 2016 Ghana Malaria Indicator Survey (2016 GMIS) was implemented by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), in close collaboration with the Ghana National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), and the National Public Health Reference Laboratory (NPHRL) of the Ghana Health Service. The survey used a nationally representative sample of 200 clusters and about 6000 households.

The primary objective of the 2016 GMIS is to provide current estimates of key malaria indicators. Specific objectives were: - To measure the extent of ownership and use of mosquito bednets - To assess coverage of intermittent preventive treatment to protect pregnant women - To identify practices and specific medications used for treating malaria among children under age 5 - To measure indicators of behaviour change communication messages, knowledge, and practices about malaria - To measure the prevalence of malaria and anaemia among children age 6-59 months

The findings from the 2016 GMIS will assist policy makers and program managers in evaluating and designing programs and strategies for improving malaria control interventions in Ghana.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

• Household
• Individual
• Children age 0-5
• Woman age 15-49

Universe

The survey covered all de jure household members (usual residents), women age 15-49 years and children age 6-59 months resident in the household.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sampling frame used for the 2016 GMIS is the frame of the 2010 Population and Housing Census (PHC) conducted in Ghana. The 2010 PHC frame is being maintained by GSS and updated periodically as new information is received from various surveys. The frame is a complete list of all census enumeration areas (EAs) created for the PHC. An EA is a geographic area that covers an average of 145 households. The EA size is the number of residential households in the EA according to the 2010 PHC. The average size of urban EAs is slightly larger than the average size of rural EAs; the urban EA average size is 185 households compared with an average size of 114 households in rural EAs. The sampling frame contains information about the EAs location, type of residence (urban or rural), and the estimated number of residential households.

The 2016 GMIS sample was stratified and selected from the sampling frame in two stages. Each region was separated into urban and rural areas; this yielded 20 sampling strata. Samples of EAs were selected independently in each stratum in two stages. Implicit stratification and proportional allocation were achieved at each of the lower administrative levels by sorting the sampling frame within each sampling stratum before the sample selection, according to administrative units in different levels, and by using a probability proportional to size selection at the first stage of sampling.

For further details on sample design, see Appendix A of the final report.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-Face[f2f]

Research instrument

Three types of questionnaires were used for the 2016 GMIS - the Household Questionnaire, the Woman’s Questionnaire, and the Biomarker Questionnaire. The questionnaires were adapted to reflect issues relevant to Ghana. Modifications were determined after a series of meetings with various stakeholders from the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) and other government ministries and agencies, nongovernmental organisations, and international partners. The questionnaires in English and three local Ghanaian languages (Akan, Ewe, and Ga) were programmed into tablet computers, which enabled the use of computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) for the survey.

Cleaning operations

Data for the 2016 GMIS were collected through questionnaires programmed into the CAPI application. The CAPI application was programmed by ICF and loaded into the computers along with the Household, Biomarker, and Woman’s Questionnaires. Using the cloud, the field supervisors transferred data on a daily basis to a central location for data processing in the GSS office located in Accra. To facilitate communication and monitoring, each field worker was assigned a unique identification number.

The Census and Survey Processing (CSPro) system was used for data editing, cleaning, weighting, and tabulation. Data received from the field teams’ CAPI applications were registered and checked for any inconsistencies and outliers at the GSS Head Office. Data editing and cleaning included an extensive range of structural and internal consistency checks. All anomalies were communicated to field teams which resolved data discrepancies. The corrected results were maintained in master CSPro data files at ICF and then used for analysis in producing tables for the final report.

Response rate

A total of 6,003 households were selected for the survey of which 5,929 were occupied at the time of fieldwork. Among the occupied households, 5,841 were successfully interviewed, for a response rate of 99%. In the interviewed households, 5,186 eligible women were identified for individual interview and 5,150 were successfully interviewed, for a response rate of 99%.

Sampling error estimates

The sampling frame used for the 2016 GMIS is the frame of the 2010 Population and Housing Census (PHC) conducted in Ghana. The 2010 PHC frame is being maintained by GSS and updated periodically as new information is received from various surveys. The frame is a complete list of all census enumeration areas (EAs) created for the PHC. An EA is a geographic area that covers an average of 145 households. The EA size is the number of residential households in the EA according to the 2010 PHC. The average size of urban EAs is slightly larger than the average size of rural EAs; the urban EA average size is 185 households compared with an average size of 114 households in rural EAs. The sampling frame contains information about the EAs location, type of residence (urban or rural), and the estimated number of residential households.

The 2016 GMIS sample was stratified and selected from the sampling frame in two stages. Each region was separated into urban and rural areas; this yielded 20 sampling strata. Samples of EAs were selected independently in each stratum in two stages. Implicit stratification and proportional allocation were achieved at each of the lower administrative levels by sorting the sampling frame within each sampling stratum before the sample selection, according to administrative units in different levels, and by using a probability proportional to size selection at the first stage of sampling.

A more detailed description of estimates of sampling errors are presented in Appendix B of the survey report.

Data appraisal

Data Quality Tables - Household age distribution - Age distribution of eligible and interviewed women - Completeness of reporting - Births by calendar years

Note: See details of the data quality tables in Appendix C of the final report.

Private households with persons who were at least 18 years of age

Abstract

The Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) is the first nationally representative high-frequency household panel survey in Ghana. The AHIES is being conducted to obtain quarterly and annual data on household final consumption expenditure and a wide scope of demographic, economic and welfare variables including statistics on labour, food security, multi-dimensional poverty and health status for research, policy, and planning. Some of the key macroeconomic indicators to be generated include quarterly GDP, regional GDP, quarterly unemployment, underemployment, inequality, consumption expenditure poverty, multidimensional poverty and food security. The data from the AHIES is classified, tabulated and disseminated so that researchers, administrators, policy makers and development partners can use the information in formulating and implementing various development programs at the national and community levels and also to monitor targets under the Sustainable Development Goals.

Geographic coverage

Nation-wide

Analysis unit

-Individuals -Households

Universe

The universe covers the population living within individual households in Ghana. However, such population which is defined as institutionalised population as persons living at elderly houses, rest homes, correction facilities, military baracks, and hospitals with special characteristics, nursery,and also nomadic population are excluded

Sampling procedure

Sampling Procedure With the sampling procedure, 10,800 households in 600 EAs, consisting of 304 (50.67%) urban and 296 (49.33%) rural households were drawn from the 2021 Population and Housing Census listing frame to form the secondary sampling units. A random sampling methodology was adopted to select eighteen (18) households per selected EAs in all regions to form the full sample for the fieldwork to be able to produce regionally representative expenditures for GDP.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [CAPI]

Abstract

The 1997 Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (CWIQ) Survey is designed to furnish policy makers, planners and programme managers with a set of simple indicators for monitoring poverty and the effects of development policies, programmes and projects on living standards in the country. The survey also aims at providing reliable data on a timely basis for monitoring changes in the welfare status in various sub-groups of the population. An important feature of the survey is the use of Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) technology and high-speed scanners to generate statistical data rapidly.

The survey, which was carried out by the Ghana Statistical Service in collaboration with the World Bank marks Ghana's first experience in the application of data scanning technology to nation-wide surveys. Indeed, this is the first time such a survey has been successfully conducted in Africa.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

Household, Individual, Children under 5

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

SAMPLE DESIGN FOR THE 1997 CWIQ MONITORING SURVEY

Objectives of the Sample Design The primary objective of the sample design was to provide estimates with acceptable precision for monitoring poverty and the effects of development policies, programmes and projects on living standards in the country. The CWIQ sample also aimed at providing data on timely basis for monitoring changes in the welfare status in various sub-groups of the population.

The population was surveyed by designing a sample of households and collecting information on all members of the household.

Sampling Frame The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) maintains a complete list of Censal Enumeration Areas (EAs) with population and household information derived from the 1984 Population Census. This list, comprising a total of 12,969 EAs together with their respective household sizes constituted the sampling frame for the survey.

Stratification In order to improve the efficiency of the sample design, the sampling frame was classified into homogeneous strata. Specifically, tabulation of the survey results was done not only at the national level but also disaggregated by locality of residence (rural and urban). Each of the ten administrative regions also constituted a separate domain of estimation. Within these levels of stratification, the survey data was further disaggregated by poverty quintiles and socio-economic group of the head of household.

Sample Size It was noted that monitoring implies comparing. Monitoring in time implies comparing the data from one year with the next. For monitoring in space, we examine the difference between areas in the same year. The crucial feature is that when two samples are compared, each one has an error variance and these two variances need to be added together.

Roughly, this implies that for monitoring changes in welfare status in various sub-groups of the population, we need samples about twice as large as when we are simply reporting an isolated result.

Now the most recent GLSS (Third Round) was based on a sample of 4,500 households. Analysis for this survey was at the national and regional levels. Following the above reasoning, a total sample size of 10,000 households was considered adequate for indicators at the national and regional levels. While it is important to ensure that the sample size is manageable operationally so as to control the quality of all the survey activities, it was considered that increasing these figures by roughly 50 percent would be a reasonable strategy and not excessively expensive using the CWIQ technology to improve the precision of the results. This would result in a total sample size of about 15,000 households.

Sample Selection Using the above sampling frame, the number of households to be selected per EA was based on the following reasoning. The Third Round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey used 10 households per EA in the rural sector and 15 in the urban sector. During the CWIQ Pilot Survey, 30 households were arbitrarily selected per EA to test the survey instruments. The overriding factor in the CWIQ is cost-effectiveness and simplicity and this favours a large take. However, the selection of 30 households per EA was considered too high. A sample size of 25 households per EA appeared more likely to be optimal.

Following the above parameters, the CWIQ survey was based on a two-stage, stratified, nationally representative cluster sample design. Specifically, at the first stage, 588 Enumeration Areas (EAs) were selected using systematic sampling with probabilities proportional to size (PPS-method). The distribution of the selected EAs by region is a follows:

REGION NUMBER OF EAs Western 63 Central 64 Greater Accra 85 Eastern 61 Volta 83 Ashanti 105 Brong Ahafo 57 Northern 32 Upper East 12 Upper West 26 Total 588

A household listing exercise was carried out in the selected EAs. At the second stage, a systematic sample of 25 households per EA was selected. This sample design yielded a total ample of 14,700 households nationwide.

Note: Detail mathematical sample selection procedure is provided as external resource.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaire consists of only 4 doublesided forms. The CWIQ was designed to collect minimum amount of information needed to identify and classify target groups and to provide basic welfare monitoring information. Pre-coded multiple-choice response questionnaire were used. The questions were designed to be quicker and easier to administer and to process. Here are modules of this instrument: A - GENERAL INFORMATION B - INFORMATION ON HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS C - EDUCATION D - HEALTH F - HOUSEHOLD ASSETS G - HOUSEHOLD AMENITIES H - POVERTY PREDICTORS I - CHILD ROSTER (Children under 5)

Cleaning operations

For the first time in the history of the GSS, the survey was conducted using Optical mark Recognition (OMR) “bubble” questionnaires. To enter the data, these questionnaires were read by high speed scanners. The data processing team was able to perform simple on-line edit corrections while scanning. The data was then gradually transferred into a customized Access application for further, more complex validations. The Access application produced clean, validated and documented data files. This process took place at the same time the field work was on-going and finished only a couple of days after the last enumerator returned from the field. The clean data generated by the Access cleaning application was then processed through SPSS statistical package to produce a standardoutput bulletin within 12 days of the end of field work.

Abstract

The Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS), with its focus on the household as a key social and economic unit, provides valuable insights into living conditions in Ghana. This present report gives a summary of the main findings of the fourth round survey, which was carried out by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) over a 12-month period (April 1998 to March 1999).

A representative nationwide sample of more than 5,998 households, containing over 25,000 persons, was covered in GLSS 4. Detailed information was collected on all aspects of living conditions, including health, education, employment, housing, agricultural activities, the operation of non-farm establishments, remittances, savings, and credit and assets. The special focus of GLSS 4 was on collecting detailed labour force, income and expenditure data in respect of all household members.

The key findings of the survey are as follows:

Education

Information are given on levels of educational attainment of the adult population, current school enrolment, educational expenditure by households, adult literacy rates, and apprenticeship training. About 32 percent of all adults (representing nearly three and a half million people) have never been to school, a quarter went to school but did not obtain any qualifications; about 33 percent have the MSLC/JSS certificate as their highest qualification, while the remaining 10 percent (a million adults) have secondary or higher-level qualifications (Section 2.1).

About 8 in every ten children aged 6-15, and about half of those aged 16-18, are currently attending school or college. Attendance rates for females are lower than those for males, especially in the northern half of the country (Section 2.2). The average annual cost to a household of maintaining a person at school or college was ¢163,500 per year in March 1999 cedis (Section 2.3). The survey results indicate that 50 percent of adults in Ghana are literate in English or a local language. There are substantial differences between the sexes, and between localities, with regard to literacy. A little over 6 out of every 10 men, but fewer than 4 out of every 10 women, are literate. More than two-thirds (66%) of adults in urban areas are literate, but in rural areas only 41 percent are literate (Section 2.4).

Health

The survey collected data on each person's health condition over the previous two weeks; on the fertility, pre-natal care and contraceptive use of women aged 15-49; on the post-natal care of children aged 5 years and under; and on the preventive health care and vaccination of children aged 7 years and under. About 26 percent of the sample reported having suffered from an illness or injury in the previous two weeks, 61 percent of whom had to stop their usual activities due to the indisposition (Section 3.2).

The survey found that 7.0 percent of women were currently pregnant, and a further 13.2 percent had been pregnant in the last 12 months. Only about 15 percent of all women aged 15-49 or their partners reported using contraceptives; about 11 percent use modern methods, and 4 percent use traditional methods, to prevent or delay pregnancy (Section 3.3). The level of breastfeeding in Ghana is very high; about 98 percent of all children under 5 have been breastfed at one time or another. About 7 percent of children below the age of 8 have never been vaccinated against any of the childhood killer diseases.

Employment

As a major focus of the survey, a wide range of estimates of economic activity, employment, unemployment, underemployment and working conditions are given in the report. The survey also has detailed information about time spent on housekeeping activities. About 77 percent of the adult population (aged 15+) is currently economically active. The activity rates for males and females differ, with the rate for women in the age group (15-64) lower than those for men, but in the younger age group (7-14) and the older age group (65+) the rates for females exceed those for males. For each age group the activity rates for males and females are higher in rural areas (apart from rural savannah) than in urban areas (Section 4.2).

The majority of the working population is employed in agricultural activities (55.0%), followed by trading (18.3%) and then manufacturing (11.7%). Whereas 27.4 percent of working females are engaged in trading, only 7.4 percent of males are traders. The highest hourly wage rates are obtained in mining and quarrying, followed by financial services and then trading. For all areas of employment, females earn lower wages than males (Section 4.3). About 8 percent of the currently active population can be classified as unemployed, but there is also a high degree of underemployment, with some people having a job but wanting to do more work (Section 4.4).

In many households, particularly in rural areas, family members (especially women) spend a great deal of their time fetching water and firewood, in addition to the time spent on other household activities such as cooking and cleaning (Section 4.5).

Migration

The report provides data on migration to create some awareness that would generate further discussions and research into the complex field of population relocation. Some 52 percent of all Ghanaians are migrants, having previously lived in a locality different from where they are living at present; a further 16 percent have moved away from their birthplace, but subsequently returned (Section 5.1).

Housing

Detailed information is presented on a variety of housing characteristics: the occupancy status of the household; household size and room density; access to drinking water, toilet facilities, source of lighting and fuel, rubbish disposal, and materials used in house construction. A little over 40 percent (24 percent in urban areas and 60 percent in rural areas) of the households own the houses they live in. About 80 percent of the households in urban areas have access to pipe-borne water, compared with only 19 percent in rural areas. More than three-quarters of urban households have electricity for lighting, compared with only 17 percent of rural households. Most urban households use charcoal for cooking, whereas most households in rural areas use firewood. Only 14 percent of urban households, and 2 percent of rural households, have access to a flush toilet (Section 6.3).

Household agriculture

About 2.7 million households in Ghana own or operate a farm or keep livestock (Section 7.1). More than half of households, which cultivate crops hire labour for their operations. The major crops, in terms of sales, are cocoa, maize, groundnuts/peanuts, and rice (Section 7.2). About 2 and a half million households process crops or fish for sale, with the major responsibility for this activity falling on women.

Non-farm enterprises

Approximately 1.9 million households or 49 percent of all households in Ghana operate a non-farm business with women operating two-thirds of these businesses. About 56 percent of all businesses involve retail trade, and most of the rest cover some kind of manufacturing (for instance food, beverages, textiles or clothing) (Section 8.1).

Total expenditure

Average annual household expenditure (both cash and imputed) relative to March 1999 prices was about ¢4,244,000. Given an average household size of 4.3, this implies annual per capita expenditure of about ¢987,000 (Section 9.1). With an exchange rate of ¢2,394 to the US dollar prevailing at March 1999, the average annual household expenditure is US$1,773 and the pre-capita expenditure is US$412. Overall, cash expenditure on food represents 45.4 percent of total household expenditure, while the imputed value of own-produced food consumed by households represents a further 10.3 percent (Section 9.2).

Cash expenditure

Relative to March 1999 prices, Ghanaian households spend on average almost ¢3,500,000 a year (at March 1999 prices), or ¢804,000 on per capita basis (Section 9.3). On national terms, just below half of total cash expenditure (46%) went to food and beverages; and alcohol and tobacco, and clothing and footwear, each accounted for about 10 percent of it. The next most important expenditure groups, in terms of amount spent, are recreation and education (7.5%), transport and communications (5.6%), housing and utility (6.4%) and household goods, operations and services (6.0%).

Food consumption

At the time of the survey Ghanaian households (which number about 4.2 million) were spending on average an amount of almost ¢2.4 billion (at March 1999 prices) on food (Section 9.5), with own-grown food consumed amounting to the value of almost ¢435,000 (Section 8.7). The most important food consumption subgroups, in terms of cash expenditure are roots and tubers (22%), fish (16%), cereals and cereal products (15%), vegetables (9%), and meat (5%). Prepared meals account for 11 percent by value of total food consumption.

While the pattern of consumption, in terms of food subgroups, is broadly similar in urban and rural areas, residents in rural areas consume more roots and tubers, and pulses and nuts than their counterparts in urban areas. Expenditure on alcohol and tobacco is also higher in rural areas. In contrast, the consumption of meat and prepared meal are much higher in urban areas than in rural areas, and urban residents spend much more on cereals and cereal products and poultry and poultry products than their rural counterparts (Section 9.5).

Remittances

About 76 percent of all households reported having remitted money or goods in the previous 12 months to persons who were not their household members. The bulk of these remittances to non-household members went to relatives (93%), and in particular to parents or children (50%), brothers or sisters (18%), and other relatives (23%). Such income flows from the household benefited females (64%) more than their male counterparts (36%).

Whilst