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Mapping district poverty and inequality in Ghana

povertymapping

Mapping poverty and inequality in Ghana

This notebook compiles various indicators of socioeconomic wellbeing across districts in Ghana. Data are from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)'s 2015 Poverty Map. The poverty indicators in the report were computed based on data from the 2010 Population and Housing Census (2010 PHC) and the 2012/2013 Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS6). The report presents the poverty headcount, depth and inequality for all the 216 districts and 29 sub-districts in the country.

Poverty rates

Mapping the incidence of poverty in the country shows that there is a high concentration of poverty in the North Western part of Ghana. Though incidence in the districts of the South Western parts is very low, there are however few districts with relatively high incidence.

Estimated number of poor persons

The concentration of poor persons is mainly observed in the northern part of Ghana. Among the districts in Ghana, East Gonja in the Northern Region stands out as the district with most of the poor persons. Districts in the Southern Ghana on the other hand show very low concentration of poor persons, there are few districts with high number of poor persons, but these numbers cannot be compared to what pertains to districts in the northern part of Ghana.

Poverty depth (P1)

Depth of poverty (P1), also known as the poverty gap, is a measure of how far the poor are from the poverty line.

Poverty severity (P2)

Severity of poverty (P2) is the square of the poverty gap, which gives greater attention to the needs of the poorest. It takes account of the distribution of poverty among the poor, giving greater weight to the poorest of the poor.

Gini coefficient

The Gini coefficient, a measure of welfare distribution, is used to measure inequality.

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