Global Context of Ghana's Population Issues

I have to agree with the majority of the article written by 'Energy' in the recent GhanaWeb commentary section of the article on population issues in Ghana. Many of the points he raised are key to the understanding of the issues that face us.

Ghana is a nation of around 20million citizens, and is expected to grow at around 2% a year for the foreseeable future. This said, Ghana is a nation which has so far been unable to spread the base of development in any significant way, outside the urban centers of Accra and Kumasi. In considering this, it is important to note that by 2020 Ghana could have a population of up to 30million people. If we think in the vein of 'conventional thought', this means we have a potential population problem on our hands. Let's look into that a little further...

One key factor that I feel has been overlooked for too long is the fact that as Africans we are still far too inward looking. We need to expand the base of enlightenment; schools and public facilities need to be available to the masses where it is needed, not to the middle and upper class urbanites. Let the grassroots understand that what one African state faces WILL affect and heavily impact upon all other African states in one way or another; whether we like it or not.

Let us not forget that Africa is completely different to Asia, the Americas, and Europe. We are the only MAJOR continent which stands on its own geographically; and to add to this, we are heading towards CONTINENTAL POLITICAL UNION,which would make us the LARGEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD (ahead of Russia, Canada, China, and the USA). And as 'Energy' said, we are also substantially underpopulated in terms of where we should ideally be to reach the an economic 'critical-mass', widely believed to be neceessary to spark off exponential economic expansion in the near future; although from the figures I have available, the current total population figure is closer to 850 million [2005]. We can support a population of over 10 billion people without scratching the 'India threshold' (around 350 people/sq km) in terms of population density. That means an average of around 189 million people in each of Africa's 53 States.

If you consider this figure of over 10 billion Africans citizens, not being enough to warrant panic in terms of population turmoil or economic meltdown, and we consider that this figure is over '11-times' (1,100% higher than) the current population figure, is this recent fuss over our countries running out of resources, space and capital actually warranted? Remember that all the factors above, are widely expected to lead to the almost opposite effect; this being that it will enable planning (economic, social, legal, and political) to be undertaken on a more comprehensive level, leading to vastly improved economic prospects and the ability of the Continent to provide services to the masses at a greatly improved level of service and quality, all at economically-efficient costs.


Getting back to Ghana, these facts above demonstrate how the terms of development can easily be shifted so far off course, even if just in our minds, that we will essentially miss possibly the greatest opportunity we have ever had. We need to grasp the realities of our individual and collective situations in order to make the best of this unique situation.

It is my opinion that we need to work towards collaborative systems between ourselves (African Nations), which will allow us the opportunity to forecast, integrate and establish efficeint means of executing policies; and that the organs of the African Union should be taking the LEAD ROLE in this, in anticipation of a 'SINGLE AFRICAN GOVERNMENT', whilst continuing on the path toward REAL self-governance; be it FEDERAL or otherwise.