ghana climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessment

URBAN VERSES RURAL LIVELIHOODS 3Livelihood strategies in Ghana’s urban areas differ considerably from those in rural areas. Urban livelihoods areimportant, given that 38 percent of Ghana’s population (43 percent of total households) was urban in 2005/2006(GSS 2008b). Urban areas can be further broken down into the Accra metro area, and other urban areas outsideof Accra (Ghana’s capital city). Accra contains 11.7 percent of the population, and 26.13 percent of thepopulation lives in an urban area outside of Accra.Urban households have a mean size of 3.5, which is slightly lower than the national mean household size of 4.0.Annual per capita income in urban areas is roughly 517 Ghana cedis, 120 Ghana cedis higher than the nationalaverage, and 212 Ghana cedis higher than in rural areas. Income in urban areas comes primarily from employmentwages, which constitute 42.7 percent of an average household’s income. After employment wages, nonagriculturalforms of self employment constitute 30.7 percent of household income.Table 5.10 Contributions of economic sectors to National GDPSector/subsector % of national GDP % of sectorAgriculture 37.58%Crops and livestock 24.83% 66.07%Cocoa production and marketing 4.34% 11.55%Forestry and logging 3.62% 9.63%Fishing 4.78% 12.72%Industry 28.42%Mining and quarrying 6.74% 23.71%Manufacturing 8.83% 31.06%Electricity and water 2.71% 9.52%Construction 10.16% 35.77%Services 34.00%Transport, storage, and communication 5.69% 16.75%Wholesale & retail trade, restaurants, and hotels 8.31% 24.45%Finance, insurance, real estate, and business services 5.35% 15.75%Producers of private non-profit services 0.88% 2.60%Government services 11.83% 34.79%Community, social, and personal services 1.97% 5.80%Source: GSS 2008a; Ghana in FiguresHousehold agricultural income constitutes 12.3 percent, and remittances constitute 10.7 percent. Within Accrathese numbers change slightly; much more income comes from wages, and little income can be attributed tohousehold agriculture. Outside of Accra less income comes from wage jobs, and more income comes from nonagriculturalforms of self employment, making these two sources equal in terms of overall contributions to totalhousehold income. About 1/3 of urban households have savings to fall back on in the case of economicdifficulty, which is significantly higher than the roughly 20 percent of households in rural areas who have savings(GSS, 2008b).3 The information in this section is based on the Ghana Living Standards Survey, Fifth Round, from 2005/2006 (GSS 2008b). Note that the statisticswe provide from this source sometimes differ from those provided elsewhere in this section and this report that come from other sources (e.g.,the 2000 Population and Housing Census).GHANA CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION ASSESSMENT 87