A recent report by the Births and Deaths Registry has revealed that males accounted for 60.3% of registered deaths in 2022, with females making up 39.7%. This translates to six out of every ten registered deaths being males.
The report also highlighted regional disparities, with six regions – Central, Western North, Greater Accra, Ashanti, Volta, and Bono – recording proportions of registered deaths below the male national average. The Northern Region had the lowest percentage of registered female deaths at 27.4%.
In 2022, Ghana recorded a total of 50,992 registered deaths, with a significant concentration in Greater Accra, Ashanti, and Eastern regions, accounting for approximately seven out of every ten registered deaths.
Notably, four out of every ten registered deaths occurred outside healthcare facilities, underscoring the challenges posed by inadequate healthcare infrastructure. Additionally, the data revealed that about nine out of every ten registered deaths resulted in burials in public cemeteries, indicating the prevalence of organized and official burial practices in Ghana.
The report also highlighted existing disparities in regional response to death registration activities, with some regions recording disproportionately higher registered deaths. Greater Accra Region exceeded the expected coverage by 8.3%, followed by Eastern (53.6%), Ashanti (46.7%), and Bono (43.8%) regions, which exceeded the national average of 37.8%.