The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) joined the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to mark the birth of the eight billionth baby at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital in Accra yesterday.
The baby girl was born five minutes after midnight at the Ridge Hospital on Tuesday.
The symbolic ceremony was witness by other partners such as the National Population Council, the National Development Planning Commission and the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS).
In addition was the pre-launch of a book on Ghana’s population by RIPS.
The book focuses on the demography of the country and among others, highlight marriage and child and maternal mortality issues.
Ghana’s population stands at 30.8 million per the 2021 Population and Housing Census.
The world population reached eight billion yesterday and the historic day is being celebrated across the world.
The Country Representative of UNFPA, Mr Barnabas Tisa, in a speech read on his behalf by the International Operations Manager, Ritesh Mistry, said Tuesday, November 15, 2022, was an important day in the history of the world.
He said a world of eight billion presented the world with eight billion possibilities and opportunities towards the world the global community aspired.
In Ghana, he said data from the 2021 census, indicated that life expectancy had increased from the last census in 2010. According to data from the 2021 PHC life expectancy for Ghana had increased to 64.42 years in 2021 from 64.17 years in 2020.
That, Mr Tisa said meant that Ghana had reached the stage where people were living longer, fewer women were dying through childbirth resulting in a reduction in maternal and child mortality.
“While acknowledging this historic day in population growth, we must not only pay attention to the challenges and the gas associated with the growing population, rather we must take advantage of the opportunity to reap the demographic dividend by socio-economically investing in the population, especially, young people,” he said.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
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