Ghana (2005) | Southern Ocean (2008) | |
Administrative divisions | 10 regions; Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Greater Accra, Northern, Upper East, Upper West, Volta, Western | - |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 37.1% (male 3,946,326/female 3,862,390)
15-64 years: 59.1% (male 6,203,035/female 6,235,107) 65 years and over: 3.7% (male 366,472/female 416,523) (2005 est.) |
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Agriculture - products | cocoa, rice, coffee, cassava (tapioca), peanuts, corn, shea nuts, bananas; timber | - |
Airports | 12 (2004 est.) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 7
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2004 est.) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 5
914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 2 (2004 est.) |
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Area | total: 239,460 sq km
land: 230,940 sq km water: 8,520 sq km |
total: 20.327 million sq km
note: includes Amundsen Sea, Bellingshausen Sea, part of the Drake Passage, Ross Sea, a small part of the Scotia Sea, Weddell Sea, and other tributary water bodies |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Oregon | slightly more than twice the size of the US |
Background | Formed from the merger of the British colony of the Gold Coast and the Togoland trust territory, Ghana in 1957 became the first sub-Saharan country in colonial Africa to gain its independence. A long series of coups resulted in the suspension of the constitution in 1981 and a ban on political parties. A new constitution, restoring multiparty politics, was approved in 1992. Lt. Jerry RAWLINGS, head of state since 1981, won presidential elections in 1992 and 1996, but was constitutionally prevented from running for a third term in 2000. John KUFUOR, who defeated former Vice President Atta MILLS in a free and fair election, succeeded him. | A large body of recent oceanographic research has shown that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), an ocean current that flows from west to east around Antarctica, plays a crucial role in global ocean circulation. The region where the cold waters of the ACC meet and mingle with the warmer waters of the north defines a distinct border - the Antarctic Convergence - which fluctuates with the seasons, but which encompasses a discrete body of water and a unique ecologic region. The Convergence concentrates nutrients, which promotes marine plant life, and which in turn allows for a greater abundance of animal life. In the spring of 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization decided to delimit the waters within the Convergence as a fifth world ocean - the Southern Ocean - by combining the southern portions of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean. The Southern Ocean extends from the coast of Antarctica north to 60 degrees south latitude, which coincides with the Antarctic Treaty Limit and which approximates the extent of the Antarctic Convergence. As such, the Southern Ocean is now the fourth largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, but larger than the Arctic Ocean). It should be noted that inclusion of the Southern Ocean does not imply recognition of this feature as one of the world's primary oceans by the US Government. |
Birth rate | 23.97 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) | - |
Budget | revenues: $2.17 billion
expenditures: $2.56 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.) |
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Capital | Accra | - |
Climate | tropical; warm and comparatively dry along southeast coast; hot and humid in southwest; hot and dry in north | sea temperatures vary from about 10 degrees Celsius to -2 degrees Celsius; cyclonic storms travel eastward around the continent and frequently are intense because of the temperature contrast between ice and open ocean; the ocean area from about latitude 40 south to the Antarctic Circle has the strongest average winds found anywhere on Earth; in winter the ocean freezes outward to 65 degrees south latitude in the Pacific sector and 55 degrees south latitude in the Atlantic sector, lowering surface temperatures well below 0 degrees Celsius; at some coastal points intense persistent drainage winds from the interior keep the shoreline ice-free throughout the winter |
Coastline | 539 km | 17,968 km |
Constitution | approved 28 April 1992 | - |
Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Ghana
conventional short form: Ghana former: Gold Coast |
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Death rate | 10.84 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) | - |
Debt - external | $7.396 billion (2004 est.) | - |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Mary Carlin YATES
embassy: 6th and 10th Lanes, 798/1 Osu, Accra mailing address: P. O. Box 194, Accra telephone: [233] (21) 775-347, 775-348 FAX: [233] (21) 701-813 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Alan J. KYEREMATEN
chancery: 3512 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 686-4520 FAX: [1] (202) 686-4527 consulate(s) general: New York |
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Disputes - international | Ghana struggles to accommodate returning nationals who worked in the cocoa plantations and escaped rebel fighting in Cote d'Ivoire | Antarctic Treaty defers claims (see Antarctica entry), but Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, NZ, Norway, and UK assert claims (some overlapping), including the continental shelf in the Southern Ocean; several states have expressed an interest in extending those continental shelf claims under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to include undersea ridges; the US and most other states do not recognize the land or maritime claims of other states and have made no claims themselves (the US and Russia have reserved the right to do so); no formal claims exist in the waters in the sector between 90 degrees west and 150 degrees west |
Economic aid - recipient | $6.9 billion (1999) | - |
Economy - overview | Well endowed with natural resources, Ghana has roughly twice the per capita output of the poorer countries in West Africa. Even so, Ghana remains heavily dependent on international financial and technical assistance. Gold, timber, and cocoa production are major sources of foreign exchange. The domestic economy continues to revolve around subsistence agriculture, which accounts for 34% of GDP and employs 60% of the work force, mainly small landholders. Ghana opted for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) program in 2002. Priorities include tighter monetary and fiscal policies, accelerated privatization, and improvement of social services. Receipts from the gold sector helped sustain GDP growth in 2004. Inflation should ease, but remain a major internal problem. | Fisheries in 2003-04 landed 136,262 metric tons, of which 87% (118,166 tons) was krill and 8% (11,182 tons) Patagonian toothfish, compared to 142,555 tons in 2002-03 of which 83% (117,728 tons) was krill and 12% (16,479 tons) Patagonian toothfish (estimated fishing from the area covered by the Convention of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which extends slightly beyond the Southern Ocean area). International agreements were adopted in late 1999 to reduce illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, which in the 2000-01 season landed, by one estimate, 8,376 metric tons of Patagonian and Antarctic toothfish. In the 2004-05 Antarctic summer, 28,202 tourists, most of them seaborne (approximately 97%), visited the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, compared to 14,762 in 1999-2000. |
Electricity - consumption | 6.137 billion kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - exports | 500 million kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - imports | 200 million kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - production | 6.922 billion kWh (2002) | - |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Afadjato 880 m |
lowest point: -7,235 m at the southern end of the South Sandwich Trench
highest point: sea level 0 m |
Environment - current issues | recurrent drought in north severely affects agricultural activities; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; poaching and habitat destruction threatens wildlife populations; water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water | increased solar ultraviolet radiation resulting from the Antarctic ozone hole in recent years, reducing marine primary productivity (phytoplankton) by as much as 15% and damaging the DNA of some fish; illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in recent years, especially the landing of an estimated five to six times more Patagonian toothfish than the regulated fishery, which is likely to affect the sustainability of the stock; large amount of incidental mortality of seabirds resulting from long-line fishing for toothfish
note: the now-protected fur seal population is making a strong comeback after severe overexploitation in the 18th and 19th centuries |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation |
the Southern Ocean is subject to all international agreements regarding the world's oceans; in addition, it is subject to these agreements specific to the Antarctic region: International Whaling Commission (prohibits commercial whaling south of 40 degrees south [south of 60 degrees south between 50 degrees and 130 degrees west]); Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (limits sealing); Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (regulates fishing)
note: many nations (including the US) prohibit mineral resource exploration and exploitation south of the fluctuating Polar Front (Antarctic Convergence), which is in the middle of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and serves as the dividing line between the cold polar surface waters to the south and the warmer waters to the north |
Ethnic groups | black African 98.5% (major tribes - Akan 44%, Moshi-Dagomba 16%, Ewe 13%, Ga 8%, Gurma 3%, Yoruba 1%), European and other 1.5% (1998) | - |
Exchange rates | cedis per US dollar - 9,004.6 (2004), 8,677.4 (2003), 7,932.7 (2002), 7,170.8 (2001), 5,455.1 (2000) | - |
Executive branch | chief of state: President John Agyekum KUFUOR (since 7 January 2001); Vice President Alhaji Aliu MAHAMA (since 7 January 2001); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President John Agyekum KUFUOR (since 7 January 2001); Vice President Alhaji Aliu MAHAMA (since 7 January 2001); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Council of Ministers; president nominates members subject to approval by Parliament elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for four-year terms; election last held 7 December 2004 (next to be held December 2008) election results: John Agyekum KUFUOR reelected president in election; percent of vote - John KUFUOR 53.4%, John Atta MILLS 43.7% |
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Exports | NA | - |
Exports - commodities | gold, cocoa, timber, tuna, bauxite, aluminum, manganese ore, diamonds | - |
Exports - partners | Mexico 69.8%, Netherlands 3.7%, UK 3% (2004) | - |
Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
Flag description | three equal horizontal bands of red (top), yellow, and green with a large black five-pointed star centered in the yellow band; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia; similar to the flag of Bolivia, which has a coat of arms centered in the yellow band | - |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 34.3%
industry: 24.2% services: 41.4% (2004 est.) |
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GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $2,300 (2004 est.) | - |
GDP - real growth rate | 5.4% (2004 est.) | - |
Geographic coordinates | 8 00 N, 2 00 W | 60 00 S, 90 00 E (nominally), but the Southern Ocean has the unique distinction of being a large circumpolar body of water totally encircling the continent of Antarctica; this ring of water lies between 60 degrees south latitude and the coast of Antarctica and encompasses 360 degrees of longitude |
Geography - note | Lake Volta is the world's largest artificial lake | the major chokepoint is the Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica; the Polar Front (Antarctic Convergence) is the best natural definition of the northern extent of the Southern Ocean; it is a distinct region at the middle of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that separates the cold polar surface waters to the south from the warmer waters to the north; the Front and the Current extend entirely around Antarctica, reaching south of 60 degrees south near New Zealand and near 48 degrees south in the far South Atlantic coinciding with the path of the maximum westerly winds |
Highways | total: 46,176 km
paved: 8,496 km unpaved: 37,679 km (1999 est.) |
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Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 2.2%
highest 10%: 30.1% (1999) |
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Illicit drugs | illicit producer of cannabis for the international drug trade; major transit hub for Southwest and Southeast Asian heroin and, to a lesser extent, South American cocaine destined for Europe and the US; widespread crime and money laundering problem, but the lack of a well-developed financial infrastructure limits the country's utility as a money-laundering center | - |
Imports | NA | - |
Imports - commodities | capital equipment, petroleum, foodstuffs | - |
Imports - partners | Nigeria 12.6%, China 11.4%, UK 6.6%, US 6.4%, France 4.9%, Netherlands 4.2% (2004) | - |
Independence | 6 March 1957 (from UK) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | 3.8% (2000 est.) | - |
Industries | mining, lumbering, light manufacturing, aluminum smelting, food processing, cement, small commercial ship building | - |
Infant mortality rate | total: 51.43 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 54.25 deaths/1,000 live births female: 48.53 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
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Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 13% (2004 est.) | - |
International organization participation | ACP, AfDB, AU, C, ECOWAS, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, MIGA, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), ONUB, OPCW, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIK, UNMIL, UNOCI, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO | - |
Irrigated land | 110 sq km (1998 est.) | - |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court | - |
Labor force | 10.24 million (2004 est.) | - |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture 60%, industry 15%, services 25% (1999 est.) | - |
Land boundaries | total: 2,094 km
border countries: Burkina Faso 549 km, Cote d'Ivoire 668 km, Togo 877 km |
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Land use | arable land: 16.26%
permanent crops: 9.67% other: 74.07% (2001) |
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Languages | English (official), African languages (including Akan, Moshi-Dagomba, Ewe, and Ga) | - |
Legal system | based on English common law and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | - |
Legislative branch | unicameral Parliament (230 seats; note - increased from 200 seats in last election; members are elected by direct, popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 7 December 2004 (next to be held December 2008) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NPP 128, NDC 92, other 10 |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population: 58.47 years
male: 57.7 years female: 59.26 years (2005 est.) |
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Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 74.8% male: 82.7% female: 67.1% (2003 est.) |
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Location | Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Cote d'Ivoire and Togo | body of water between 60 degrees south latitude and Antarctica |
Map references | Africa | Antarctic Region |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm |
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Merchant marine | total: 4 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 19,086 GRT/26,185 DWT
by type: petroleum tanker 1, refrigerated cargo 3 foreign-owned: 1 (Brazil 1) (2005) |
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Military branches | Army, Navy, Air Force | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $49.2 million (2004) | - |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 0.6% (2004) | - |
National holiday | Independence Day, 6 March (1957) | - |
Nationality | noun: Ghanaian(s)
adjective: Ghanaian |
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Natural hazards | dry, dusty, northeastern harmattan winds occur from January to March; droughts | huge icebergs with drafts up to several hundred meters; smaller bergs and iceberg fragments; sea ice (generally 0.5 to 1 m thick) with sometimes dynamic short-term variations and with large annual and interannual variations; deep continental shelf floored by glacial deposits varying widely over short distances; high winds and large waves much of the year; ship icing, especially May-October; most of region is remote from sources of search and rescue |
Natural resources | gold, timber, industrial diamonds, bauxite, manganese, fish, rubber, hydropower, petroleum, silver, salt, limestone | probable large and possible giant oil and gas fields on the continental margin, manganese nodules, possible placer deposits, sand and gravel, fresh water as icebergs; squid, whales, and seals - none exploited; krill, fish |
Net migration rate | -0.59 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) | - |
Pipelines | refined products 74 km (2004) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Convention People's Party or CPP [Nii Noi DOWUONA, general secretary]; Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere or EGLE [Owuraku AMOFA, chairman]; Great Consolidated Popular Party or GCPP [Dan LARTY]; National Convention Party or NCP [Sarpong KUMA-KUMA]; National Democratic Congress or NDC [Dr. Huudu YAHAYA, general secretary]; New Patriotic Party or NPP [Samuel Arthur ODOI-SYKES]; People's Convention Party or PCP [P. K. DONKOH-AYIFI, acting chairman]; People's Heritage Party or PHP [Emmanuel Alexander ERSKINE]; People's National Convention or PNC [Edward MAHAMA]; Reform Party [Kyeretwie OPUKU, general secretary] | - |
Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | - |
Population | 21,029,853
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2005 est.) |
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Population below poverty line | 31.4% (1992 est.) | - |
Population growth rate | 1.25% (2005 est.) | - |
Ports and harbors | Takoradi, Tema | - |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 0, FM 49, shortwave 3 (2001) | - |
Railways | total: 953 km
narrow gauge: 953 km 1.067-m gauge (2004) |
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Religions | Christian 63%, Muslim 16%, indigenous beliefs 21% | - |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.88 male(s)/female total population: 1 male(s)/female (2005 est.) |
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Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | - |
Telephone system | general assessment: poor to fair system; Internet accessible; many rural communities not yet connected; expansion of services is underway
domestic: primarily microwave radio relay; wireless local loop has been installed international: country code - 233; satellite earth stations - 4 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); microwave radio relay link to Panaftel system connects Ghana to its neighbors; fiber optic submarine cable (SAT-3/WASC) provides connectivity to Europe and Asia |
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Telephones - main lines in use | 302,300 (2003) | - |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 799,900 (2003) | - |
Television broadcast stations | 10 (2001) | - |
Terrain | mostly low plains with dissected plateau in south-central area | the Southern Ocean is deep, 4,000 to 5,000 m over most of its extent with only limited areas of shallow water; the Antarctic continental shelf is generally narrow and unusually deep, its edge lying at depths of 400 to 800 m (the global mean is 133 m); the Antarctic icepack grows from an average minimum of 2.6 million sq km in March to about 18.8 million sq km in September, better than a sixfold increase in area; the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (21,000 km in length) moves perpetually eastward; it is the world's largest ocean current, transporting 130 million cubic meters of water per second - 100 times the flow of all the world's rivers |
Total fertility rate | 3.02 children born/woman (2005 est.) | - |
Transportation - note | - | Drake Passage offers alternative to transit through the Panama Canal |
Unemployment rate | 20% (1997 est.) | - |
Waterways | 1,293 km
note: 168 km for launches and lighters on Volta, Ankobra, and Tano rivers; 1,125 km of arterial and feeder waterways on Lake Volta (2003) |
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