About 4.82 million Ghanaians, approximately 30.8 per cent of the urban population, are living in slums, the Ghana Statis­tical Service (GSS) latest report on slums has revealed.The report titled Slums and Informal Settlements in Ghana explains that a house­hold is said to exhibit slum characteristics if it lacks access to improved drinking water, improved sanitation, durable housing, sufficient living space or any combination of these.Prof.

Kwankye Owusu (middle) with Dr Alhassan Iddrisu (second from left) and other partners launching the report Photo: Seth OsabukleThe report said a household is consid­ered to have access to an improved drinking water source if the water source is pro­tected from outside contamination, such as pipe-borne water, borehole, bottled and sachet water, while improved sanitation means a household has access to a facility with an excreta disposal system that hygien­ically separates human waste from human contact.It said sufficient living area is where household members were not more than three people sharing a sleeping room.The report, which examined the slum sit­uation in urban localities of the 16 regions of the country, stated that nearly half of all urban households - 46.1 per cent or about 2.2 million - exhibit one or more slum conditions.It said the Northern and Savannah regions report the highest levels of extreme slum intensity."Even in more developed regions like Greater Accra and Ashanti, slum house­holds face precarious living conditions, with more than half living in rented accommo­dations," the report said.The Government Statistician, Dr Alhasan Iddrisu, speaking during the launch of the report in Accra yesterday, said the findings provided the most detailed portrait to date of slums and informal settlements in Gha­na, drawn from data collected during the 2021 Population and Housing Census."It gives us more than statistics; it shows where we are as a nation in the quest for urban development," he stated.According to him, "If you have walked through any of our major cities including Accra, Kumasi, and Tamale, you have likely seen it - crowded compounds, temporary shelters, children playing by open drains, and families living, cooking, and sleeping in the same cramped space.

This report quan­tifies that reality and gives us the clearest picture we have ever had of where, how, and why these conditions persist."Out of the 4.77 million urban house­holds, he said, 46.1 per cent or more than 2.2 million households live in slum con­ditions, and 1.4 million households (29.5 per cent) were classified entirely as slum households.He said the regional analysis showed wide disparities and 10 out of the 16 regions had urban slum populations above the national average, ranging from 79.1 per cent in North East to 29.6 per cent in Bono Region.He said Northern (4.2 per cent), Savan­nah (3.6 per cent) and Oti (1.1 per cent) re­corded the highest extreme slum intensities.The report also exposed deep develop­ment gaps. "Multidimensional poverty in slums is more than twice that of non-slum areas - 23.4 per cent compared to 10.5 per cent," Dr Iddrisu said.In slum areas, he said one in three people could not read or write, and over 20 per cent have never attended school.The Government Statistician said house­hold mortality rates were also significantly higher - 41.6 deaths per 10,000 people compared to 30.7 in non-slum areas.Dr Iddrisu urged central government, MMDAs, civil society, private sector and development partners to act on the data."Every slum we transform and every household we uplift brings us closer to the inclusive, safe, and dignified cities every Ghanaian deserves," he said.An Associate Professor at the Regional Institute for Population Studies of Univer­sity of Ghana, Professor Stephen Owusu Kwakye, described the report as "com­prehensive and elucidative" and called for implementation of its recommendations."We can't stop urbanisation, but we can plan better.

Rapid urbanisation elsewhere has come with improved services.