Ghana (The Republic of Ghana, formerly The Gold Coast) is located in West Africa, and shares borders with Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The capital city is Accra and the total population in 2005 was 21,029,853. The majority of the population survives mainly on subsistence agriculture (60% of the work force accounting for 40% of the GDP). The main exports are gold, timber and cacao (used to make chocolate!) Due to a wealth of natural resources Ghana has twice the per capita output of many poorer West African countries. Although, they have a higher per capita GDP than other countries nearby, it is still only $2,643 per year, placing it at 127th in the world's economy. (The United States has an average per capita GDP of $41,600) 
The official language of Ghana is English, and while there are only nine Government-sponsored languages, there are as many as 79 tribal languages in use throughout the country.
The city where I will be spending the majority of my time while in Ghana is Tema, a port city about 15 miles east of the capital Accra with a population of over 200,000
Population Make-up (Comparison w/ U.S.A. in parentheses)
22,409,572 approx. population (298,444,215)
63% Christian/ (78% various Christian beliefs)
16% Muslim/ (1% Muslim)
21% Indigenous beliefs
74% Literacy/(99% Literacy)
3.1% Adult HIV/AIDS prevalence/ (0.6%)
350,000 Adults living with HIV/AIDS/ (950,000 Adults)
Life Expectancy at birth
58.87 years Total Population (77.85 years)
58.07 years Males (75.02 years)
59.69 years Females (80.82 years)
55.02 deaths/1,000 live births (6.43 deaths/1,000 live births)
31.4% of population living below the poverty line (12% in the U.S. live below the poverty line)
20% Unemployment rate (5.1% unemployment rate-2005)
Some well-known Ghanaians include: Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations; The National Soccer (Football) team that kicked the US out of the World Cup in 2006
Another interesting fact: in some parts of Ghana you are named based upon the day that you are born. So there are only 14 possible first names (7 for boys and 7 for girls). Kofi Annan for example, was born on a Friday. The second name is chosen by the father, and is usually the name of an ancestor. You may be wondering what happens when two children are born on the same day...well, then you would get a number--Kofi and Kofi Manu "second Kofi". On top of that you don't take a family name at all, but the parents can choose as many other names as they want, so people may have anywhere from 3 to 10 names!
There is certainly a lot more to learn about Ghana, but this is just a sample.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/gh.html CIA World Factbook on Ghana
(https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html used for comparison)
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ghtoc.html Library of Congress Federal Research Division Country Study
1 comment:
I remember a friend in college whose middle name was the date she was born -- adjoa. and I was nick-named akoshua (even though I wasn't from Ghana). both of which are very beautiful and I wish my middle name really was something like akoshua!
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