The 2022 Statistical Report on birth registration revealed that a total of 2,099 (0.3%) of all registered births have doubtful paternity cases (situations in which the identity of the father of the child is not known).
The Upper East Region has the highest percentage (0.8%) of doubtful paternity cases followed by the Central Region (0.7%), Western, Eastern, and Volta regions (0.5).
Almost all registered births (99.9%) in the Upper West, Bono East, Ashanti, Savannah, Northern, and North East regions are known paternity cases (the identity of the father is known).
The report further indicated that almost all mothers (99.96%) who registered their infants’ births had acquired some level of formal education.
Fifty-two percent of all registered births were by mothers who had secondary, vocational, or technical education. 14 percent attended only primary school and about 10 percent (9.7%) attended tertiary.
The Greater Accra Region has the highest percentage (20.1%) of mothers with tertiary education.
About 27.0 percent (26.7%) of registered infants were born by mothers in the age group 25-29, followed by mothers in the age group 30-34 (23.3%), and 20-24 (22%).
Mothers below 15 years recorded the least births (0.1%) followed by mothers in the age-group 40 and above (5.4%). Seven in every ten infants registered (72%) were born to mothers between the ages of 20 and 34.
The report covers key areas such as total births registered, regional share of registration, attendance at birth, place of birth, day of birth, month of birth, and age of mother among other key variables.
Also, Ghana recorded a total of 50,992 registered deaths. Approximately seven out of every 10 registered deaths occurred in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, or Eastern regions. The report also indicates that six out of every 10 registered deaths are likely to be males.
Greater Accra Region exceeded the expected coverage by 8.3%. Three other regions including Eastern (53.6%), Ashanti (46.7%), and Bono (43.8%) exceeded the national average of 37.8 percent indicating disproportionately higher registered deaths.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Acting Registrar of the Births and Deaths Registry, Henrietta Lamptey, on her part indicated that the report is evidence to the registry’s commitment to providing reliable information on every birth and death occurring in Ghana.
She said the provision of accurate and timely data about birth and death events in the country is vital for deepening knowledge about the country’s population for effective public policy development, programme implementation, and sustainable socio-economic development.
“The analysis of vital statistics obtained from the registration of birth and death events will aid the determination of public policy goals, programme objectives, measurable indicators, and other variables for developing the economy and transforming societies,” she said.
In attaining universal coverage of death and birth registration, it has implemented the Community Population Register in 25 new communities, digitisation of registration processes to streamline operations to enable registration of birth and death available anywhere, and the developed New Standards Operating Procedures, to enhance the consistency and reliability of registration process.
The roll-out of the new birth and death registration system provides greater flexibility and scalability to meet the evolving needs of communities and stakeholders.
Ms. Lamptey indicated that this report would make statistical data accessible to researchers, policymakers, and the general public.
Deputy Minister, Ministry for Local Government and Rural Development, Osei-Bonsu Amoah, also reiterated the relevance of the 2022 statistical report on birth registration to the socio-economic development of the country.
Ghana’s birth registration system made substantial strides in 2022, with a total of 677,140 births officially registered and documented, which represents a remarkable 92.7 percent coverage.
According to OB Amoah, the significant increase in the birth registration rate reflects the government’s ongoing efforts to ensure that every child is registered.
“This progress demonstrates our commitment to achieving universal birth registration and the sustainable development goal,” he said.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke