Child labour high in Brong-Ahafo – Survey

Brong-Ahafo Region recorded the highest rate of child labour, findings from the Ghana Living Standards Survey round six (GLSS -6) has revealed.

Children, about 33.5 per cent between the ages of five and 17 years in the region, are engaged in exploitative labour in areas such as agriculture, fishing and mining, it said.

Greater Accra Region, however, recorded the lowest rate of child labour of about 5.2 percent.

The GLSS-6 was conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in 18,000 households in 1,200 enumeration areas between 2012 and 2013.

Mr Owusu Kagya, Principal Statistician at the GSS, who disclosed this at a dissemination workshop on the GLSS-6 at Fumesua in the Kumasi Metropolis on Friday, said a radical approach was needed to control child labour in Brong-Ahafo, Volta and Ashanti regions.

According to the findings, 67.6 per cent of Ghanaians are registered under various health insurance schemes in the country with Brong-Ahafo recording the highest number of registered persons of 82.2 percent.

Greater Accra recorded the lowest membership of 58.3 percent, Mr Owusu Emmanuel Osei, Head of Governance Statistics at the GSS, said in a presentation.

He said the number of people enjoying health insurance was not encouraging, and stressed the need to support more Ghanaians to register, especially under the National Health Insurance Scheme.

According to the report about 5.2 percent of Ghanaians are currently unemployed with unemployment rate higher among people in rural areas.

It, however, indicated that youth unemployment rate stood at 5.5 per cent with the situation higher in Upper East Region and lower in Brong-Ahafo Region.