Trends and Rural-Urban Differences in Household Structure in Ghana: Is There Nuclear Convergence?

Josephine Akua Ackah , London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

In this research, I provide up-to-date evidence on the trends in family structure in Ghana, their rural-urban differences, and whether the Ghanaian context is drifting from nuclear convergence patterns. In the face of recent evidence proposing “persistent diversity” in family change for low- and middle-income countries and deviation from the nuclear convergence hypothesis, it becomes essential to understand the direction of such divergence to inform discussions and policies on Ghana’s family demography. Data from four rounds of the Ghana Population and Housing Census (1984, 2000, 2010, 2021) were extracted to explore family structure typologies in Ghana and trends over time. The samples comprised 259377, 369910, 542109, and 836515 households for the 1984, 2000, 2010 and 2021 censuses, respectively. Family structure typologies were manually coded using members’ relationship to the household head. Descriptives of the various typologies, their trends as well as rural-urban differences were investigated. The evidence portrayed a layered perspective where (1) some nuclear groups have been stable over time while others have had a decrease and (2) though extended family households are declining, the distribution is skewed in favour of urban areas, affirming unique forms of divergence. The findings claim that Ghana’s family structure does not fit squarely into the nuclear convergence propositions. Exploring rural-urban differences unveils unique perspectives and could be embedded in formal demographic methods on global family change.

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 Presented in Session P1. Fertility, Family, Life Course