Sociodemographic Characteristics of Internal Migration in Ghana

Internal migration in Ghana remains an issue of great concern since independence. Northern Ghana was regarded as the main origin of labour for the advancement of the south. This was encouraged during the administration of the colonial era. In recent times, internal migration is quite widespread in the country. In recent times, however, attention has been shifted from internal migration to international migration albeit its continuous detrimental effects on the country. Though internal migration in Ghana has received much scholarly observation, most of these are on the causes, effects, and consequences of internal migration in Ghana, In spite of this, the socio-demographic characteristics of the migrants themselves it are yet to carefully considered. Thus, this thesis sought to examine the social and demographic characteristics of internal migrants in Ghana. Using the Migrating Out of Poverty Dataset (2013), a Multivariate Logistic Regression was employed in this study. The study revealed that education (particularly higher), age (21-41), (42-62) and (84 and above) and Ethnicity (Ewe) are more likely to be internal migrants in Ghana. Also, Sex (female), marital status (separated and widowed), and Ethnicity (Mole Dagbani, Dagoa and Talensi), are significantly less likely to produce internal migrants in Ghana. However, in terms of migrating to Accra, ethnicity (Dagoa and Gruni) are significantly less likely to move. This study recommends that, since most movements were from rural areas, an integrated form of rural development in order to improve agricultural activities coupled with the provision of additional housing and social structures like health facilities, schools, recreational centres and the likes, should be provided which will go a long way to improving the standard of living and to a larger extent, ameliorating or eradicating unhealthy or unproductive internal migrations.