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OFFICIAL NAME: Ghana
CAPITAL CITY: Accra
POPULATION: 25,760,000 (Source: COUNTRYaah)
AREA: 238,500 km²
OFFICIAL/OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: English, akan, ewe and approximately 50 other Nigerian-Kordofan languages
RELIGION: natives religions 8.5%, Muslims 15.9%, Christians 68.8%, others 0.7%
CURRENCY: cedi
CURRENCY CODE: GHC
ENGLISH NAME: ghana
INDEPENDENCE: 1957
POPULATION COMPOSITION: akan (including ashanti and fanti) 52%, mossi 16%, ewe 12%, ga and adangme
8%, gurma 3%, yoruba 1%, other 8%
GDP PER CAPITA INH.: $ 1474 (2014)
LIFE EXPECTANCY: men 63 years, women 68 years (2014)
LIVING CONDITIONS INDEX, HDI: 0573
LIVING CONDITIONS INDEX, POSITION: 138
INTERNET DOMAIN NAME: .gh
According to DIGOPAUL, Ghana
is a Republic of West Africa. Ghana was one of the first countries in
Africa independently in 1957, when the British gave up their colony Gold
Coast (Gold Coast). By independence, Ghana was the richest country in
tropical Africa; an approximate tripling of the population over the next 40
years, together with troubled political conditions, led to economic
problems. After 2000, record-high cocoa production and rising world market
prices have had a positive impact on the economy.
- AbbreviationFinder.org: Find two-letter abbreviation for each
independent country and territory, such as GH which stands for Ghana.
Ghana - Constitution
Ghana Constitution, the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana was passed by a
referendum in 1992, and the Fourth Republic was proclaimed in January 1993. The
legislative power lies with the parliament with 200 members elected by direct
elections for four years. The executive power lies with the president, who is
also elected by direct election for four years with the possibility of
re-election once. A presidential candidate must obtain at least 50% of the votes
cast in order to be elected. The president appoints the government, which must
be approved by parliament. To advise the president, there is a 25-member state
council, appointed partly by the president, partly by the regions, and a
20-member security council.
Ghana - Economy
Ghana - Economy, Ghana is a stable and well-managed society in
Africa. Poverty and unemployment are widespread, but since the 1990's, economic
growth has been at a pace slightly above population growth. As in other poor
countries, the development is characterized by debt burdens after a long period
with both the government budget deficit and the balance of payments.
From independence in 1957 to the early 1980's, Ghana's changing governments
led a socialist-inspired economic policy. Currency shortages as a result of a
severe drought contributed to the Jerry Rawlings government's request for
financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1983. The
aid was granted on condition that Ghana implemented a market economy-based
reconstruction program, which meant a final break with the socialist model.
Initially, the program concentrated on establishing economic stability and
reducing inflation by tightening economic policy and improving competitiveness
through the expansion of infrastructure and closer economic relations with
abroad. From around 1990, the program has also included more structural and
institutional changes, primarily privatization of state-owned enterprises and
reforms in the financial sector. As an important part of the expansion of the
capital market, a stock exchange has been established, which is also open to
foreign investors.
Inflation has been a major problem, for example, in 1995 consumer prices rose
by over 50%. This has led to ongoing write-downs of the currency, the cedi and,
on the other hand, made access to the international capital markets difficult
for Ghana to finance its sustained trade and current account deficit.
Ghana's export structure is a major impediment to the country's further
development as it is predominantly based on few commodities, gold, cocoa and
timber, which are traditionally subject to sharp price fluctuations. That is why
the government, including through tax incentives, tried to expand the export
range to include items such as fresh fruit, fish, furniture and crafts.
The colonial pattern of trade is also seen in exports, which are mainly taken
over by the EU; the main supplier countries are Nigeria and China. Denmark's
exports to Ghana totaled DKK 139 million in 2005. Imports therefrom were DKK 121
million. Danish development assistance to Ghana in 2004 amounted to DKK 305
million. kr.
Ghana - Health conditions
Ghana - Health Conditions, With a Birth Rate of 30.5 Per 1000 residents and
a death rate of 9.7 per person. 1000, the population is rapidly
increasing. Child mortality averages 55 per child. 1000 live births, highest in
the poorest northern regions of the country. The average lifetime is only 59
years. With many births per day. Woman seems Ghana caught in the same vicious
circle as so many other poor countries: malnutrition, high child mortality, high
birth rate, increased morbidity and low productivity, leading to further
malnutrition. However, the average birth rate has fallen from 5.5 per
cent. woman in the mid-1990's to approximately 4 births in 2006. Malaria is the most
common cause of both morbidity and death. In addition, infectious diseases such
as pneumonia,
diarrhea, meningitis dominateand tuberculosis. Filariasis, cholera and biliary carcinoma
still occur frequently. In contrast, measles, tetanus, polio and other
infectious diseases against which the population is vaccinated have decreased
significantly in frequency in recent years. AIDS is, as in other African
countries, a rapidly growing problem with 1634 cases recorded in 1990, 15,890
cases in 1995 and 72,000 people believed to be HIV-infected. Growth in the
number of HIV infected continued towards the turn of the millennium, but growth
appears to be slowing. In 2005, approximately 320,000 to be infected.
Ghana - mass media
Ghana - mass media, Media coverage has been better in Ghana for many years
than in most other sub-Saharan countries. There is great freedom of the press,
and the private media is often highly government-critical. The Commonwealth
Press Union has described Ghana's media world as one of the freest in the
continent. From 1989 government control with the press was loosened
considerably, and the actual freedom of the press came with the new constitution
in 1992. In the mid-1990's, there were examples of imprisonment of editors
accusing the government of involvement in, among other things. corruption, but
in several cases, the courts relieved the press of the government's charges.
Radio is Ghana's most important media, and direct phone programs are very
popular. There are many private FM stations. Ghana Broadcasting Corporation
(GBC) is the state broadcaster, but there is also private commercial
television. Many newspapers and magazines are published. See also Africa (mass
media).
Ghana - Literature
Ghana - Literature, The learned and dramatic slave self biography The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassus, the
African, was published in England in 1789 and is often regarded as one of
the earliest literary works of West Africa. The work became important in shaping
pan-African ideals, as did later JE Casely-Hayford's (1866-1930) Ethiopia
Unbound(1911). Casely-Hayford was the speaker of a nationalist-minded group
of journalists and lawyers, educated in England. The intertwining of political
and moral themes continues to characterize Ghana's literature. English is the
dominant language for written literature, but several authors also write in
their native language. Parts of the Bible were translated into the major
languages, ewe, fanti, and twi, of the 1870's, and missionaries published
collections of folklore. The establishment of an agency for the promotion of
local literature in 1951 meant some consolidation of prose literature in
non-colonial languages.
Independent Ghana was marked literary with the publication of the anthology Voices
of Ghana (1958) and followed by patriotic poems by Michael Dei-Anang
(1909-77) and Kwesi Brew (1928-2007). Only after the fall of President Kwame
Nkrumah in 1966 did literature begin to unfold freer, such as in the Okyeame
journal published at the University of Legon. Here, Joe de Graft (1924-78), Efua
Sutherland (1924-96) and Ama Ata Aidoo wrote, who not only revived historical
themes, but also exploited popular dramatic genres such as the musical and
choreographic highlife and concert parties - tradition and oral myths
and tales. Ayi Kwei Armah and Kofi Awoonor, who later became Ghana's best-known
authors, also contributed to the journal. In The Breast of the Earth (1976),
Awoonor describes and analyzes Africa's diverse artistic traditions. His poems
and his only novel, This Earth, My Brother (1971), draw on the oral
arts of the Ewe people, not least the tradition of mock songs, halo,
whose hallmarks are exquisite insults and linguistic excesses. Rather, Armah's
inspiration is international modernism, although in his extensive
novel writing, for example, Osiris Rising (1995), he seeks to advance
to common African moral values.
It is true of Ghana's literature as of many other African nations that most
titles have been published abroad. The exception is English-language popular
literature of the 1960's and 1970's. EK Mickson's didactic series Who Killed
Lucy (1967) and Asare Konadus (1932-94) novels Come Back Dora (1966)
and Shadow of Wealth (1966) have been published in up to 40,000 in
Ghana. In recent years, popular genres have been adapted to the TV medium and
widespread in the sale of box sets.
Ghana - music
Ghana - music, Ghana's music is characterized by great variety. In the north,
music is dominated by Muslim culture and the use of stringed instruments. In
central Ghana, since the Middle Ages, a refined court culture with a complex
musical structure is known, and in the southern coastal areas, the exchange of
sailors, colonial soldiers and locals played a crucial role in the development
of modern African popular music, which has gained a significant spread in the
western world.. See also highlife.
Ghana movie
Ghana Film, In 1948, the British colonial power created The Gold Coast Film
Unit to produce enlightening short films. After independence, GCFU was
transformed into GFIC (Ghana Film Industry Corporation) and President Kwame
Nkrumah focused heavily on films to raise political awareness of the Ghanaian
people. The first feature films came in 1965; of recent productions include Ato
Yanney's (b. 1937) His Majesty's Sergeant (1981) on Ghanaian soldiers
in British service in East Asia during World War II and King Ampaw's (b. 1943) Kukurantumi (1983),
which is a humorous depiction of the clash between country and city. In 1989,
Kwaw Ansah, the most prominent Ghanaian director, won the first prize at
the FESPACO Film Festival withHeritage Africa. In 1996, GFIC was sold
to a Malaysian broadcaster and since the 1990's the production of feature films
has dropped dramatically. In contrast, a burgeoning video film industry has
emerged, which has been very successful with cheaply produced colored
entertainment products.
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