Michael Hammond | YEN.COM

Ghanaians did not experience a substantial change in the standard of living from 2018 to 2019, a GSS survey has revealed - It also showed that GDP per capita has marginally declined to $2,212 in 2019 from $2,214 in 2018 - The data was measured against a population of 29.61 million and 30.28 million in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has revealed that there has been no substantive change in the standard of living in Ghana between 2018 and 2019. Its report also revealed that Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita has marginally declined to $2,212 in 2019 from $2,214 in 2018, reflecting a 0.09% point drop. YEN.com.gh understands that this was measured against a population of 29.61 million and 30.28 million in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Sharing his opinion on the data, Professor John Gatsi, the Dean of the School of Business at the University of Cape Coast, explained that it shows the income and living standards of people are below the GDP per capita of US$2,212. Information available from Oxfam International shows that there is a wide gap between the rich and the poor, a report by thebftonline revealed Oxfam went on to say that just one of the richest men in Ghana earns more in a month than one of the poorest women could earn in 1,000 years. It added that 10% of the richest people in Ghana now share 32% of the country’s total consumption.

This, it went on, is more than the value consumed by the bottom 60% of the population. The poorest, who are about 10% of the population, account for 2% of consumption. YEN.com.gh earlier reported that the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) reports that Ghana’s economy grew by 6.5% in the year 2019. This is according to revised estimates by the Service and has been compared with the 6.3% recorded in 2018 and 8.1% recorded in 2017.

The economy also recorded a growth of 5.8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the non-oil sector.