The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) on Wednesday, 19 August 2026, held a validation meeting on a revised report assessing Ghana’s potential to harness its demographic dividend for sustainable economic growth. The report uses the National Transfer Accounts (NTA) framework and the Demographic Dividend Model to examine the country’s changing population structure and its implications for economic development.

Delivering the welcome remarks, the Director of Research at the Commission, Mr Richard Tweneboah-Kodua, noted that the report builds on an earlier study developed in 2018 with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and has since been updated with newer data, including findings from the 2021 Population and Housing Census. He stressed that Ghana could not rely on demographic changes alone to generate economic gains, but would need deliberate and sustained investment across key sectors.

“Harnessing the dividend requires deliberate and sustained investments across relevant sectors, supported by coordinated policy action,” he said, urging participants to scrutinise the data, assumptions and recommendations in the report. “No contribution is wrong, no contribution is minor.”

Presenting the report, members of the consulting team, including Dr Efua Kwaambaa Turkson and Professor Eric Arthur, noted that declining birth and death rates are increasing the proportion of Ghana’s population within the working-age bracket. The changing age structure presents an opportunity for economic growth, with the potential benefits of the demographic transition dependent on investments in health, education, family planning and employment, as well as broader economic reforms and good governance. The team also presented a modelling tool that projects possible outcomes under different investment scenarios up to 2057.

In her closing remarks, the Director of Development Policy, Mrs Alice Amekudzi, reaffirmed NDPC’s commitment to the report and expressed the hope that the discussions would contribute to strengthening efforts to harness Ghana’s demographic dividend.

The meeting brought together representatives from ministries, departments and agencies, civil society, academia and development partners.

NDPC PR- UNIT