The Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Retirement Research (ACRR), Professor Abdallah Mashud, has disclosed that as of last year, 2023, approximately 8.1 million Ghanaian workers were not covered by any form of pension scheme.

Speaking on Joy News’ AM Show on Tuesday, October 28, 2024, with Benjamin Akakpo, the renowned social security expert described the situation as problematic.

He was discussing the 2024 pension manifesto of the two major political parties: the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

“The Ministry of Employment and Labour estimated that Ghana has 9.9 million workers, of which 8.1 million are not covered under the social security system. This is problematic,” he said.

According to him, most of these uncovered workers are in the country’s informal sector, with women being the most affected.

“Most of the uncovered workers can be found in the informal sector, which primarily includes women concentrated in the market,” he added.

He noted, “We have less than 15% of persons aged 60 years and above who are receiving pensions from the system. This does not compare favorably to 27% in Africa and 78% worldwide.”

Prof. Mashud further emphasised that the situation is “a major poverty measurement indicator” in the country.

He then advocated for the expansion of social security benefits to cover the country’s informal sector, as it would help bridge Ghana’s poverty gap.