The latest data from the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) have revealed that 553,065 persons in Ghana have had their marriages dissolved while 405,090 have separated.

These figures were obtained through interviews of people during the 2021 PHC which began on June 27 and ended on August 15, 2021.

According to fresh data by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), 362,233 out of the 553,065 divorced persons are females with the remaining 190,832 being males translating into a share of 65.5% and 34.5%, respectively.

Of the over 400,000 spouses who have separated, the majority were females with a corresponding figure of 252,079 persons; the remaining 153,011 were males.

The 2021 Population and Housing Census statistics put the total number of persons married in Ghana at 8,366,466 out of which 6,748,622 of them have not registered their marriages, with only 1,617,844 registered.

Marital Status

According to the report, marital status refers to the civil status of a person aged 12 years or older as of the Census Night on Sunday, June 27, 2021.

It may be one of the following cases:

• Informal/consensual union/living together: A person living together in a marital union but without civil or traditional recognition.
• Married under civil/ordinance, customary/traditional and Islamic rites, whether registered or not.

Separated vs Divorced

Separated: A person who no longer has common living arrangements with the spouse but whose marriage has not been declared customarily or legally dissolved.

Divorced: A person whose marriage has been annulled or dissolved either in a court of law or by custom and has not remarried.