North East and Savannah Regions recorded Ghana’s highest levels of multidimensional poverty in Q3 2025, with incidence rates above 50%, while Greater Accra and the Western Region posted the lowest poverty levels, both remaining below 20%.
That stark contrast, captured in the latest multidimensional poverty analysis, underscores how deeply poverty in Ghana remains shaped by geography, even as national indicators point to gradual improvement.
Beyond headline incidence rates, the divide between rural and urban Ghana remains one of the most persistent structural challenges.
Poverty incidence in rural areas climbed to 31.9% in Q3 2025, more than double the 14.2% recorded in urban centres, reinforcing the link between deprivation and unequal access to basic services, infrastructure, and productive economic opportunities.
Population size is also reshaping the poverty conversation. While North East and Savannah lead in incidence, Ashanti and Eastern regions recorded the highest number of multidimensionally poor people, with more than one million affected in each region.
The data highlights a critical policy tension: poverty reduction strategies must address high-incidence regions while also targeting high-burden regions where large populations translate into significant absolute deprivation.
The underlying drivers of poverty remain stubbornly consistent. Living conditions and health deprivations continue to dominate, accounting for the largest share of multidimensional poverty nationwide. In Q3 2025, lack of health insurance coverage alone contributed 26.5%, followed by nutrition (14.4%), employment deprivation (12.3%), school attendance (8.5%), overcrowding (8.4%), and limited access to toilet facilities (8.0%).
These figures point to a reality where poverty is still rooted in everyday living conditions — inadequate housing, weak sanitation, fragile health protection, and limited economic security rather than income alone.
While overall poverty declined, the data also flags emerging pressures that could threaten recent gains. Between Q2 and Q3 2025, housing congestion worsened sharply, with overcrowding deprivation nearly doubling from 11.4% to 21.6%. At the same time, school attendance deprivation rose from 7.0% to 9.4%, while employment deprivation increased modestly from 3.8% to 4.5%, signalling growing labour market vulnerability among poor households.
For policymakers, the message is clear: headline progress masks deep structural risks. Without targeted action on housing congestion, school participation, and job stability particularly in rural and densely populated regions — Ghana’s poverty reduction gains may prove fragile.
