Six districts in Ghana’s North East Region have emerged as the poorest in the country, according to the latest district-level poverty estimates released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
The report highlights deep regional inequality in living conditions, with the six highest-poverty districts all located within the North East Region, reinforcing concerns about persistent development gaps between northern and southern Ghana.
Nassuam District recorded the highest poverty incidence nationwide at 51.6 percent in 2025. Four other districts within the region also ranked among the country’s most deprived areas, underscoring the concentration of poverty in that part of the country.
In sharp contrast, Ayawaso North Municipal in the Greater Accra Region recorded the lowest poverty incidence at 5.5 percent, illustrating the significant disparity between urban and rural districts.
According to the Ghana Statistical Service, the estimates were generated using internationally recognised small area estimation methods, combining data from the 2021 Population and Housing Census, household income and expenditure surveys conducted between 2022 and 2024, and the 2025 Labour Force Survey across 13 wellbeing indicators.
The GSS described the findings as the most comprehensive district-level poverty analysis ever conducted in Ghana.
The report, however, showed some encouraging progress, with 250 out of Ghana’s 261 districts recording reductions in multidimensional poverty between 2021 and 2025.
Notable improvements were recorded in parts of the Upper West and Ashanti regions, where some districts saw poverty levels decline sharply over the period under review.
Despite the overall improvement, the report noted that poverty remains heavily concentrated in the North East, Northern, Savannah, Oti, Upper East, Upper West and Bono East regions.
The Ghana Statistical Service is urging sustained policy interventions, targeted social investment and stronger oversight of development spending to ensure more inclusive growth and reduce regional inequality across the country.
