Ghanaian

Locations

Identity

Ghanaians as a people group are the citizens of Ghana counted by nationality rather than by ethnicity. Ghana's peoples include the Akan (Asante, Fante and others, about half), the Mole-Dagbani of the north, the Ewe, the Ga-Adangbe, the Gurma and Guan, and the Hausa-speaking zongo communities of the cities. English is the official language and Twi the most widely spoken. Abroad, Ghanaians of these peoples share a national identity. Splitting them into their peoples is a recommendation, since no source counts them.

Culture & traditions

Ghanaians abroad keep jollof rice, fufu and banku with light or groundnut soup, waakye and kelewele, kente and printed wax cloth for celebrations, highlife and hiplife music, football, and funerals and outdoorings (naming ceremonies) that gather the whole community; hometown and professional associations organise community life.

Religious practices

Most Ghanaians are Christians, many of them in fast-growing Pentecostal and charismatic churches; about one in five is Muslim, Sunni of the Maliki school with Tijaniyya ties, concentrated in the north and in the zongo quarters of southern cities. Muslim and Christian Ghanaians live side by side and often in the same families.

Gospel access

The Bible is available in English and all major Ghanaian languages, with the JESUS film and Global Recordings audio. Ghana has a large, missionary-sending church, though the Muslim peoples of the north and the zongos remain less reached.

At a glance

Language: English
Language family: Indo-European
Affinity bloc: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
People cluster: Other Sub-Saharan African
Primary religion: Christianity - Protestantism
Bible status: Complete Bible
Jesus Film: Yes
Audio recordings: Yes
Gospel recordings: Available
Radio broadcasts: Not Available

Religious breakdown

Religion	%	Denomination	Notes
Christianity	c. 71%	Pentecostal/Charismatic 31%, Protestant 18%, Catholic 10%, other 12%
Islam	c. 20%	Sunni (Maliki); Tijaniyya; Ahmadiyya minority	North and the zongo quarters of southern cities
Traditional religion and none	c. 4-5%

Presence by country

LibyaDiasporaVerified presence

Population: 12,900
Location: Tripoli, Zawiya, Misrata and Benghazi; Gharyan and the Nafusa foothills, Tarhuna, Zuwara; Brak, Ubari and al-Jufra in the south

Ghanaians in Libya are mostly young men from the Bono and Bono East regions of central Ghana, around Kintampo, Techiman and Nkoranza, who cross the Sahara through Niger to work for a year or two and send money home. They plaster, tile and lay blocks on the building sites of Tripoli, Zawiya, Misrata and Benghazi, often living in unfinished buildings they are working on. Unlike most migrants in Libya, many are Christians, who pray and read the Bible quietly together in their rooms. Ghana's embassy and the International Organization for Migration fly a few hundred stranded Ghanaians home most years.

Saudi ArabiaDiasporaVerified presence

Population: ~14,000 (census 14,200)
Location: Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam; also Mecca and Medina

Ghanaians in Saudi Arabia are a small community of about 14,000, with slightly more women than men. Many are Muslims from northern Ghana and the Hausa-speaking zongo quarters of Ghana's cities, some from families that came on the Hajj and stayed, while women recruited by agents work as housemaids and nannies and a smaller group of Christian professionals works for Aramco and other firms in the Eastern Province. Ghana's embassy in Riyadh and consulate in Jeddah have handled a steady stream of domestic workers who were deceived, overworked or unpaid, and Ghana suspended recruitment of housemaids to the Gulf in 2017. Community life runs through hometown and professional groups in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.

Also found outside the Middle East and North Africa

Ghana, Canada, Germany, United States