A new Afrobarometer survey shows a majority of Ghanaians say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
A large majority of citizens evaluate both their personal living conditions and the country's economic situation unfavorably, and few are optimistic that the situation will improve next year. Meanwhile, citizens' assessment of the government's performance on key economic issues is overwhelmingly negative.
The citizens' gloomy outlook is in line with macro-level indicators about the Ghanaian economy in a difficult global environment. The country is seeking financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund in hopes of stabilizing the economy.
Key takeaways
Almost nine in 10 Ghanaians (87%) say the country is heading in the "wrong direction". Only 11% see things moving in the right direction, down 24 percentage points from 2019 (Figure 1).
Most offer a negative assessment of economic conditions (Figure 2):
85% rated the country's economic situation as "fairly bad" or "very bad", up from 62% in 2019.
And 72% say their personal living conditions are "fairly bad" or "very bad", compared to 58% three years ago.
Ghanaians are not very optimistic about the economy: Only 25% expect the situation to be better in 12 months (Figure 3).
Citizens overwhelmingly say the government is doing "fairly poorly" or "very poorly" at keeping prices stable (94%), reducing income inequality (92%), improving the living standards of the poor (85%) and creating jobs. (83%) and managing the economy (82%) (Fig. 4).
Afrobarometer surveys
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and assessments of democracy, governance and quality of life. Since 1999, eight rounds of surveys have been completed in up to 39 countries. The 9th round of surveys (2021/2022) is currently underway. Afrobarometer's national partners conduct face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent's choice.
The Afrobarometer team in Ghana, led by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, interviewed a nationally representative sample of 2,400 Ghanaian adults in April 2022. A sample of this size provides country-level results with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Previous surveys were conducted in Ghana in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2019.
Graphs
Figure 1: Is the country heading in the right direction? | Ghana | 2022
Respondents were asked: Would you say the country is going in the wrong direction or is it going in the right direction?
Respondents were asked: How would you generally describe: The current economic situation of this country? Your current living conditions? (% who say "fairly bad" or "very bad")
Figure 3: Retrospective and Prospective Assessment of National Economic Conditions | Ghana | 2022
Respondents were asked: Looking back, how do you rate economic conditions in this country compared to 12 months ago? Looking ahead, do you expect economic conditions in this country to be better or worse in 12 months?
Figure 4: Evaluation of the government's economic performance | Ghana | 2022
Respondents were asked: How well or poorly would you say the current government is handling the following issues, or have you not heard of it?
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