An estimated 19.8 million people, or 58.7% of Ghana's population, lived in urban areas in 2025, according to the Ghana Statistical Service's (GSS) flagship report Ghana in Numbers, 2025, as reported by NorvanReports.
The 2025 figure is a projection, not a census count. Ghana first became majority-urban in 2010, when 12.55 million people lived in towns and cities against 12.11 million in rural areas. By the 2021 census the urban population had reached 17.47 million and the rural population 13.36 million.
Housing pressure has eased but not gone. GSS estimates the housing deficit fell to about 1.8 million units in 2021 from roughly 2.8 million in 2010, with about 10.0 million dwelling units counted in the 2021 census.
The estimate does not measure quality, affordability or empty homes. Average household size fell to 3.6 people, its lowest recorded level, which raises the number of homes needed for the same population.
Basic services have improved. The share of households with electricity rose to 86.3% in 2021 from 43.8% in 2000, and access to improved drinking water rose to 92.0% from 60.7%. Improved sanitation reached 69.0% in 2022, up from 44.8% in 2010.
Large gaps remain. The report says 30.8% of urban residents live in slums or informal settlements, about one household in seven still has no electricity and almost one in three has no improved toilet.
Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu urged planners to "use local figures, not national averages, to decide where the next cedi goes, because averages hide differences".