GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT

Ghana with a GDP of $65.6B ranked the 73rd largest economy in the world, while Zambia ranked 106th
with $26.7B. By GDP 5-years average growth and GDP per capita, Ghana and Zambia ranked 46th vs
62nd and 142nd vs 157th, respectively.

Ghana: The services sector contributed most to economic growth in 2019 (2.8 percentage points),
followed by industry (2.4 percentage points) and agriculture (1.3 percentage points). The robust services
sector growth (7.6%) was driven by strong expansions in Real Estate (up 19.9%) and information and
communication technology (ICT) (up 46.5%) activities, while growth in industry was mainly supported by
mining and quarrying. Agriculture grew by 4.6%, supported by favorable weather conditions and the
Government’s flagship program Planting for Food and Jobs.

Zambia: The gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate slowed to 3.1% per annum between 2015 and
2019, mainly attributed to falling copper prices and declines in agricultural output and hydro-electric
power generation due to insufficient rains, and insufficient policy adjustment to these exogenous
shocks. Zambia ranks among the countries with highest levels of poverty and inequality globally. More
than 58% (2015) of Zambia’s 16.6 million people earn less than the international poverty line of $1.90
per day (compared to 41% across Sub-Saharan Africa) and three quarters of the poor live in rural areas.

LIFE EXPECTANCY

Ghana: Several factors such as natal related deaths, malnutrition, inadequate poor public sanitation, a
combination of deadly infectious, and increasing diseases brought about by the lifestyle of Ghanaians
have been responsible for the low life expectancy. It has become a major challenge for most Ghanaians
to attain 58 years and a number of those who passed this age are faced with serious chronic diseases.
The research also shows a similar low life expectancy and lifestyles in most sub-Saharan countries. The
health of Ghanaians and their fitness standards are not anything to write home about. “Most Ghanaians
are uninformed about the hazards posed by substandard living conditions, poor sanitations, diet and
inadequate exercises.

“This is happening because of inadequate access to health information in the system,” concurs the
Editor of a recently launched health and fitness magazine, Anna Bannerman-Richter.

Zambia: Currently, 14 percent of the Zambian population and 46 percent of Zambian schools do not
have access to basic hygiene services, such as handwashing facilities with soap and water. The top cause
of early death in Zambia is HIV/AIDS. the country does not have enough advanced hospitals to offer
specialized treatment. Nationally, there is an average of 19 hospital beds per 10,000 people.
Additionally, WHO reports that Zambia has a physician density of 0.1 doctors per 1,000 people, which is
far below the comparable country average of 3.5 physicians per 1,000 patients

LITERACY RATE

Ghana: In education, significant problems persist in the form of critical shortages of trained teachers,
classroom facilities, and learning materials, particularly in rural regions. The recent introduction of free
secondary education was an attempt to curb high dropout rates in Ghana’s schools. A reported 100,000
children do not transition from basic to secondary education each year because their parents cannot
afford the costs. Furthermore, literacy standards and learning outcomes often remain poor, despite
increased enrollment rates in recent years.

Zambia: The Zambian education system suffers from overall compromised school quality, high staff
turnover, and disparities between urban and rural areas. There continues to be a severe lack of access to
supplementary reading materials in most government schools, and very few have libraries. The only
reading materials that are available are workbooks associated with the government curriculum or
donated books that are often out dated