The regions of Ghana are the first level of subnational government administration within the

Republic of Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. As of 2020, there are 16 regions, which are further divided for administrative purposes into 260 local metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (or MMDA's).

Current regions

The ten former regions were officially established in 1987, when the

Upper West Region The Upper West Region of Ghana is located in the north-western corner of Ghana and is bordered by Upper East Region to the east, Northern Region (Ghana), Northern Region to the south, and Burkina Faso to the west and north. The Upper West regional ...

was inaugurated as the state's newest administrative region, although it had already functioned as an administrative unit since the break-up of the Upper Region in December 1982, prior to the 1984 national census. A referendum on the creation of six new regions was held on 27 December 2018, where all proposed new regions were approved.

Previous regional configurations

Independence - 6 March 1957

At independence in March 1957, the Northern Territories, Ashanti, Trans-Volta Togoland and the Gold Coast came together to form Ghana. There were initially five regions. The Trans-Volta Togoland was combined with part of the Eastern Region and Northern Territories to form the Volta Region.

Post-independence and First Republic

On 4 April 1959, the Ashanti Region was split into the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo regions as a result of the Brong Ahafo Region Act No. 18 of 1959. This was in line with what the Brong Kyempem movement had been campaigning for, which was the recognition of the

Bono people The Bono, also known as the Brong or Abron, are an Akan people of central Ghana and northeastern Ivory Coast. They speak the Bono Twi and form one of the largest matrilineal Akan groups. Historically, the Bono were the first Akan to develop a ...

as a separate ethnic group from the Ashantis with their own region. On the day Ghana became a republic, 1 July 1960, the Northern Region got split into the Northern and Upper regions raising the number of regions to seven.

Second Republic

During the Second Republic, the Western Region was split into the Western and Central regions, making eight regions in total. This was done ahead of the 1970 census. In 1971, Sekondi and Takoradi were merged to form

Sekondi-Takoradi Sekondi-Takoradi ( ) is a city in Ghana comprising the Twin cities (geographical proximity), twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi. It is the capital of Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan District and the Weste ...

, the new capital of the Western Region.

PNDC era

The

Provisional National Defence Council The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) was the name of the Ghanaian government after the People's National Party's elected government was overthrown by Jerry Rawlings, the former head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, in a coup ...

, which was the military government in power between 1981 and 1993, promulgated the Greater Accra Law (PNDCL 26) of 23 July 1982 which created the

Greater Accra Region The Greater Accra Region has the smallest area of Ghana's Regions of Ghana, 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of 3,245 square kilometres. This is 1.4 per cent of the total land area of Ghana. It is the List of Ghanaian re ...

. The new region consisted of the Accra Capital District and the Ada Local Council, which were split off from the Eastern Region. In the following year 1983, the Upper Region was divided into the

Upper East Region The Upper East Region is located in the northern part of Ghana and it is the third smallest of the 16 administrative regions in Ghana. It occupies a total land surface of 8,842 square kilometers, or 2.7% of the total land area of Ghana. The reg ...

and

, bringing the total number of regions to ten.

References

8
Official Ghana Regions
{{Articles on first-level administrative divisions of African countries Subdivisions of Ghana Ghana 1 Regions, Ghana

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Ghana, Regions Ghana geography-related lists