Ghana: Less Than 1% of Poorest Households Use Clean Cooking Fuels – Report

Ghana: Less Than 1% of Poorest Households Use Clean Cooking Fuels – Report

Data from the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) has indicated that less than 1% of the poorest households use clean cooking fuels.

This was contained in a news statement released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in commemoration of the International Day of Clean Energy.

It said while the overall percentage of the population using clean fuels for cooking has tripled over the past two decades from 7.3% in 2003 to 22.5% in 2022, progress remains uneven across different wealth quintiles.

Clean fuels and technologies for cooking include electricity, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), natural gas, biogas, solar, alcohol, or ethanol.

The statement said households in the highest wealth quintile saw a significant increase in clean fuel usage, rising from 34.7% to 78.0% over the period.

In contrast, households in the fourth wealth quintile increased their usage from 1.8% to 27.9%.

Alarmingly, the percentage of households in the poorest wealth quintile using clean fuels marginally changed from 0.0% to just 0.5% over the 19 years.

Similarly, households in the second wealth quintile increased from 0.0% to 1.3%, while those in the middle quintile saw an increase from 0.0% to 4.6%.

Disparities are also evident when comparing urban and rural areas. The usage of clean fuels in urban households doubled from 15.8% to 36.4% between 2003 and 2022, whereas rural areas experienced a modest increase of just 5.9 percentage points, rising from 1.2% to 7.1%.

“With the regional variations the Greater Accra Region recorded the highest increase at 24.8 percentage points, while the Savannah Region saw a minimal rise of only 0.9 percentage points”, the statement said.

In total, six regions experienced increases of less than 5.0 percentage points, contributing to about one-third of the national increase of 15.2 percentage points.

These regions include the North East (1.5 percentage points), Western North (2.4 percentage points), Oti (3.2 percentage points), Upper West (3.2 percentage points), and Bono East (4.5 percentage points).

Despite the disparities, the Ghanaian government has introduced initiatives such as subsidized LPG programs and rural electrification projects to promote clean cooking solutions. However, experts argue that high costs, inadequate distribution networks, and lack of awareness hinder widespread adoption, especially in low-income and rural communities.

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