Ghana’s business sector has expanded significantly over the past decade, but employment creation has not kept pace, with about 92% of businesses operating informally.

Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu disclosed this at the launch of the maiden edition of Ghana in Numbers 2025in Accra.

According to the Ghana Statistical Service’s first Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES-1), Ghana had 2.64 million business establishments in 2024, with only 7.7% classified as formal.

Micro enterprises accounted for nine in 10 businesses, underscoring the dominance of small-scale operations in the country.

“Establishments nearly tripled between 2014 and 2024, while the people working in them doubled,” Dr Iddrisu said.

“What does that mean? Businesses are multiplying faster than the jobs inside them,” he added.

Although Ghana’s unemployment rate declined from 14.6% in 2023 to 12.8% in 2025, more than seven in 10 jobs remained informal.

Dr Iddrisu said about 12 million Ghanaians are aged between 15 and 35, while almost one in three young jobseekers aged between 15 and 24 cannot find work.

“Close to 2 million young people are neither working nor in education or training,” he said, adding that more than six in 10 of them are young women.

He warned that Ghana’s ability to benefit from its growing youth population would depend on decisions about education, skills and employment.

“Ghana's youth window is open, but it is closing. Our choices on schooling, skills, jobs in the next 10 years will decide whether it becomes a dividend or a burden,” he said.

Dr Iddrisu said the findings highlighted the need to support businesses to formalise, expand and create sustainable employment.

“Helping small firms grow and formalise deserves serious attention,” he said.

GH¢38.4bn informal cross-border trade

The publication also provides new data on informal cross-border trade, which has largely remained outside conventional trade statistics.

Ghana’s first survey of informal cross-border trade recorded GH¢38.4 billion worth of goods traded informally with Togo, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire.

Dr Iddrisu said the value was equivalent to 1.4 times the previously recorded trade flows with the three neighbouring countries, pointing to significant commercial activity that had not been adequately captured in official records.

Ghana also recorded a goods trade surplus of GH¢148.3 billion in 2025, with exports exceeding imports.

Economic gains not evenly shared

The report also highlights contrasting economic trends.

Inflation fell from 54.1% in December 2022 to 5.4% in December 2025. However, food insecurity increased from 37.7% in 2024 to 39.8% in 2025, affecting an estimated 13 million people.

“The progress is real. But it is not shared evenly,” Dr Iddrisu said.

Publication to support evidence-based decisions

Ghana in Numbers 2025 brings together statistics on population, social development, governance, the environment and the Sustainable Development Goals in a single publication.

Dr Iddrisu said the publication was designed to provide a common evidence base for policymakers, businesses and other stakeholders.

“When we have our cabinets, parliaments, boardrooms, and newsrooms working from the same figures, the debate moves from whose figures are right to what do we do about them,” he said.

The publication is supported by an online portal providing district-level data, interactive maps and downloadable statistics.

Dr Iddrisu said the Ghana Statistical Service’s focus was not simply on producing statistics but ensuring they were used to inform decisions and deliver measurable development outcomes.

“For us, producing statistics is no longer the finish line. For us, use is the finish line or, if you want, impact is the finish line,” he said.

He added: “A statistic changes nothing until someone acts on it.”