The Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim is urging policymakers in the country to draft strategic policies which will push the agenda of making Ghana a statistically driven country to ensure an equitable distribution of the nation’s resources.

Professor Kobina Annim believes that the characteristics of Ghana’s population should inspire policymakers to work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Professor Annim made these comments during the symbolic commemoration of the Global Population hitting 8 billion at the Ridge Hospital in Accra.

He said Ghana has in recent years associated itself with various international day celebrations to enable the country develop in unison with the rest of the world.

“The Ghana Statistical Service in the past year or so has associated itself with international days, one of which is what we are experiencing now. And the reason why we do that is not to come in and do something just ceremonial. Yes, it is the symbolic commemoration of the global population hitting 8 billion, but we take advantage of this to discuss what we are driving as a country by making Ghana a statistics-driven country.”

“So today, we are drawing the attention of all policymakers, all stakeholders, all households, all individuals, for us to begin to think more deeply about our population characteristics.”

He also indicated that despite the ceremony to commemorate the global 8 billion population milestone, the Statistical Service is interested and working to improve better lives by taking cues from the country’s 2021 population and housing census characteristics.

“So as I indicated, we celebrated the life of the baby in Ghana that symbolically marked the 8 billion, the focus is on; how do we revisit our 2021 Population and Housing Census, what are the key issues in there and how do we reflect on them as a country to ensure that the SDG goal that seeks not to leave anyone behind indeed as a country, we don’t leave anyone behind.”

The world’s 8th billionth person was born Tuesday, November 15, 2022, and it is expected to peak at 10.4 billion before the end of this century.

India is also expected to take over from China next year, 2023 as the world’s most populous country.