Demand
Who is here, and how many
West Gonja District lies in the Northern Region of Ghana, about 130 km from Tamale, and borders Central Gonja District to the south, Bole and Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District to the west, and North Gonja District to the north and east.
The plan's own description of the district120 words
West Gonja District lies in the Northern Region of Ghana, about 130 km from Tamale, and borders Central Gonja District to the south, Bole and Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District to the west, and North Gonja District to the north and east. It covers a total land area of 4,008.96 sq km and is home to Mole National Park, described in the plan as the largest protected area in the country, plus five smaller forest reserves. The district's population is 41,180, with 50.2 percent males and 49.8 percent females, and 21,188 urban and 19,992 rural residents. Farming, done once a year on a rain-fed basis, is the mainstay of the people, with maize, sorghum, millet, groundnuts, soya beans and cowpea as main crops.
From West Gonja Municipal Assembly MTDP 2018-2021 (prior cycle, indicative), pp. 45–51. Plan-stated: figures in the text are the assembly's own.
Who is here
| Indicator | Value | Against Ghana | vs Savannah | vs Ghana | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population (2020 estimate)modelledi10% below the census count; a modelled surface, not a count | 57,038 | −49% | −44% | ||
| Share of the region's peopledistrict | 9.7% | – | – | ||
| Land area (km²)district | 4,737 | −3% | +721% | ||
| Density rank in Ghanadistrict | 256 of 260 | – | – | ||
| Under 15district | 39% | −3.1 pts | +2.6 pts | ||
| Working age (15-64)district | 58% | +5 pts | −0.9 pts | ||
| 65 and overdistrict | 3.2% | +0.2 pts | −1.1 pts | ||
| Sex ratio (males per 100 females)district | 104 | ≈ | +6% | ||
| Named localitiesproxyiGazetteer coverage, not a settlement count. | 22 | – | – | ||
| Households (2021 census)district | 13,013 | – | – | ||
| Mean household size (2021 census) (people per household)district | 4.7 | – | – | ||
| Urban share of population (2021 census)district | 49% | – | – | ||
| Population, 2010 censusdistrictiOn the 2019 boundaries, as re-tabulated by GSS. | 41,180 | – | – | ||
| Population growth 2010 to 2021districtiWorked out from GSS's district counts: 41,180 in 2010 and 63,449 in 2021. | 4.0% a year | – | – |
How to read these
For housing, the working-age share and the dependency ratio read as household formation; for retail, the same people are the catchment. Households, household size and the urban share are the 2021 census's own district tables. The strip places West Gonja among Ghana's districts: it runs from the lowest to the highest, the shaded band is the middle half of districts, the tick is the median district in Ghana and the diamond the median district in Savannah. Counts sit on a log axis, so the ends are far apart; hover the strip for the figures.
The economy that pays the rent
What the place trades on
- Agriculture and crops
Leading sectors as named in the district's own plan, in order of first mention. Plan-stated, not measured.
| Indicator | Value | Against Ghana | vs Savannah | vs Ghana | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employed population, 15 and over (2021 census)district | 10,305 | – | – | ||
| Employed in agriculturedistrict | 51% | – | – | ||
| Employed in industrydistrict | 11% | – | – | ||
| Employed in servicesdistrict | 38% | – | – | ||
| Sectors named in the planplan-stated | 1 | – | – | ||
| GDP per capita (national)nationaliNational envelope: identical on every district page, never a local income. | $3,257 | – | – |
What is not measured here
Establishments, anchor employers and poverty incidence are not published for any district in Ghana. “What we do not know yet” below lists what would close each.
Cost to build, cost to occupy
What building and housing cost
| Indicator | Value | Against Ghana | vs Savannah | vs Ghana | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Housing CPI (region) (index (2021 = 100))regionaliBase 2021 = 100; Savannah Region, Jan 2026; applied to every district in the region. Ghana's index: 329. | 283 | – | −14% | ||
| Housing CPI, year on year (region)regional | 2.8% | – | −6.5 pts | ||
| Construction PPI (national) (index (2020 = 100))nationaliBase 2020 = 100, Apr 2026; national, identical across districts. | 226 | – | – | ||
| Construction PPI, year on year (national)national | 0.9% | – | – | ||
| Owner-occupieddistrict | 70% | – | – | ||
| RentingdistrictiThe size of the rental market, as a share of dwellings. | 22% | – | – | ||
| Compound housesdistrict | 9.2% | – | – | ||
| Separate (detached) housesdistrict | 76% | – | – | ||
| Flats and apartmentsdistrict | 0.6% | – | – |
Tenure and dwelling type are the 2021 census's own district tables. No price is measured in West Gonja: the housing index is the region's and the construction index is Ghana's. Asking rents, land prices and local build costs are listed under “What we do not know yet” below. See the region's price series.
Getting there, getting served
Transport, power, water and connectivity
West Gonja in the 2021 census
| Indicator | Value | Against Ghana | vs Savannah | vs Ghana | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Households lit by electricitydistrict | 78% | – | – | ||
| Households on mains electricitydistrict | 76% | – | – | ||
| Basic drinking-water servicedistrict | 58% | – | – | ||
| Basic sanitation servicedistrict | 48% | – | – | ||
| Own a mobile phonedistrictiPopulation aged 6 and over. Adoption, not signal: no open coverage map exists for Ghana. | 60% | – | – | ||
| Own a smartphonedistrictiPopulation aged 6 and over. | 46% | – | – | ||
| Used the internet on a phonedistrictiIn the three months before the census; population aged 6 and over. | 51% | – | – | ||
| Used mobile moneydistrictiMobile money alone or with other transactions; population aged 6 and over. | 37% | – | – |
Getting to West Gonja
| Indicator | Value | Against Ghana | vs Savannah | vs Ghana | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nearest airport with scheduled flightsdistrict | Yakubu Tali International Airport (TML) | – | – | ||
| Distance to that airport (km)district | 117 | – | – | ||
| Distance to Kotoka International, Accra (km)district | 428 | – | – | ||
| Nearest seaportdistrict | Tema Port | – | – | ||
| Distance to that seaport (km)district | 433 | – | – | ||
| Distance to a trunk or primary road (km)district | 0.2 | – | – | ||
| Trunk and primary roads (km)district | 136 | – | – | ||
| Major roads (km)district | 198 | – | – | ||
| Major-road density (km per km²)district | under 0.1 | – | – | ||
| Railway line (km)district | 0 | – | – | ||
| Bus and lorry stations mappedproxy | 0 | – | – | ||
| Distance to a mapped bus or lorry station (km)proxy | 74 | – | – |
Straight-line distances from the district seat, GeoNames point, not road distance. Airports are those with scheduled passenger service (OurAirports, public domain); the seaports are Tema and Takoradi. Roads, rail and stations are what OpenStreetMap has mapped, and its coverage varies by district: a station count is what is mapped, not what exists. Drive times for a specific site are part of a site analysis.
What West Gonja's plan says about its infrastructure
- issuePoor storage and transportation p. 65
- issueIncreasing demand for household water supply p. 69
Priorities, issues and committed projects from the district's own development plan that name roads, power, water, sanitation or connectivity assets; plan-stated, page-cited, not measured. Night-time lights and business density are not measured yet: see “What we do not know yet” below.
Ghana. Nothing on transport, power, water or connectivity is published for West Gonja itself; these are the national figures, with Sub-Saharan Africa and the World beside them.
- Access to electricity
- 92% Sub-Saharan Africa 55%World 92%
- Basic drinking water
- 90% Sub-Saharan Africa 68%World 92%
- Internet users
- 72% Sub-Saharan Africa 34%World 71%
- Logistics Performance Index
- 2.5 Sub-Saharan Africa 2.5World 3
Land, planning and what is permitted
What the statutory plan says
Prior-cycle plan, indicative
West Gonja Municipal Assembly MTDP 2018-2021
Vision1
- A safe Healthy Environment with equal opportunities and range of choices for all citizens. p. 9
Key issues the plan names3
- Poor storage and transportation p. 65
- Poor quality of education at all levels p. 66
- Increasing demand for household water supply p. 69
Section 3.7 'Adopted Development Goal' (p.82) is introduced but the plan cuts off before the goal text itself, so goal is omitted rather than guessed. No priorities or projects text present.
| Indicator | Value | Against Ghana | vs Savannah | vs Ghana | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pages in the plan documentplan-statediEvery page cited on this page lies within it. | 162 | – | – | ||
| Development plans helddistrict | 1 | – | – | ||
| Plan cycles helddistrict | 2018-2021 | – | – | ||
| District capitalplan-statedicommunity-maintained register, low confidence. | Damongo | – | – |
Spatial plans that apply
- Northern Savannah Ecological Zone SDFmulti-region · unconfirmed · spatial development framework; SDF (executive summary) · SDF Vol. I: the five northern regions
- Ghana National Spatial Development Framework (NSDF)national · 2015-2035 · spatial development framework; SDF (executive summary)
Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority. Sub-regional and local plans are listed only where the plan's own text names this district. Whether a structure or local plan covers a specific site is a question for the assembly's Physical Planning Department, and for CAD's site analysis.
What a site analysis includes
Scope
- Demand: who is in the catchment, from the 2021 census down to the localities around the site, with household formation for residential and the retail catchment for commercial.
- The economy that pays the rent: the sectors, the establishments and the anchor employers around the site, from field survey and the assembly’s own records.
- Cost to build and to occupy: dated, graded asking rents and land prices for the corridor, reconciled with the prime-market reports; build-cost benchmarks.
- Land, planning and what is permitted: the statutory plan and the spatial framework read for the parcel, the stool or skin that holds the land, and the permit route through the assembly.
- An underwritten view: absorption, rent and yield assumptions carried into a cash-flow model, with every input sourced and tiered.
Deliverables
- A written site analysis with every figure sourced, dated and tiered, the same standard as this site.
- The catchment map and the plan overlay as files you can reuse.
- The underwriting model, with the assumptions sheet.
- One working session to walk through the findings.
Who you have to deal with
The assembly, the region, the stool
Who decides what: the statutory route for each need7 decisions
| You need | Who decides | Under |
|---|---|---|
| Development / building permit | The Assembly's Physical Planning Department, decided by its Spatial Planning Committee | Land Use and Spatial Planning Act 2016 (Act 925) |
| Plans, budgets and the district's project pipeline | The District Planning Coordinating Unit (DPCU), under the Coordinating Director | Local Governance Act 2016 (Act 936) |
| Assembly decisions, by-laws and fees | The Presiding Member, who convenes the Assembly | Local Governance Act 2016 (Act 936) |
| Political sign-off and inter-agency escalation | The MMDCE, as political head of the Assembly, then the Regional Coordinating Council | Local Governance Act 2016 (Act 936) |
| Community consent at site level | The Assembly Member for the electoral area, and the unit committee | Local Governance Act 2016 (Act 936) |
| Customary land, site acquisition and tenure | The paramount stool or skin and its traditional council, with the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands on stool-land revenue | Constitution 1992 arts. 267, 270-277; Chieftaincy Act 2008 (Act 759) |
| National-level representation | The Member of Parliament for the constituency | Constitution 1992 art. 93 |
Statutory; the same route in every district, with the stool named where the plan names it.
Traditional authority
The district's plan does not name a traditional council or paramount stool. Nothing is inferred.
The stool or skin holds the land. Structure and titles only: no occupant is named, and a contested succession is never shown as settled. Verify with the Regional House of Chiefs and the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands before relying on any of it.
| Indicator | Value | Against Ghana | vs Savannah | vs Ghana | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assembly typedistrict | district assembly | – | – | ||
| Regional capital (Savannah)district | Damongo | – | – |
The assembly
- Metropolitan/Municipal/District Chief Executive appointedLocal Governance Act 2016 (Act 936)
- Coordinating Director appointedLocal Governance Act 2016 (Act 936)
- Presiding Member electedLocal Governance Act 2016 (Act 936)
- Regional Minister appointedConstitution 1992 art. 256; Local Governance Act 2016 (Act 936)
The offices set by statute. Who holds each one is not published on this site; the assembly itself is the source.
Parliamentary constituencies are not shown. The Electoral Commission's register carries no reuse licence, so CAD does not reproduce it. The assembly and the traditional council are shown because their sources allow it. Report an error or a dispute.
Industry fit
Which industries this district suits
How West Gonja compares with Ghana's other districts for each industry. Prime means the top fifth of districts, Poor the bottom fifth.
| Industry | Band |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing | Moderate |
| Food & farm processing | Moderate |
| Construction | Moderate |
| Offices & business services | Moderate |
| Schools & clinics | Moderate |
| Warehousing & distribution | Weak |
| Shops & restaurants | Weak |
CAD Complete · paid access
West Gonja: scores and what drives them
CAD Complete is the paid tier of this site: the detail behind the free figures, for teams deciding where to build or invest. It includes:
- A score out of 100 and a national rank for each industry
- Which industries are this district's stronger ones
- The input helping each score most, and the one holding it back
Opens your email app. We reply with pricing within two working days.
Mining services and Hotels & tourism are not scored yet. See the national maps and how the scores work
What we do not know yet
And what we can measure for you
Some of what a site decision needs is not on this page: 7 indicators the Ghana Statistical Service publishes for every district and this site has not yet taken in, 3 that CAD derives from open geodata for a catchment, and 5 that nobody in Ghana publishes at all: land prices, asking rents, build costs, anchor employers. Those last are what a site analysis measures.
What is missing, why, and how CAD closes it
The public data on this page is free; detailed industry scores come with CAD Complete. The analysis is the service: a demand study, a catchment, rent and land evidence collected for your site, the plan and the stool read for what they permit, and an underwritten view of whether it works.
Request a site analysis for West GonjaTake it with you
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