Greater Accra Metropolitan Area in 2008 district boundaries.

The Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) is a metropolitan region centered in Ghana's capital Accra. With around five million inhabitants, the metropolitan area is one of the 90 largest agglomerations in the world.[1] The GAMA is largely continuous, but not identical with the Greater Accra Region.

Geography

The metropolitan region comprises 25 of the total 29 districts within the Greater Accra Region. It borders the Central Region to the west, the Eastern Region to the north, the Shai Osudoku District to the northeast and the Ningo Prampram District to the east.

Included in the metropolitan region are the following districts:

District Population
(2010)[2]		 Population
(2021)[2]
Ablekuma Central Municipal 233,220 169,145
Ablekuma North Municipal 184,731 159,208
Ablekuma West Municipal 59,708 153,490
Accra Metropolitan 440,946 284,124
Adenta Municipal 78,215 237,546
Ashaiman Municipal 190,972 208,060
Ayawaso Central Municipal 142,322 94,831
Ayawaso East Municipal 83,721 53,004
Ayawaso North Municipal 99,777 63,386
Ayawaso West Municipal 70,667 75,303
Ga Central Municipal 117,220 332,232
Ga East Municipal 147,742 283,379
Ga North Municipal 103,965 235,292
Ga South Municipal 234,191 350,121
Ga West Municipal 101,386 314,299
Korle-Klottey Municipal 121,723 68,633
Kpone Katamanso Municipal 109,864 417,334
Krowor Municipal 102,059 143,012
La Dade Kotopon Municipal 183,528 140,264
La Nkwantanang Madina Municipal 111,926 244,676
Ledzokuku Municipal 125,873 217,304
Okaikwei North Municipal 228,271 160,446
Tema Metropolitan 168,932 177,924
Tema West Municipal 123,841 196,224
Weija Gbawe Municipal 191,623 213,674
Greater Accra Metropolitan Area 3,756,423 4,992,911

History

Before the relocation of the capital of the British crown colony Gold Coast from Cape Coast to Accra in 1877, the region was predominantly rural and consisted of fishing and farming settlements. By 1891, the new capital had developed into an urban area with a population of 20,000. With an area of 300 square kilometers within the official city limits, the capital could not absorb the rapid growth in population and economic activity, so urban development spread to the areas located in the surrounding countryside. In these areas, one could subsequently observe a corresponding increase in demand for land, improved infrastructure and jobs, allowing the suburban areas to gradually merge with the capital. At the same time, this led to a rapid change in the geographic and socioeconomic characteristics of these areas. The areas functionally linked to the capital are currently in various stages of urban transformation, with rural settlements on the one hand, whose residents live mainly from agriculture, and "townships" on the other, from which a significant proportion of residents commute to the capital.[3]

Economy

The Greater Accra Metropolitan Area is by far the most important economic center in Ghana and accounts for more than half of the nation's economic output and more than a quarter of the national workforce.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Major Agglomerations of the World - Population Statistics and Maps". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  2. 1 2 "Ghana: Administrative Division (Regions and Districts) - Population Statistics, Charts and Map". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  3. ↑ "Urban Growth and Livelihood Transformations on the Fringes of African Cities: A Case Study of Changing Livelihoods in Peri-Urban Accra".
  4. ↑ "Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA)" (PDF). Cities Alliance. 2022-11-19. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
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