Doris Dokua Sasu
Research Expert covering primarily society and agricultural topics for Africa, particularly Ghana and Nigeria
Get in touch with us nowCrime index in Ghana 2014-2022
As of 2022, Ghana achieved a crime index of 46.81. The index measures the level of crime in a given country or city. This means that, at the said date, crime in Ghana was considered as being on a moderate level. Compared to 2019, when the level of crime in the country registered a peak, the index decreased by approximately 6.6 percent. Furthermore, in 2018, it was lowest at 45 points.
Person trafficking
The year 2018 recorded a total number of 331 detected cases of people trafficking in Ghana, which was a noticeable decrease compared to 2017, when such events reached 558. West Africa is the region with the most detected victims of people trafficking in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria being in the lead. As a result of the reported number of victims in Ghana, people prosecuted for offenses in person trafficking in the country reached 42 in 2018, and 55 in 2017.
Crime against women
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is one of the criminal offenses in Ghana that involves women and girls, despite being constitutionally abolished. It is carried out on both minors and adults. In 2018, 63.6 percent of 14,374 surveyed women had had flesh in the genital area removed as a procedure of FGM. As of the same year, 7.3 percent of the same count of women were given into marriage before age 15, to the negligence of child marriage challenges such as teenage pregnancy and poverty. Another type of crime involving women is domestic violence. Overall, in 2018, 16.5 percent of male respondents, and 32.4 percent of surveyed women in Ghana reported that domestic violence was justified if, for instance, a woman burned food, argued with her husband, or neglected the children at home.
Person trafficking
The year 2018 recorded a total number of 331 detected cases of people trafficking in Ghana, which was a noticeable decrease compared to 2017, when such events reached 558. West Africa is the region with the most detected victims of people trafficking in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria being in the lead. As a result of the reported number of victims in Ghana, people prosecuted for offenses in person trafficking in the country reached 42 in 2018, and 55 in 2017.
Crime against women
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is one of the criminal offenses in Ghana that involves women and girls, despite being constitutionally abolished. It is carried out on both minors and adults. In 2018, 63.6 percent of 14,374 surveyed women had had flesh in the genital area removed as a procedure of FGM. As of the same year, 7.3 percent of the same count of women were given into marriage before age 15, to the negligence of child marriage challenges such as teenage pregnancy and poverty. Another type of crime involving women is domestic violence. Overall, in 2018, 16.5 percent of male respondents, and 32.4 percent of surveyed women in Ghana reported that domestic violence was justified if, for instance, a woman burned food, argued with her husband, or neglected the children at home.
