The unemployment rate in Ghana has almost tripled in little more than a decade, according to the country’s latest census.

More than 1.55 million people, or 13.4% of the west African country’s economically active population, are out of work, according to the 2021 population and housing census as reported by the Ghana Statistical Service on its website.

Ghana, which doesn’t produce regular data on unemployment, recorded a jobless rate of 5.3% in the last census, in 2010. Research information website Statistica estimated the proportion of people out of work at 4.5%, the African News Agency said as recently as July.

If the minimum age of 15 years is applied, the proportion of people without work is 7.8%, the statistical service said. The proportion of economically active males 15 years and older was 63.5%, compared with 53% for females, according to the report.

Ghana’s population increased to 30.8 million in 2021 from 24.7 million in 2010, according to the census.