Key features of human rights in Ghana
Ghana: Key features of human rights was 0.912 in 2025. ▲ Rising
Latest (2025)
0.912
Change on year
up 2.6%
World rank
27th
of 176 countries
All-time high
0.937
in 2010
All-time low
0.369
in 1982
Years of data
124
1902–2025
Key features of human rights in Ghana, 1902–2025
Source: V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2025, key features of human rights in Ghana stood at 0.912.
The figure is up 2.6% on the previous year and down 0.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, key features of human rights in Ghana peaked at 0.937 in 2010 and was at its lowest, 0.369, in 1982.
Ghana ranks 27th of 176 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 124 years of available data.
Key features of human rights in Ghana, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1902 | 0.505 | — |
| 1903 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1904 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1905 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1906 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1907 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1908 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1909 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1910 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1911 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1912 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1913 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1914 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1915 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1916 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1917 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1918 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1919 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1920 | 0.503 | -0.4% |
| 1921 | 0.503 | +0.0% |
| 1922 | 0.513 | +2.0% |
| 1923 | 0.513 | +0.0% |
| 1924 | 0.513 | +0.0% |
| 1925 | 0.513 | +0.0% |
| 1926 | 0.513 | +0.0% |
| 1927 | 0.513 | +0.0% |
| 1928 | 0.513 | +0.0% |
| 1929 | 0.513 | +0.0% |
| 1930 | 0.508 | -1.0% |
| 1931 | 0.512 | +0.8% |
| 1932 | 0.512 | +0.0% |
| 1933 | 0.512 | +0.0% |
| 1934 | 0.501 | -2.1% |
| 1935 | 0.501 | +0.0% |
| 1936 | 0.501 | +0.0% |
| 1937 | 0.509 | +1.6% |
| 1938 | 0.504 | -1.0% |
| 1939 | 0.506 | +0.4% |
| 1940 | 0.508 | +0.4% |
| 1941 | 0.508 | +0.0% |
| 1942 | 0.508 | +0.0% |
| 1943 | 0.508 | +0.0% |
| 1944 | 0.508 | +0.0% |
| 1945 | 0.515 | +1.4% |
| 1946 | 0.494 | -4.1% |
| 1947 | 0.505 | +2.2% |
| 1948 | 0.505 | +0.0% |
| 1949 | 0.508 | +0.6% |
| 1950 | 0.532 | +4.7% |
| 1951 | 0.567 | +6.6% |
| 1952 | 0.568 | +0.2% |
| 1953 | 0.568 | +0.0% |
| 1954 | 0.602 | +6.0% |
| 1955 | 0.603 | +0.2% |
| 1956 | 0.607 | +0.7% |
| 1957 | 0.668 | +10.0% |
| 1958 | 0.677 | +1.3% |
| 1959 | 0.676 | -0.1% |
| 1960 | 0.684 | +1.2% |
| 1961 | 0.597 | -12.7% |
| 1962 | 0.583 | -2.3% |
| 1963 | 0.581 | -0.3% |
| 1964 | 0.566 | -2.6% |
| 1965 | 0.543 | -4.1% |
| 1966 | 0.506 | -6.8% |
| 1967 | 0.549 | +8.5% |
| 1968 | 0.553 | +0.7% |
| 1969 | 0.683 | +23.5% |
| 1970 | 0.741 | +8.5% |
| 1971 | 0.735 | -0.8% |
| 1972 | 0.581 | -21.0% |
| 1973 | 0.529 | -9.0% |
| 1974 | 0.529 | +0.0% |
| 1975 | 0.529 | +0.0% |
| 1976 | 0.529 | +0.0% |
| 1977 | 0.529 | +0.0% |
| 1978 | 0.537 | +1.5% |
| 1979 | 0.617 | +14.9% |
| 1980 | 0.754 | +22.2% |
| 1981 | 0.634 | -15.9% |
| 1982 | 0.369 | -41.8% |
| 1983 | 0.375 | +1.6% |
| 1984 | 0.385 | +2.7% |
| 1985 | 0.386 | +0.3% |
| 1986 | 0.39 | +1.0% |
| 1987 | 0.426 | +9.2% |
| 1988 | 0.431 | +1.2% |
| 1989 | 0.431 | +0.0% |
| 1990 | 0.524 | +21.6% |
| 1991 | 0.531 | +1.3% |
| 1992 | 0.625 | +17.7% |
| 1993 | 0.769 | +23.0% |
| 1994 | 0.851 | +10.7% |
| 1995 | 0.864 | +1.5% |
| 1996 | 0.871 | +0.8% |
| 1997 | 0.884 | +1.5% |
| 1998 | 0.884 | +0.0% |
| 1999 | 0.886 | +0.2% |
| 2000 | 0.927 | +4.6% |
| 2001 | 0.929 | +0.2% |
| 2002 | 0.929 | +0.0% |
| 2003 | 0.931 | +0.2% |
| 2004 | 0.931 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 0.931 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 0.931 | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 0.932 | +0.1% |
| 2008 | 0.932 | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 0.933 | +0.1% |
| 2010 | 0.937 | +0.4% |
| 2011 | 0.937 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 0.931 | -0.6% |
| 2013 | 0.931 | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 0.924 | -0.8% |
| 2015 | 0.92 | -0.4% |
| 2016 | 0.928 | +0.9% |
| 2017 | 0.92 | -0.9% |
| 2018 | 0.917 | -0.3% |
| 2019 | 0.906 | -1.2% |
| 2020 | 0.909 | +0.3% |
| 2021 | 0.887 | -2.4% |
| 2022 | 0.898 | +1.2% |
| 2023 | 0.891 | -0.8% |
| 2024 | 0.889 | -0.2% |
| 2025 | 0.912 | +2.6% |
Ghana compared with similar countries
- Ghana's 0.912 is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 0.6365, 1.4× the median. (46 countries reporting)
- Ghana's 0.912 is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.6165, 1.5× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Key features of human rights in Ghana changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | -41.8% | 0.634 | 0.369 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 0.505 | 0.505 | 0.505 | 8 |
| 1910s | 0.505 | 0.505 | 0.505 | 10 |
| 1920s | 0.511 | 0.503 | 0.513 | 10 |
| 1930s | 0.5066 | 0.501 | 0.512 | 10 |
| 1940s | 0.5067 | 0.494 | 0.515 | 10 |
| 1950s | 0.6068 | 0.532 | 0.677 | 10 |
| 1960s | 0.5845 | 0.506 | 0.684 | 10 |
| 1970s | 0.5856 | 0.529 | 0.741 | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.4581 | 0.369 | 0.754 | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.7689 | 0.524 | 0.886 | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.9306 | 0.927 | 0.933 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.9251 | 0.906 | 0.937 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.8977 | 0.887 | 0.912 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Ghana
- 24 Malta 0.915 compare
- 25 Lithuania 0.913 compare
- 25 Suriname 0.913 compare
- 27 Netherlands 0.912 compare
- 27 South Korea 0.912 compare
- 30 Austria 0.907 compare
- 30 Cape Verde 0.907 compare
More social development data for Ghana
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 21,050 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 16,030 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 2 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 2 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0005 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 16,030 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0006 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is key features of human rights in Ghana?
- Key features of human rights in Ghana was 0.912 in 2025, according to V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest key features of human rights recorded in Ghana?
- The highest recorded value was 0.937 in 2010.
- What is the lowest key features of human rights recorded in Ghana?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.369 in 1982.
- How does Ghana rank for key features of human rights?
- Ghana ranks 27th out of 176 countries with data for 2025.
- Is key features of human rights rising or falling in Ghana?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Ghana data come from?
- The figures come from V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Key features of human rights. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 124 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Central estimate of the extent to which people are free from government torture, political killings, and forced labor, they have property rights, and enjoy the freedoms of movement, religion, expression, and association.