Emigrants are often considered a loss for their country of origin but they can also play an important role in fostering trade and economic development, notably through the skills and contacts they have acquired abroad. If they choose to return, their re‑integration into the labour market and society will be facilitated by the fact that they speak the local language, have specific social capital and possess local qualifications that are readily recognised by employers.

Migration flows from Ghana to OECD countries are the second highest among the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), after Nigeria. Although growth in flows from Ghana to OECD countries has been slower than that from other ECOWAS countries, annual legal migration flows from Ghana more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, from 12 900 in 2000 to 23 000 in 2008 and to 27 400 in 2019.

This chapter examines recent trends in emigration from Ghana to the main OECD destination countries. In order to better understand the recent evolution in emigration flows, the chapter first traces the historical context of emigration from Ghana since its independence. The following section examines recent migration flows from Ghana to the main OECD destination countries and analyses the nature of these flows, using data on categories of residence permits issued to Ghanaian nationals. Finally, the last section examines emigration intentions among the Ghanaian population and the main determining factors of the desire to emigrate.

This chapter examines the size of the Ghanaian diaspora in the main destination countries, and its evolution since 2000. It provides a socio‑demographic analysis, focusing on age and educational distribution, emphasising differences by sex and across destination countries. For the central destination countries, it provides a snapshot of the geographic distribution of emigrants, and information on the acquisition of nationality. The chapter also presents evidence on the overall emigration rates of the Ghanaian population and its highly educated population towards OECD countries. The analysis systematically compares the Ghanaian diaspora with two reference groups: the foreign-born population living in the OECD area and emigrants from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

This chapter analyses Ghanaian emigrants’ insertion in the labour market of destination countries, with a particular focus on the OECD area. It presents the 2015/16 employment status of emigrants aged between 15 and 64 years, with more recent data available for the United States (2017/2019) and Italy (2017/2020), the first and third destination countries in the OECD area. The chapter also analyses the dynamics of their insertion since the 2008 global recession and the 2010 Eurozone debt crisis. It provides an assessment of employment through the variables of sex, education, duration of stay and nationality. Finally, the chapter provides data on over‑qualification rates, occupations and employment sectors.

The Database on Immigrants in OECD Countries (DIOC) covers the OECD destination countries for which data were collected both in 2000/01, 2005/06, 2010/11 and 2015/16. The main sources of DIOC data are national administrative registers and population censuses. In the censuses carried out in 2000/01, almost all OECD countries collected information on the country of origin of emigrants, so that it became possible to have an comprehensive overview of the numbers of migrants in OECD countries (for more general information on DIOC, see d’Aiglepierre et al. (2020[1]). Where censuses were not available or incomplete, labour force surveys were used as a substitute.