 Distribution of Ghanaian citizens in Germany (2021) | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 42,080 (2021) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Hamburg · Berlin · Bremen · Hannover | |
| Languages | |
| English • French • German · Twi · Ga · Dangme · Ewe · Dagbani · Hausa · Guan · Fanti · Nzema · Gonja ·Other languages of Ghana |
Ghanaian immigrants and their descendants living and working in Germany are estimated to form the second-largest of the country's diaspora populations in Europe, after the United Kingdom. [1]
There has been a relationship between Ghana and Germany dating from before the Gold Coast became independent Ghana in 1957. The Volta Region of Ghana was part of the German protectorate of Togoland before World War I. In 1957, 44 Ghanaian students were registered in West German universities through a policy that allowed Africans to build skills in German universities. In the 1960s and 1970s, most of the Ghanaian migrants to Germany were students. They formed local associations in the university towns and cities in Germany, which in turn became the Union of Ghanaian Students in Germany (UGSG). [1] [2]
In 2009, according to Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), there were about 40,000 'Ghanaians with a migration background' in Germany. [3]
Almost 9,729 children were born to German-Ghanaian couples between 1965 and 2006. In 2007, 20,329 persons with Ghanaian citizenship were officially registered in Germany; 8,194 Ghanaian citizens became German citizens between 1980 and 2007. [4]
In 2017 Ghana was reported to maintain good relations with Germany, and there was a large Ghanaian community in Germany, many for education, seeking asylum, or for family reunification. [5] [6]
| Number of Ghanaians in larger cities | |||||||||
| # | City | People | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Hamburg | 7,550 | |||||||
| 2. | Bremen | 3,170 | |||||||
| 3. | Berlin | 2,124 | |||||||
| 4. | Hanover | 1,813 | |||||||
| 5. | Frankfurt | 1,745 | |||||||
| 6. | Duisburg | 1,433 | |||||||
| 7. | Cologne | 1,254 | |||||||
| 8. | Kiel | 1,037 | |||||||
| 9. | Düsseldorf | 977 | |||||||
| 10. | Munich | 943 | |||||||
In 2009 Ghanaians in Germany mostly lived in the metropolises of Hamburg, Berlin and Bremen, the Ruhr region, and the Frankfurt/Main metropolitan area. 22.7% of Ghanaian migrants, the highest percentage, live in the city of Hamburg. Also, 23.8% of the Ghanaians living in Germany live in North Rhine-Westphalia. 9.2% of Ghanaian citizens in Germany live in Berlin. 9.8% live in the federal state of Hesse. There has been a long tradition of Ghanaians migrating to Hamburg, hence the concentration of Ghanaians there. [6] In Ghana, the word 'booga' or 'burger', used to refer to migrants, has roots in the name 'Hamburg'.
In June 2004, through an initiative of the Ghanaian Embassy in Germany, the Union of Ghanaian Associations in Germany (UGAG) was formed to include all Ghanaian associations in Germany. The first attempt in 1996 had failed. Church communities are among the most influential formations as Christianity is the largest religion in Ghana. The Church of Pentecost Germany, Ghana Catholic Mission-Hamburg, the Bethel Church-Stuttgart and the Presbyterian Church of Cologne are the best-known Ghanaian churches in Germany. [6]
Ghana is now one of the top recipients of remittances from its global diaspora. Private remittances make up over one-sixth of the country's gross domestic product. In a survey, 90% of Ghanaians transfer money to Ghana for their families. Some even send more than half their income and go into debt. [6] [7]
From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, a genre of music came up in Germany and Ghana called Burger Highlife – fusion of highlife, and funk music styles. Ghanaian immigrants in Germany created it.
For Ghanaians hoping to study in Germany, the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), valid for direct university admittance in Ghana, is not accepted by German universities; a student has to complete one year of tertiary education in Ghana or complete a one-year preparatory course (Studienkolleg) in Germany. Also, there are no HND top-up courses in Germany; Ghanaians have to apply for the Bachelor's degree in a university of applied sciences. [8]
Learning the German language is required for professions such as nursing and healthcare. [9] Anyone starting a business in Germany must register with the trade office if self-employed, or the tax office to work as freelancers. [10]
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It lies adjacent to the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing a border with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Togo in the east. Ghana covers an area of 239,567 km2 (92,497 sq mi), spanning diverse biomes that range from coastal savannas to tropical rainforests. With nearly 35 million inhabitants, Ghana is the second-most populous country in West Africa. The capital and largest city is Accra; other significant cities include Kumasi, Tamale, and Sekondi-Takoradi.
Highlife is a Ghanaian music genre that originated along the coastal cities of present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It describes multiple local fusions of African metre and western jazz melodies. It uses the melodic and main rhythmic structures of traditional African music, but is typically played with Western instruments. Highlife is characterized by jazzy horns and guitars which lead the band and its use of the two-finger plucking guitar style that is typical of African music. Recently it has acquired an uptempo, synth-driven sound.
There are many styles of traditional and modern music of Ghana, due to Ghana's worldwide geographic position on the African continent.
George Darko was a Ghanaian burger-highlife musician, guitarist, vocalist, composer and songwriter, who was on the music scene from the late 1960s. A native of Akropong, Ghana, Darko was popular in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and his songs are some of the most timeless and enduring highlife tracks in Ghana's music circles. Some of his contemporaries include Ben Brako, C.K. Mann, Daddy Lumba, Ernest Nana Acheampong, Nana Kwame Ampadu and Pat Thomas, among others. He was widely considered to be one of the pioneers of burger-highlife with his first hit "Ako Te Brofo" which was released in 1983. The song remains popular among Ghanaians both at home and abroad, and is still played at funerals and parties.
John Collins is a UK-born guitarist, harmonica player and percussionist who first went to Ghana as a child in 1952 for a brief period and later became involved in the West African music scene after returning to Ghana in 1969. He is a naturalised Ghanaian.
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, often simply shortened to GIZ, is the main German development agency. It is headquartered in Bonn and Eschborn and provides services in the field of international development cooperation and international education work. The organization's self-declared goal is to deliver effective solutions that offer people better prospects and sustainably improve their living conditions.
The Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED) (German Development Service) was a German development organization active between 1963 and 2010. It was one of the leading European development services for personnel cooperation. It was focused on sending professional Germans to work in developing countries on small development projects. It was a non-profit company with a 95% controlling stake by the German government and 5% by the NGO "Learning and Helping Overseas". It is now part of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Society for International Cooperation) (GIZ).
COCE is the name of a research project and stands for "Conservation and Use of Wild Populations of Coffea arabica in the Montane Rainforests of Ethiopia".
Kigali Solaire is a solar power plant in Rwanda and at the time of construction was Africa's largest grid-tied solar energy installation. It was built in 2006 on Mont Jali near the capital Kigali. The plant uses photovoltaics and has a peak output of 250 kW and an estimated annual output of 325,000 kWh. It was financed by the German city of Mainz's utility company Stadtwerke Mainz AG, with Mainz being the capital of Rhineland-Palatinate, which has a partnership with Rwanda.
Chidi Kwubiri is a Nigerian-German visual artist.
InWEnt - Capacity Building International was a German institution with worldwide operations in the field of bilateral development cooperation and international cooperation, with a focus on capacity building.
The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of 2024, making up 85% of the population. The word "Ghana" means "warrior king". An estimated diaspora population of 4 million people worldwide are of Ghanaian descent. The term ethnic Ghanaian may also be used in some contexts to refer to a group of related ethnic groups native to the Gold Coast.
Ernest "Owoahene" Nana Acheampong, popularly known as Nana Acheampong, is a Ghanaian Highlife musician. He is also the other half of the famous Lumba brothers who popularized Burger-highlife in Ghana.
Nana Kwame Ampadu was a Ghanaian musician and composer credited with numerous popular highlife tracks and he is known to have composed over 800 songs. He was also known as Adwomtofo Nyinaa Hene. Ampadu was the lead singer, chief songwriter, and founder of the "African Brothers Band". He is regarded as a pioneer of highlife music and one of the most illustrious Ghanaian musicians of the 20th century.
Isaac Kaledzi is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, broadcast journalist, radio personality, and blogger who is the founder and CEO of Africa Feeds Media Limited, a Pan-African media brand. He currently works for Deutsche Welle as their African correspondent while being based in Ghana. He previously worked for the Ghanaian radio station Starr FM Ghana as an editor.
The migration of Ghanaians to Germany started in the early 1950s when a West Germany policy permitted the travel of students from some African countries to Germany to further their education. This policy was to equip the students with knowledge which would be useful in their country of origin when they eventually returned.
Jörg Meyer-Stamer was a German political scientist and economic development practitioner. He was passionate about developing economic development frameworks and methods that enabled stakeholders in developing countries to diagnose and improve their contexts. He developed methods and frameworks that enabled stakeholders to diagnose and improve local economic development, clusters, value chains and innovation systems. He also wrote several papers on structural change, technology, innovation and industrial policy.
Germany–Ghana relations are good and Ghana is one of the priority countries for German development aid. Official Diplomatic Relations between the two countries were established in the 1950s, but contacts between the two societies go back much further and can be traced back to the 17th century.
Hans-Joachim Preuss is a German agricultural economist.
Ghana Special 2: Electronic Highlife & Afro Sounds in the Diaspora, 1980–93 is a compilation album released by Soundway Records on 10 May 2024. The compilation collects highlife, a style of music from Ghana, which underwent a shift to more electronic styles in the 1980s.
Ghanaian diaspora | |
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