Single motherhood in Ghana: analysis of trends and predictors using demographic and health survey data

The rising rate of single-mother families has gained scholarly and policy attention. Understanding the socio-economic and demographic transformations that have led to relatively high single-mother families in Ghana is important to advance policy and interventions to mitigate adverse effects of single motherhood. This study examined trends and predictors of single motherhood in Ghana from 1993 to 2014 using the last five waves of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. Descriptive statistics with Chi-square tests and binary logistic regression assessed individual and contextual factors associated with single motherhood. The proportion of single motherhood increased from 14.1% in 1993 to 19.5% in 2014. Premarital birth emerged as the major pathway to single motherhood. Single motherhood likelihood declined with older ages at first sex (OR=0.58; 95% CI=0.48–0.70) and first birth (OR=0.43; 95% CI=0.32–0.59) at 25+ years; contraceptive users were less likely to be single mothers than non-users. Contextually, Muslim women (OR=0.58; 95% CI=0.46–0.74) were less likely to be single mothers than women with no religious affiliation, and women with higher economic status (richer: OR=0.76; 95% CI=0.59–0.96; richest: OR=0.57; 95% CI=0.31–0.56) were less likely to be single mothers than the poorest. Findings suggest single mothers are over-represented among economically poor women. Policies should focus on empowering single mothers and their children to alleviate poverty and improve child well-being, supporting progress toward SDG 1 (target 1.2).