Distillers Ghana
A one-page guide to Ghana for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Accra
- Official languages
- English
- Currency
- Ghanaian cedi (GHS)
- Time zone
- UTC+0 (GMT)
- Area
- 238,539 km²
People
- Population
- 35.1 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 1.8% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 58.9%
- Aged under 15
- 35.4%
- Aged 65 and over
- 3.8%
- Life expectancy
- 65.7 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$114.2 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$3,257 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 5.95% (2025)
- Inflation
- 14.2% (2025)
Climate
Tropical with wet and dry seasons: the eastern coast is warm and comparatively dry, the south-west hot and humid, and the north hot and dry (Wikipedia gives no temperatures or season dates).
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 18 for on- and off-premise sales of all beverages (WHO 2018 country profile, status 2016: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/country-profiles/substances-abuse/GHA.pdf)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 2.67 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
- What people drink
- Beer 28%, wine 7% (2016)
- Traditional drinks
- Akpeteshie (distilled palm wine or sugarcane, 30-60% ABV; national spirit)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia - Ghana; Wikipedia - Akpeteshie; Wikipedia - Guinness Ghana Breweries; WHO country profile GHA; USDA FAS Accra - Ghana import regulations (GH2025-0045); Kasapreko profile (secondary); PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries - Ghana, other taxes (reviewed 11 Mar 2026); Graphic Online - GRA announces VAT overhaul from 1 Jan 2026 (30 Dec 2025). Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.