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Updates: 

I found data for the 2000 census of Ghana at numerous websites; however, they weren't all consistent with each other, and some of them didn't add up correctly. Among those that were consistent, some were labeled "provisional" and others were "final". I chose to use the "final" figures. Sites with the final data include a report on Terms and Access of Credit from the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research  and a profile of Ghana from the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre . The provisional data were found in a profile of Ghana from the Asia Africa Investment and Technology Promotion Centre , a table on the Atidekate  site, and a report on Estimating National HIV Prevalence in Ghana from the Policy Project  website (where one of the figures has two digits transposed).

Country overview: 

Short name	GHANA
ISO code	GH
FIPS code	GH
Language	English (en)
Time zone	0
Capital	Accra

 

In 1900, the coastal region of Ghana had been colonized by the United Kingdom as the Gold Coast. In 1901, Ashanti, already a British protectorate, was annexed. The Northern Territories Protectorate followed in 1902. After World War I, the Allies divided Germany's African possessions among them. The League of Nations mandated Togoland to Great Britain and France. They split it longitudinally. Britain received the smaller western strip, which became Transvolta-Togoland territory. This territory was administered from the Gold Coast until 1956-12-13, when it formally merged with the Gold Coast. The country was granted independence on 1957-03-06, and took the name Ghana.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Ghana
2. Dutch: Ghana, Republiek Ghana (formal)
3. English: Republic of Ghana (formal), Gold Coast (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Ghana
5. French: Ghana m, Côte f de l'Or m (obsolete)
6. German: Ghana n, Gold n Küste f (obsolete)
7. Icelandic: Gana
8. Italian: Ghana m
9. Norwegian: Ghana, Republikken Ghana (formal)
10. Portuguese: Gana, República f do Gana m (formal)
11. Spanish: Ghana, República f de Ghana (formal)
12. Swedish: Ghana

Origin of name: 

after an ancient West African kingdom, from Sarakolé ghana: king.

Primary subdivisions: 

Ghana is divided into ten regions.

Region	HASC	FIPS	Pop-2000	Pop-1984	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Ashanti	GH.AH	GH02	3,612,950	2,090,100	24,390	9,417	Kumasi
Brong-Ahafo	GH.BA	GH03	1,815,408	1,206,608	39,557	15,273	Sunyani
Central	GH.CP	GH04	1,593,823	1,142,335	9,826	3,794	Cape Coast
Eastern	GH.EP	GH05	2,106,696	1,680,890	19,977	7,713	Koforidua
Greater Accra	GH.AA	GH01	2,905,726	1,431,099	2,593	1,001	Accra
Northern	GH.NP	GH06	1,820,806	1,164,583	70,383	27,175	Tamale
Upper East	GH.UE	GH10	920,089	772,744	8,842	3,414	Bolgatanga
Upper West	GH.UW	GH11	576,583	438,008	18,477	7,134	Wa
Volta	GH.TV	GH08	1,635,421	1,211,907	20,572	7,943	Ho
Western	GH.WP	GH09	1,924,577	1,157,807	23,921	9,236	Sekondi-Takoradi
10 regions			18,912,079	12,296,081	238,538	92,100
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the region codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Pop-2000: 2000-03-26 census Pop-1984: 1984-03-11 census

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Ghana page.

The regions are subdivided into 138 districts, of which three are metropolitan districts and eight are municipal districts. The ordinary districts have urban councils, town councils, and area councils under them. The metropolitan districts are divided into sub-metropolitan districts, which are further subdivided into town councils. The municipal districts are divided into zones. Unit committees are the lowest level of local government, subsidiary to all of the entities already mentioned. There are 16,000 of them, but no more than 8,000 are operational.

Origins of names: 

1. Accra: corruption of Bantu nkran: ants (forest dwellers likened city to an anthill)
2. Volta: from the Volta River, from Portuguese volta: turn

Change history: 

1. 1902: Gold Coast consisted of three regions: Ashanti, Gold Coast, and Northern Territories Protectorate.
2. 1922: Transvolta Togoland became affiliated with Gold Coast.
3. 1956-12-13: Transvolta Togoland became part of Gold Coast.
4. 1957-03-06: Gold Coast renamed Ghana.
5. ~1958: Gold Coast region (capital Accra) split into Eastern (capital Koforidua) and Western (capital Cape Coast).
6. 1959-04-04: Ashanti region (capital Kumasi) split into Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo regions. Northern Territories (capital Tamale) split into Northern and Upper regions. Western region split into Western (capital Sekondi) and Central. Transvolta Togoland (capital Ho) split in two; the southern part became Volta region, and the northern part was annexed to Northern and Upper regions.
7. ~1971: Sekondi and Takoradi merged to form the city of Sekondi-Takoradi, the new capital of Western.
8. ~1975: Eastern region split into Eastern and Greater Accra regions.
9. ~1988: Upper region (FIPS code GH07) split into Upper East and Upper West regions.