Ghana's youngest children are being shortchanged. A new UNICEF-backed study reveals that children aged 0–5 make up about one-third of the country's child population, but they receive only 13% of public spending on children. The report, Unlocking Potential Early: Rebalancing Public Spending for Children in Ghana, warns that this imbalance risks widening inequality and weakening the systems designed to support children.

Lead researcher Dominic Richardson, Managing Director of the Learning for Well-being Institute, put it plainly. “The issue when there's no balance in the policy portfolio is it creates weaknesses in the overall system that is designed to care for children,” he said. He explained that gaps in one area hurt progress in others. “If you don't have cash benefits, some children are too poor to access childcare services or healthcare. If you don't have healthcare systems, some children will be too sick to go to school. When you don't have child protection, more children end up in child labour.”

This is the first age-based analysis of public spending on children in Ghana. It looked at investments from pregnancy through age 17 and also checked how spending differs by household income and between rural and urban areas. The findings are stark: children from wealthier homes get nearly twice as much public investment per child as those from poorer families. Rural-urban gaps are also wide, especially in education and access to services.

Ghana does well in some areas – immunisation rates are decent, under-five mortality has dropped, and pre-primary school enrolment is up. But the study flags persistent problems in nutrition, birth registration, child poverty, and protection from violence.

The money tells the story. In 2023, education ate up 3.1% of GDP. Health got about 2%. Social protection received only 0.23%. And child protection? A paltry 0.03%.

UNICEF's modelling shows what could be possible with better spending. A comprehensive package of investments worth 7.2% of GDP could eliminate child poverty within three years, prevent up to 18,000 premature child deaths, achieve universal vaccination coverage, and significantly improve school readiness.

So what's the fix? Richardson says Ghana should start by actually implementing the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Policy – which already exists on paper. “It's an excellent policy,” he said. He also recommended introducing a universal child benefit, starting with the youngest children and gradually expanding coverage. “That policy is shown to be one of the most effective policies anywhere in the world for delivering optimal child development,” he added.

According to UNICEF, if Ghana invests earlier and more fairly in its children, it could become a frontrunner in Africa for giving every child an equal shot at a good life.