Accra - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the relative size of the expatriate community? How would you describe overall morale among expatriates?
There is a large contingency of expats in Ghana. There are several groups on Facebook that cover these communities. - Jul 2025
Expat community is large, people stick together, overall very friendly. - Aug 2024
US Expat community is large. The embassy has the Regional USAID office and the Ghanaian one. This is large embassy. Morale ebbs and flows. I would say more people are unhappy than happy, but I suspect that is more because of their jobs (or a bad house) than actually living in Ghana. There are many expats in Ghana of all nationalities. - Sep 2023
There is a large expat community, mainly through foreign embassies. There are also large Lebanese and Chinese communities. Morale at the embassy is generally pretty good. - Nov 2022
Fairly large and in my opinion, fairly positive. The biggest downside is that this is a historically-difficult to staff post. It seems like there are lots of activities for singles, couples and families. From weekend trips, to biking and climbing in the hills (1-2 hours away for all of that), or poker nights or restaurants, there's a lot to do. - Sep 2022
Post is large, about 200 USDH plus their families. There are surprisingly a lot of Americans in Accra that are not part of the Embassy. There are a lot of diplomats here too. Morale is average. - Mar 2022
Quite large from a lot of different countries. Morale is middling to good. Some struggle with Africa, those with experience on the continent appreciate that Ghana is pretty manageable relatively speaking. Accra can be a bit sleepy, kind of a make your own fun post so that is an issue for some as well. - Nov 2019
I think there's a reasonably large expat community, though I haven't had as much opportunity as I would have liked to meet more people outside the US Embassy community. There are many other diplomatic missions and certain international business concerns, as well as development agencies/NGOs. There are also some expats who run guest houses, restaurants, etc. I'd say morale is moderate. We love it here, but not everybody does, and there's large "luck-of-the-draw" component to housing for embassy families. We landed in a very social compound with great neighbors. I think it would have been a bit more difficult to be in a standalone house. - May 2019
I don't know. There are a good number of Westerners. Their morale depends on how much they rely on the local economy (aka, don't have DPO) and how long they have lived here. - Apr 2018
There are a few Westerners here affiliated with the government. I've seen a few people from the Middle East and a conspicuous Chinese population here. - Aug 2017
It is pretty large. There is a large diplomatic community plus a large gold mining community, oil and gas and textiles. Generally most expats make the best of it. You do find the odd person who loves Ghana. - Apr 2017
I would say it is relatively large (I don't feel like I know everyone or even half the people). Morale seems high. - Aug 2016
There is a good group of us here and morale varies. Most people are excited to leave. - May 2014
Medium. Mostly businessmen and students. The tourist numbers are small, but growing. - Apr 2012
Huge - Aug 2011
The expat community is large here. - Jun 2011
Pretty large, I think. Over 8,000 American currently. - Feb 2010
Medium? - Feb 2010
Seems large. - May 2009
