The districts of Ghana , as the districts are called in Ghana , have been reorganized several times since the country became independent. The demarcation of the districts often took place in the area of tension between unclear ethnic boundaries, areas of traditional political authorities (“paramouncies”) and party politics. In the mid-1980s there were 65 districts in Ghana, some of which were subdivided into “sub-districts”. In 1985, then President Jerry Rawlings proclaimed a new policy of decentralization and democratization. Under the slogan bring the government to the people , the number of districts was increased to 110, in which local administrative units were to take over local administration. Government responsibility should be distributed in this way and the rapidly increasing corruption in public offices countered. There were three criteria for determining the districts: A newly formed district should - in rural areas - not have less than 50,000 inhabitants, be economically viable and have a certain level of infrastructure .
Over the next several years, additional districts were established by further subdividing the original districts. As of the end of 2019, there are 260 districts.