The Upper West Region of Ghana is located in the north-western corner of Ghana and is bordered by Upper East region to the east, Northern region to the south, and Burkina Faso to the west and north.
The Upper West Region of Ghana lies in the northwestern corner of the country, bordered to the east by the Upper East Region, to the south by the Northern Region, and to the west and north by Burkina Faso. Wa is the regional center and largest settlement in the Upper West. Under the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) military dictatorship, the Upper West was established in 1983 by the then-Head of State, Flight-Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings. The previous Upper Region, which is now the Upper East Region, was created out of this area. It was Ghana’s youngest region for approximately 35 years, until the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government added six more regions in 2018, bringing the total number of administrative regions in the country to sixteen.
Ghana’s Upper West Region is one of the country’s 16 regions. It is situated in Ghana’s northwestern corner, between 9.8° and 11.O° north latitude and 1.6° and 3.0 west longitude, and is bordered to the north by Burkina Faso. It has an area of 18,476 square kilometers, accounting for 12.7 percent of Ghana’s total land area. The Upper East and Northern regions border northern Ghana-Burkina Faso on the east, the Northern area on the south, western Ghana-Burkina Faso on the west, and the Upper West Region on the north. It is made up of 11 districts and is Ghana’s seventh-largest region in terms of total area. The Upper West Region has the potential for international and interregional trade as well as other bilateral relations due to its location; however, the spillover of criminal activities and disasters from the region’s neighbors, such as bush fires, diseases, pestilence, armed robbery, and so on, pose a threat.
The Wechiau Hippopotamus Sanctuary is located in the Wa West District, southwest of Wa, along the Black Volta River. Dr. Hilla Limann, one of Ghana’s past presidents, was born in the Gwollu Wall in the Sissala District.
Sao or Tuo Zaafi in the local dialect, which is sometimes abbreviated TZ or T-Zed in English, is the primary diet of the people of the Upper West Region.
Agriculture is the most important economic activity in the Upper West Region. Corn, millet, peanuts, okra, shea tree, and rice are among the crops planted. Meat and eggs are produced from sheep, goats, chickens, pigs, and guinea fowl. Because the dry season in the region is long, spanning around October to May, many people go to work in Ghana’s south for at least part of the year.