Submit your papers Submit Now
International Peer-Reviewed Journal
For Enquiries: editor@iiardjournals.org
πŸ“„ Download Paper

Impact Of Population Growth and Poverty on Health in Nigeria

Olaniyan Oluwakemi Stella PhD

Abstract

The study examined the impact of population growth and poverty on health in Nigeria from 1981 to 2023. To achieve the objectives, annual time series data on Human Development Index (HDI), Population Growth Rate and Poverty were collected from secondary sources. The dependent variable was health which was proxy by life expectancy at birth. The independent variable – population growth (was disaggregated into rural and urban population growth rate) and poverty rate. The E-views 12 Statistical Software was employed to analyze the data empirically. The Unit root test was adopted to test the stationarity of variables. The Unit root test shows that Life expectancy at birth (LEB), Urban population growth rate (UPGR), and poverty rate (PVT) variables evaluated are all stationary after first difference I(1) while Rural population growth rate (RPGR) was stationary at level I(0). The result indicated that that the coefficients of UPGR, RPGR are positively signed and statistically significant in the long-run and short-run. It therefore means, UPGR and RPGR positively affect life expectancy at birth in Nigeria. The study recommends amongst others that the Nigerian government should raise minimum wage, create more employment opportunities, invest in quality and universal education, expand health and medical care, and provide easy access to the political process to reduce the poverty rate in the country.

Keywords

Population growth Poverty Life expectancy ARDL Nigeria

References

Akanbi, O. A. (2016). The growth, poverty and inequality nexus in South Africa: Co-integration and causality analysis, Development Southern Africa, 33(2), 166-185. Ali, M. S., Raza, S. M. F., Din, N. U., &Abidin, S. U. A. (2018). Population, poverty and economic development nexus: empirical study of some selected developing countries. Pakistan Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 6(4), 458 – 476. Ayesha, I. M. (2014). Population dynamics and economic growth in Nigeria. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 7(15), 16-24. Bello-Imam, I. B. (2004). Health policy and planning in Nigeria. Management Problems of Primary Health Care in Nigeria. Institute of Public Administration and Extension Services: 325–356. Dauda, R. S. (2017). Poverty and economic growth in Nigeria: Issues and Policies. Journal of Poverty, 21(1), 61-79. Eboh, F. E. & Uma, K. E. (2010). Rural infrastructural development: A panacea for poverty alleviation in Nigeria. African Journal of Professional Research in Human Development, 6(3), 39-45. Eniang, E. B. (1977). Population Growth and Economic Growth Performance in Nigeria (1981– 2014). Turkish Economic Review, 3(1), 143-159. Fosu, A. K. (2015). Growth, inequality and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recent progress in a global context. Oxford Development Studies, 43(1), 44-59. Genyi, M. E. (2007). Poverty, good governance and development process in Nigeria. Paper presented at the Abuja International Conference on Arts and Humanity between 3rd – 7th November at the University of Abuja. Gradstein, M. &Kaganovich, M. (2004). Aging population and education finance. Public Econ 88(9), 2469–2485. Jenkins, G. M. & Box G. E. P. (1970). Time series analysis, forecasting and control. San Francisco, Holding-Day. Julien, B. (2009). Life expectancy is essentially affected by wealth and education: Revising the retirement age in social security is dangerous. Older Women’s Economic Security Task Force. www.socialsecuritymatters.org. Kabir, M. (2008). Determinants of life expectancy in developing countries. Journal of Development Area, 41:185–204. Kpelai, S. T. (2013). An assessment of national poverty eradication programme on wealth creation in Benue State. European Journal of Business and Management, 5(19), 167-180. Maestas, N., Mullen, K. J., & Powell, D. (2016). The effect of population aging on economic growth, the labor force and productivity. Working Paper, 1-37. Moges, A. G. (2013). Economic growth, inequality and poverty in Developing Countries: Policy issues and challenges. International Journal of Economic Policy Studies, 8, 41–66. Mohd, S. N. A., Ishak, A. A., & Selvaratnam, D. P. (2021). Aging population’s impact on economic growth in Malaysia from 1981 to 2019: evidence from an autoregressive distributed lag approach. Frontier of Public Health, 9, 931554-931563. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.73155 Nakabashi, L. (2018). Poverty and economic development: Evidence for the Brazilian states. Economia 19, 445–458. National Bureau of Statistics (2021). Quarterly gross domestic product report. NBS Press. Nuruddeen, T. & Ibrahim, S. (2014). An empirical study on the relationship between poverty, inequality and economic growth in Nigeria. Journal of Economic and Sustainable Development, 5(26), 20-25. Nwosa, P. I., & Ehinomen, C. (2020). Inequality, poverty and economic growth in Nigeria. Euro Economica, Special Issue 2(39), 85-93. Rogers, G. B. (1979).Income and inequality as determinants of mortality: An international cross- section analysis. Popul Studies 33, 343–351. Sarker, S., Khan, A., & Mannan, M. M. (2016). Urban population and economic growth: South Asia perspective. European Journal of Government and Economics (EJGE), 5(1), 64-75, Song, S., (2013). Demographic changes and economic growth: Empirical evidence from Asia. Honors Projects, Paper No.121. http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/econ_honproj/121. Todaro, M.P.& Smith, S.C. (2015). Economic development. Pearson education limited, Edinburgh gate, Harlow CM 20 2JE World Bank Group (2020). World Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work. World Bank. World Population (2021). GDP ranked by countries 2021. http://world population review.com/countries/countries. World Population Prospects. (2017). Overall total population – World population prospects: The 2017 revision. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population