THE IMPACT OF POPULATION GROWTH RATE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH

ABSTRACT

The research examined how population growth rate impact economic growth in Nigeria. It used variables such as Gross Domestic Product as the dependent variable and population, Gross's fixed capital formation, government expenditure and exchange rate as the independent variables. The data span from 1981 - 2022 and employs OLS, Unit Root Test, Pairwise Granger Causality Test, co-integration test and diagnostic tests. The result indicates a long run relationship among the variables. Specifically, this study shows that there is a positive relationship with exchange rate and domestic product, and this satisfies our apriori expectations. The study also shows that government expenditure has a positive relationship with gross domestic products. That is, an increased government spending has a small, but positive effect on economic activity. Finally, the study also shows that gross fixed capital formation has a negative relationship with gross domestic product, which implies that higher interest rates can lead to decrease in investment and spending, which in turn lead to decrease in GDP, and this also conforms to our apriori expectations.