THE SOCIOECONOMIC DETERMINANT OF LIFE EXPECTANCY IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This study examines the socioeconomic determinant of life expectancy in Nigeria from the period of 1981 to 2021. It sourced secondary data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical bulletin and World Data Bank and adopts the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Co-Integration estimation technique. The variables of choice are Real GDP per capita, recurrent government health expenditure, recurrent government expenditure on education, Unemployment rate and adult literacy rate. The result reveals that recurrent government expenditure on education is significant in determining life expectancy while other variables are not in the short run. Also, the result shows that all the independent variable (real GDP per capita, recurrent government health expenditure, recurrent government expenditure on education, unemployment rate and adult literacy rate) are highly significant in determining life expectancy in the long run. Therefore, the aforementioned determinants have important role to play in improving life expectancy in Nigeria. Consequently, upon the findings of the research, a number of recommendations are given which include; that government should increase its expenditure on health and education by creating an avenue for free medical check up to prevent sickness and diseases for citizens and free distribution of drugs to sick patients. Free education and reading materials should be given to children in school. Job opportunities should be created for unemployed graduates so as to reduce the level of crime in Nigeria which lead to the shortage of the life span of many Nigerians. Keywords: life expectancy, real GDP per capita, health expenditure, education expenditure, mortality rate, unemployment, adult literacy rate.