Aging Population and Its Effect On The Nigerian Economy

Abstract

This study examined the effect of aging population on Nigeria’s economy from 1985 to 2018. An Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was formulated to establish the relationship between aging population and its effects on Nigeria’s economy Secondary data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical bulletin was used for the study.  The findings revealed a significant relationship between old age dependency ratio and per capita GDP; also, it was found that health care and public pension expenditures significantly impact per capita GDP in Nigeria. National Aging policy and a review of public health care expenditures were called for. In particular, the need to reorganise health care expenditure to reflect a positive relationship with economic welfare was recommended.

Keywords:  Aging population, Dependency Ratio, ARDL

JEL: J26 O40