Effects of remittances on life expectancy and under-five mortality in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence using Generalized Method of Moments analysis

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between financial remittances and health outcomes in 45 sub-Saharan African countries (SSA) using data obtained from the World Development Indicator (WDI) over the period 1990 to 2021. Because of the issue of endogeneity, the System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) was adopted to analyze the impact of remittances on life expectancy and infant mortality respectively. The results showed that contrary to expectations, remittances did not significantly improve life expectancy and infant mortality rate in SSA. The life expectancy in the previous year, has a statically significant impact on life expectancy at birth for the current year. Also, the lagged value of infant mortality rate significantly increased under five mortality. Therefore, the study recommends that governments in SSA sub-region should evolve policies aimed at guiding recipients of remittances towards effective utilization with a view to improving social welfare and health outcomes.