Health and Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between health inputs, health outputs and economic growth in Nigeria from 1981- 2016. Data were obtained from the World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank, and the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin for various years. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach was employed in the study to assess the short-run and long-run
relationship between health inputs and outputs and economic growth. The findings indicate that while life expectancy is positively related to economic growth in the long run, infant mortality rate and fertility rate have significant impact on economic growth in the short run. The results further show that public health expenditure had no significant impact on economic growth both in the short run
and long run during the period under consideration. Therefore, the study recommends that sound health care services that boost life expectancy, reduce infant mortality rate, and control fertility rate be implemented for sustained economic growth in the country.

Key words: Economic growth, Health inputs, Health outcomes, Nigeria