Macroeconomic and Socio-Demographic Determinants of Longevity in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria is characterized as a country with the lowest life expectancy rate globally. Hence, this study empirically estimated the effect of macroeconomic and socio-demographic characteristics on life expectancy in Nigeria. The study covered a period of 1986 to 2022 and employed Auto-regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) to model the said effect. Findings revealed that reduction in population growth, domestic and external debts could improve life expectancy in the long-run. Additionally, increase in per capita income and consumption expenditure would improve longevity in Nigeria. The error correction model (ECM) term of –0.2596 demonstrated that a 25% deviation from the long-run equilibrium in longevity is improved annually. Following the results from this investigation, this study recommended that focus should be on strengthening macroeconomic and socio-demographic indicators in Nigeria.