IMPACT OF POPULATION GROWTH AND UNEMPLOYMENT ON ECONOMIC IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined effect of population growth and unemployment rate on economic growth in Nigeria. The objective of the study is to determine how population growth rate and unemployment rate have affected economic growth for the period of 1981 to 2021. the variables used in the study are; Gross Domestic Product Growth Rate, which serves as the dependent variable while population growth rate, unemployment rate, gross fixed capital formation and total government revenue serves as the independent variable. Data were obtained from United Nations World Population Prospects (2022) and WDI (2022); for the period of 1981 to 2021. due to the mixed order of integration in the model, Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach was applied in analyzing the data. However, from the result, jointly shows that Population growth and unemployment have significant impact on Economic growth in Nigeria. But individually tested, it shows that, Population growth has a positive and significant impact on economic growth in Nigeria, while unemployment has a positive insignificant relationship with economic growth in Nigeria. It was concluded that, to evaluate the impact of the population policy, promoting access to reproductive health services and to bring the problems of population to the Nigerian populace require thorough knowledge of challenges of rapid population growth and unemployment and its impact in Nigeria.it was recommended that Since Population growth has a positive and significant impact on economic growth in Nigeria, it is recommended that that certain strategies must necessarily be instituted within the framework of the Nigerian society so as to constitute incentives for attracting and committing individuals, especially those considered in this exposition, to embrace the need for serious and practical involvement in population control measures and check