Population Dynamics and Environmental Quality in Africa

Stephen Dimnwobi, Chukwunonso Ekesiobi, Chekwube Madichie and Simplice Asongu

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The nexus of population dynamics and environmental degradation has been discussed widely in the extant literature. Most related studies have utilized carbon emission as a proxy of environmental quality. However, carbon emission does not capture the multidimensional nature of environmental degradation. To fill this gap, this study utilized the ecological footprint to capture environmental degradation because it is a more dynamic environmental quality measure. The paper examines the population-environmental degradation hypothesis for five populous African countries (DR Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania) using panel information from 1990-2019. The Cross-sectionally Augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) was employed to assess the relationship among the data – ecological footprint per capita (ECFP), population growth rate (POPG), population density (POPD), urban population growth rate (URBN), age structure of the population (AGES), per capita GDP growth rate (PGDP), energy consumption (ENEC), and trade openness (TRAD). The findings of the study revealed that POPG, POPD, AGES, PGDP, ENEC and TRAD increase environmental degradation. Urbanization (URBN) has no significant influence on environmental degradation in the selected African countries. The study concludes with policy prescriptions geared towards addressing population expansion and improving environmental quality.

Keywords: Population dynamics; Environmental degradation; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C40 J11 O10 Q50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Published in Science of The Total Environment November.797(2021): pp. 149172

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Related works:
Working Paper: Population Dynamics and Environmental Quality in Africa (2021)
Working Paper: Population Dynamics and Environmental Quality in Africa (2021)
Working Paper: Population Dynamics and Environmental Quality in Africa (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:110640

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