An empirical analysis of the role of rural population growth on electricity consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The objective of this study is to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between rural and urban population on electricity consumption in five Sub-Saharan countries between 1971 and 2013. Results from the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)-bounds testing approach indicate that rural population plays a larger role in electricity consumption than the urban population in Cote d'Ivoire, Congo Republic and Zambia. In Congo Republic, a 1% growth in rural population resulted in a 29.4% decline in growth of electricity consumption in the long run. Growth in rural and urban population does not affect electricity use in Kenya and South Africa.