Crude death and crude birth rates, and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa Countries

Abstract

Upon the collapsed of African economy and lost decades of development opportunities, crude death and crude birth rates were prominent among identified as determining components capable of worsen the developing economies as evidence in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. On this premises, this paper examined the relationship among crude death rate, crude birth rate and economic development in SSA countries using regional pooled annual time series data spanning between 1970 and 2019. The data were sourced from World Bank, World Development Indicator (2019) edition of SSA database. The underpinning theory for the study is demographic transition theory. The study employed Auto-regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach and VAR Granger causality model as estimation techniques. Findings from the study showed that there is existence of long-run relationship among the variables in the model. Result of the study revealed that domestic general government health expenditure (DGGHE) having insignificant level and fertility rate (FERR) significantly exerts positive influence while infant mortality rate (INMR) exhibits negative impact on the performance of gross domestic product per capita (GDPPC) in SSA. Further, crude birth rate (CBR) and crude death rate (CDR) also showed indirect relationship contrary to theoretical expectations in the mode.