Demographic change and economic growth: empirical evidence from the Middle East

Abstract

This study seeks to empirically examine the effects of demographic change on economic growth in Middle East countries. As a further step, the working-age population is disaggregated by age and gender to investigate their effects on economic growth. The study employs static linear panel data models for ten Middle East countries for the 5-year period from 1996 to 2016. The findings indicate that young workers, middle-aged workers, senior workers, population growth rate, and old dependency ratio positively affect economic growth, while the youth dependency ratio negatively affects economic growth. Analysis by gender reveals that the male working-age population contributes more to economic growth than the female working-age population. These findings confirm that governments should formulate policies that will encourage women to engage actively in the labor market to enhance their productivity and enable them to contribute to achieving a high-income economy.