Empirical Analysis of Population Gorwth and Economic Performance in South Africa (1980 -2010)

The term population growth is referred to as an increase in the number of people in a country resulting from migration and the situation whereby the country’s fertility exceed mortality rate. Population growth is a major economic and social problem more especially in developing countries, and it is a concern to most policy makers because of its social cost in most societies. The study of how population growth and economic performance are related is very much significant and should not be ignored because it is a discernible fact that affects the social well-being of people. This paper employed the Engel-Granger two-step econometric methods in the analyses and the result obtained indicated that there is a long-run economic equilibrium relationship between population and economic growth in South Africa. Policy makers should focus on improving economic growth rather than trying to brawl increasing population growth, economic growth can be improved by increasing spending on infrastructural programmes which are essential in both short-run and long run economic growth.Keywords: population growth, economic growth, savings rate and capital stock