ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND LIFE EXPECTANCY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the effect of energy consumption (decomposed into renewable and non-renewable energy) on life expectancy in Nigeria from 1981 to 2022. The data for the study is sourced from Central Bank Statistical Bulletin. Energy consumption is proxied by Alternative and Nuclear Energy (ANE), Per Capita Electricity Consumption (CPN) and Fossil Fuel Energy Consumption (FEN), while Life expectancy is proxied by life expectancy at birth. The variables were subjected to stationarity tests and the result shows that the variables were integrated of mixed order of integration (level i(0) & first difference i(1)). This justified the adoption of the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) as technique of analysis. The ARDL Bounds test result indicates that long-run relationship exist among the variables in the model. The long result showed that Per Capita Electricity Consumption (EPN) and Per Capita Income (PCI) have positive effect on life expectancy, while Fossil Fuel Energy, Trade Openness, and Alternative and Nuclear Energy (ANE) have negative effect on Life Expectancy in Nigeria. The short run result also shows that per capita electricity consumption has positive effect on life expectancy, while fossil fuel energy consumption and trade openness have negative effect on life expectancy in Nigeria. The study concludes per capital electricity consumption affects life expectancy positively, while fossil fuel energy consumption and alternative and nuclear energy affect life expectancy negatively in Nigeria. This study therefore recommends the adoption of green energy consumption as to improve life expectancy in Nigeria