Abstract:

Recent findings has indicated that population is core when referring to economic growth and development. The levels of income changes correspondingly to the changes in the age structure of the population across the demographic transition and beyond (Bloom, Canning and Malaney, 2000). The demographic transition is a change from high fertility and high mortality to that of low fertility and low mortality. Research has shown that high rates of population growth are outcomes of the decline in mortality in the short-run which occur before the decline in fertility (Sippel, Kiziak, Woellert and Klingholz, 2011; Bloom and Canning, 2000). In recent years investigators have revisited the connection between population and economic growth, emphasizing the demographic transition as the process underlying population growth in most developing countries (Bloom, Canning and Malaney, 2000; Bloom and Freeman 1988; Bloom and Sachs 1998). Many countries in Asia and Latin America have already completed the transition to low fertility and changes in age structure that have accelerated economic growth. Nigeria and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are just beginning the transition to low fertility. The economic support ratio in South Korea, for example, has peaked while in Nigeria the economic support ratio is near its trough and is not expected to peak for another 40 years or more (Mason et.al, 2009). As the population growth rate of Nigeria continues to increase, the higher the amount of capital necessary to merely make provision for the added population and the less the fund left over for making capital improvements (Peters, 2011). A nation will experience growth depending on the level of per capita output. About 44 percent of the Nigerian population are below 15 years, while 3 percent are 65 years and above (Population Reference Bureau, 2015). This shows that there is high rate of dependency in the country which does not allow for healthy growth. This paper therefore, seeks to examine the interaction between demographic structure and economic growth in Nigeria.