THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON LIFE EXPECTANCY RATE IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This study empirically examined the impact of poverty on life expectancy rate in Nigeria using annual data spanning from 1981 to 2016. The study applied the double log equation model based on Ordinary Least Square technique and the VAR impulse response function to achieve the study’s objectives. The double log equation model results revealed that poverty has significant negative impact on life expectancy in Nigeria and a percentage increase in it, decreases life expectancy very significantly by about  2.80%. Further,  the VAR impulse response function results indicated that a one standard innovation in life expectancy produces significant positive shocks on poverty. The study therefore recommended that government should try as much as possible to introduce measures to tackle poverty related problems. This can be done through employment creation and investment in social services such as education and health, so that the poor will have access to quality education and good health services.

CHAPTER 0NE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Income inequities in developing countries such as Nigeria can have a direct correlation with the bad health conditions and may have been accountable for the limited progress made towards improving life expectancy. Similarly, health institutions in some continents such as Africa and Asia are going through serious economic strains because of insufficient funding and inability of patients to pay for medical care. However, a number of factors could be accountable for the differences in life expectancy across the globe, especially in developing countries. These include poverty, family history, infectious diseases, infant mortality, genetic disorder, accidents, and individual characteristics and lifestyle.

Poverty  might  be  primarily  responsible  for  low  life  expectancy  rate  in  many  developing countries, Nigeria inclusive. It is the cause of underweight in children and deaths associated with malnutrition in many developing countries. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die daily from poverty induced conditions in South Asia and Africa because investment in medical care has dropped significantly due to challenges of poor funding by government. Many individuals cannot pay for basic health care and this has led to increase in infectious diseases in the less developed countries (Kpolovie & Obilor, 2013).

Several factors affect life expectancy depending on the country and regions of the world. They include lifestyle such as drinking habit, inactivity and smoking. However, poverty and education have remained the major variables that can lead to differences in life expectancy between two continents. This is because education and poverty affect people’s access to modern health care more than others. Regions with high level of illiteracy are likely to have people with inclination to traditional medical services. Moreover, poverty is a serious constraint to access to modern health services (Kpolovie & Iderima, 2013; 2016).

Life expectancy at birth is a significant static pointer that shows the average number of years a child is expected to live everything remaining the same. This pointer is obtained from the age mortality rate that portrays the general health status of a populace and also allowing for the study of life of men and women separately (World Development Index, WDI, 2016). In Nigeria, the

life expectancy at birth in the year 2014 is 53 (WDI, 2016). From the WDI data, it shows that by sex, the life expectancy of women is 52.5 while that of men is 51. Hence, women live longer than men in Nigeria (see figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1: Life Expectancy Rate at Birth in Nigeria 2000-2014

56

54

52

50

48

46

44

42

2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014

Female Life Expectancy                Male Life Expectancy                Total Life Expectancy

Source: Author’s Computation from (WDI, 2016)

The figure 1.1 depict that female in Nigeria have longer life expectancy compare to their male counterparts. Unfortunately, life expectancy is lower in Nigeria than many African countries. For instance, Ghana’s life expectancy at birth in 2016 is 62.74years and for Togo, life expectancy at birth in 2016 is 60.23years. Due to an upsurge in communicable diseases and absence of a corresponding increase in health investment, life expectancy in many African countries is now below 60 (Kpolovie, 2012). Communicable diseases have substantially impacted on life expectancy in emerging nations, which is not similar to the Western regions where there is a decline in infections like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. This is evident on the fact that the developed countries are investing heavily in their health systems.

Current reports disclose that America, Europe and Japan are one of the best places to give birth to a child for the reason that their life expectancy levels is high; still cancer, heart, kidney, liver and obesity-related diseases are still rampant in many of the Organization of Education Co-

operation Development nations (OECD, 2014;2015;2016). The average Nigerian man is poor. Nigeria is a country of wealth and penury, extreme wealth at the doorstep of few and abject poverty in the hands of many. In reality, a lot of people die because they have no access to basic healthcare facilities and not enough income to afford a standard three square meal in a day. Even though it sounds awkward, the display of poverty goes in line with the display of riches by few who are privileged. There are different causes of poverty in Nigeria which are, but not restricted to, rising inequality in the distribution of resources and lack of adequate environment. Still, the distinctive feature of poverty in Nigeria is the high unemployment rate.

The relationship between poverty and life expectancy in Nigeria is linked through high level of illiteracy, unemployment and poor human capita development, which affect the productive capacity and consequently low GDP growth rate. This has led to increase in poverty, disease, low life expectancy and high mortality rate due to poor health facilities etc.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Despite the significant progress in medicine, which has seen the incidence of several communicable diseases drop drastically, it is yet to transform into the slowdown of deaths in poor nations, (WHO, 2016). In this present time, inadequate distribution of income and lack of access to health facilities have always been a problem in developing countries such as Nigeria; even  though  emphasis  has  been  laid  on  the  provision  of  healthcare  facilities  by  evenly distributing incomes to the citizens. The  high rate at which income is unevenly distributed and the threat it has brought to the citizens over the years has enabled for a rise in the rate of mortality, reduction in the level of education, reduction in life expectancy and high level of unemployment  (UNICEF, 2006).

According to UNICEF (2006), Nigeria is categorized among countries that have severe child malnutrition and a very high mortality rate of under-five children. A look at the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the United Nations, UN, (2000) shows that the programme by

2015 should have brought about reduction of environmental mortification, illiteracy, poverty and ill health. However, despite all work put in by governments and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to successfully bring about a good health status and improved standard of living over the years has proved unsuccessful. Also, the poverty alleviation programme introduce by the

Obasanjo government called the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) in 2002 has been marred by mismanagement and corruption which has hindered its progress on improving citizen welfare in Nigeria. Notwithstanding the wide range of economic resources that Nigeria has, it has not gotten that essential structural and managerial changes that would allow it have fast  and  stable  growth  that  can  be  conducive  under  minimum  living  standard  across  the population (UNICEF, 2006).

High income disparity and low life expectancy at birth has become a worrisome situation in Nigeria. In figure 1.2, life expectancy is compared among the five largest oil producing countries in Africa. And it is obvious from the graph that life expectancy in Nigeria is very low, and this may be due to poverty and being insensitive to the policies formulations by government. Taking a cursory look at the graph from 2006 to 2014; Libya, Egypt and Algeria have the highest life expectancy unlike Nigeria, a country with the largest economy in Africa. Despites the huge profits earned from the sales of crude oil, Nigerian citizens have continue to experience hardship and poor health condition as a result of inconsistency in planning and lack of equitable distribution of resources by government to cater for the needs of the masses.

Figure 1.2: Life Expectancy at Birth (LEB)

80

70

60

50                                                                                                                                                            Nigeria

Libya

40

Egypt

30                                                                                                                                                            Algeria

20                                                                                                                                                            Angola

10

0

2006      2007      2008      2009      2010      2011      2012      2013      2014

Source: Author’s computation from, (WDI, 2016)

Showing from table 1.2 below, Nigeria’s life expectancy at birth is approximately 53 years as at

2014, however life expectancy is approximately 72 in Libya, 71 in Egypt and approximately 75 years in Algeria respectively, however Angola with a small market is competing with Nigeria with average life expectancy of 52 years. This should be a source of concern to Nigeria’s economic managers/policy makers.

Years Nigeria Libya Egypt Algeria Angola 2006 49.228 71.631 69.613 70.008 49.007 2007 49.791 71.938 69.808 70.171 49.435 2008 50.329 71.787 70.013 70.327 49.847 2009 50.830 71.780 70.228 70.474 50.251 2010 51.289 71.737 70.450 70.616 50.654 2011 51.710 71.683 70.533 70.751 51.059

Table 0:1 Life Expectancy at Birth (LEB)

2012	52.109	71.649	70.727	70.852	51.464
2013	52.442	71.657	70.925	74.568	51.886
2014	52.754	71.716	71.121	74.808	52.266

Source: World Development Index (WDI, 2016)

Another issue of concern is the increase in government budgetary expenditure year-in-year-out, but the country GDP Per capita over the years is nothing to write home about, in relation to Libya, Egypt, Algeria and Angola with a small market compared to Nigeria, as depicted in figure

3 below. These may be due to fiscal neglect and government not being able to invest and commit to the social sector, which has made it among the worst in Africa.

Figure 1.3: Life Expectancy and head-count Poverty

35000

30000

25000

20000

15000

10000

5000

0

2006       2007       2008       2009       2010       2011       2012       2013       2014

Nigeria              Libya              Egypt              Algeria              Angola

Source: Author’s computation from (WDI, 2016)

In addition to the challenges of increase in poverty, Nigeria as a country has focused just 0.2 per cent of its GDP on health care and 0.7 percent on education, and this has left 69 percent of the population living below the official poverty line, even though Nigeria is the seventh largest exporter of oil in the world, it is one of the poorest countries in terms of human capita development which has contributed to high rate of poverty and low life expectancy among its population (Federal Republic of Nigeria, FRN, 2001).

Consequently, Ngbea & Achunike (2006), show that the world per capita income as of 2003 was

$7,140. Comparing this to Nigeria‘s GNP per capita which stood at $269 in the same period, has made the country one of the poorest in the world, and this record has relegated Nigeria to the

positions of Togo ($270), Rwanda ($220), and Mali ($210). Other pointers of development, like life expectancy, for which Nigeria is ranked 155th out of the world‘s 177 nations, and infant mortality, for which Nigeria is ranked 148th among 173 nations, were consistent with Nigeria‘s low rank in income per capita (Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, 2009). Based on these evidences, Nigeria has been categorized as a poor country; a condition which can be described as a bewildering paradox given the massive resource base of the country. Besides, Human capital development efforts through education and health indicators reveal weak performance. Health expenditure as percentage of GDP fell from 4.3% in 2004 to 3.8% in 2013 (WDI,  2014). However, the income inequities  in  emerging  countries  like  Nigeria may  have  had  a direct relationship with the worsening health situations and probably been accountable for the limited progress made in increasing life expectancy (Reddy, 2007). It is in-line with these problems that this present study is investigating the impact of poverty on life expectancy in Nigeria.

1.3 Research Questions

The research questions which this study attempts to address are:

1. To what extent does poverty impact on life expectancy rate in Nigeria?

2. What is the response of life expectancy to shocks in poverty in Nigeria?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

The specific objectives which the study intends to pursue are:

1. To estimate the impact of poverty on life expectancy rate in Nigeria.

2. To determine the response of life expectancy to shocks in poverty in Nigeria.

1.5 Research Hypothesis

In order to guide the study’s objectives, the following are the hypotheses of the study:

H01: Poverty does not have any significant impact on life expectancy rate in Nigeria.

H02: The direction of response of life expectancy to shocks in poverty in Nigeria is not clear.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The importance of this study cannot be over-emphasized because it served as a guide for policy makers and health experts. This study helped government at all level to give attention to human capital development through increasing investment expenditure on education and provisions of health facilities to hospitals across the country. It also serve as a template of orientations to the citizens on the danger posed by poverty which directly affects the standard of living of the people, that causes life-expectancy of many Nigerians to remain low compared to other African countries. The research serves as reference point for further research, for student in higher institutions, non-governmental institutions (NGOs) and Nigerians at large.

1.7 Scope of the Study

This study is a country specific research, and it made use of annual time-series data from World Development Indicators (WDI, 2016) spanning the period 1981-2016, this is so because data from 2017-2018 is not yet available in World Development Indicator. The variables of interest include: Life-Expectancy (LFEXP), Gross Domestic Product Per Capita (PCGDP), Public Health Expenditure (PHEXP), Education (proxy by Adult literacy rate (ADULTR), Household Consumption Per Capita Gross (HHCPC) (proxy for poverty) and Infants Mortality rate (INFMORT). The drive of this research is to investigate the impact of poverty on life expectancy in Nigeria.

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