Effect of population growth on electricity consumption: evidence from selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Date
2019-07
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KNUST
Abstract
It has been established extensively that the readiness of contemporary, consistent and productive electric power supply constitutes an essential and undeniably important tool for economic development. Diverse studies have sought to ascertain the relationship between population growth and electricity consumption. However, in sub-Saharan African, there are very limited empirical works that have been done to establish the link between population growth and
electricity consumption and this has necessitated this study. The study employs the Random Effects model to examine the relationship between population growth and electricity consumption for the period 1980 to 2016.
The study finds that population growth has a positive and significant effect on electricity consumption. Specifically, a 1% increase in population increases electricity consumption by 0.52%.
Again, the study finds that GDP Per Capita has a positive and statistically significant relationship with electricity consumption. Foreign direct investment has a negative and statistically significant influence on electricity consumption. However, employment to population ratio does not explain electricity consumption as it does not have a statistically significant relationship with electricity consumption.
The study recommends that projects aimed at increasing the generation capacity of electricity in Sub-Saharan African should be encouraged and as such clean sources of energy should be harnessed to provide electricity as it would assist in mitigating the effects of climate change.
Description
A Dissertation Submitted In Partial Fulfilment Of The Requirement For The Award Degree Of Master Of Science In Economics.