Population Growth, Gender Inequality and Economic Development in Nigeria

This study examined whether the perseverance of gender inequality and population growth impacts on Nigeria's economic development. The study employed the Generalized Method of Moment estimation in annual data for the period 1985-2017. Variables used include real household final consumption expenditure per capita and Real Gross Domestic product per capita as measures of development, population growth rate, ratio of sex employment for age group 15-64, sex labour force participation rate ratio, female tertiary gross enrollment and inflation to capture the macroeconomic environment. Findings showed that while sex employment ratio had negative insignificant impact on development, female tertiary enrollment and sex employment ratio showed positive significant impact on development. Population growth significantly and negatively impacted on development. The study thus recommends population control and human capital development employing fertility control, increase in female tertiary enrollment and female employment especially at the higher level.