Rural Population, Economic Growth And Co2 Emissions: Testing The Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis In Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of rural population and economic growth on CO2 emissions, with particular focus on the validity of the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in Nigeria from the year 1970 to 2022. The paper applied the Autoregressive Distributed Lag technique in the analysis of the specified regression model. The result of the bound test revealed evidence of cointegration between rural population, economic growth and CO2 emissions. The findings show that rural population has a small but positive influence on CO2 emissions. In contrast, the study found that rising incomes significantly improves environmental quality in the long run which validates the presence of the EKC. The paper therefore recommends that the rural population should be better orientated on the ways some of the primary sector activities they are engaged in contribute to CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Moreover, the government can take significant steps to improve environmental quality by encouraging the human development of the rural population. This may contribute to reverse the effect of rural livelihood activities on the environment.