Foreign Sector Indicators and Life Expectancy in Nigeria

Abstract

The study empirically investigated the effect of foreign sector indicators on life expectancy in Nigeria. The foreign sector indicators include balance of payments, exchange rate, external reserves, foreign direct investment, and external debts for the period from 1981 to 2020. The study employed secondary data, which was gotten from the Central Bank of Nigeria's statistical bulletin. The employed data analysis techniques are the stationarity test, the autoregressive distributive lag technique, and the bounds cointegration test. The study revealed that an increase in gross domestic product per capita will improve life expectancy rates in the short run through the long run; an increase in external debts will reduce life expectancy in both the short run and long run; and an appreciation of the exchange rate will increase life expectancy in Nigeria in both the short run and long run. The study concludes that the external sector's performance has an unstable effect on life expectancy in Nigeria. The inherent instability is occasioned by the positive effect of gross domestic product and the exchange rate factor, while external debts have maintained their burden on the Nigerian economy. The studyrecommends amongst others that the positive effect of the balance of payments should be sustained, actions should be taken to ensure that surplus revenues are invested in ventures that will grow the economy, and the increase in Nigeria's external reserves should be sustained through deliberate efforts.

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