Journal of Economics, Management and Trade

The study investigates the effects of population age structure, that is, the number of people who could potentially be economically active (15-65 years) on carbon dioxide emissions in Africa at different income levels. The study seeks to determine whether the economically active population of the African countries play significant roles in the rising carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions on the continent or not. We employed fixed effects, random effects and generalized least squares (GLS) estimators, and measures the quantitative impacts from an augmented STIRPAT model constructed assuming that population structure, manufacturing sector, the services sector, final consumption expenditure (annual growth) are the predictors of CO₂ emissions (environmental impacts). The findings suggest mixed results of positive and negative impacts of population age structure: The quantitative impacts indicate that the average impact of population age structure on CO₂ emissions, when the population age structure change across time and between countries in LICA and UICA increases by 1 per cent, reduces CO₂ emissions by about 0.67 per cent and 1.08 per cent respectively, holding all other predictors constant. Whereas the estimated results indicate that the average impact of population-age-structure on CO₂ emissions, when the population structure change across time and between countries in LMICA increases by 1 per cent, increases CO₂ emissions by about 0.52 percent, holding all other predictors constant. The implication is that in lower-middle-income-countries in Africa the active-population-age groups (15-65 years) play a significant role in carbon-dioxide-emissions load in the continent, whereas in low-income-countries and upper-income-countries in Africa the reverse is the case.