Title: An empirical analysis of the role of rural population growth on electricity consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa

Authors: Nyakundi Michieka

Addresses: Economics Department, California State University, Bakersfield, USA

Abstract: The objective of this study is to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between rural and urban population on electricity consumption in five Sub-Saharan countries between 1971 and 2013. Results from the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)-bounds testing approach indicate that rural population plays a larger role in electricity consumption than the urban population in Côte d'Ivoire, Congo Republic and Zambia. In Congo Republic, a 1% growth in rural population resulted in a 29.4% decline in growth of electricity consumption in the long run. Growth in rural and urban population does not affect electricity use in Kenya and South Africa.

Keywords: rural and urban population; electricity consumption; Sub-Saharan Africa.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETP.2020.107018

International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy, 2020 Vol.16 No.3, pp.302 - 325

Received: 07 May 2017
Accepted: 09 Nov 2017
Published online: 01 May 2020 *

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