Nexus of Demographic Change, Structural Transformation and Economic Growth in South Asia

The economic growth depends on changes in the demographic profile of a country. However, the demographic change over economic growth has positive and negative relationships in the literature. Further, testing a Kuznets model of economic growth is not adequately estimated in the field of demographic and structural transformation in South Asia. The study uses panel data model for understanding the structural change over the demographic changes of the South Asian economies. A panel unit root test and GMM dynamic panel data model will be evaluated with the use of Kuznets curve approach. The results of GMM dynamic panel data estimation show a strong relationship among CO2 emission, demographic profile and economic growth. It revealed that 1% increase in GDP increases 3.033% of the CO2 emission. However, increase of 1% demographic profile of the South Asia decreases CO2 emission by 0.058%. Thereby, the changes of demographic profile with respect to the changes of economic growth can reduce the environmental degradation and promote sustainability in development policies