The Well-Being of Nigeria’s Rural Population: A Review of Literature

There is increasing relevance and interest in the concept of well-being in economics with economists and policy makers viewing it as very critical in gauging the pulse of an economy. It is seen as a key component in the evaluation of the performance and progress of an economy in addition to traditional economic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Income per capita. This paper, based on a detailed review of literature aims to present the contributory factors of subjective perception of well-being among Nigeria’s rural inhabitants. It focuses on papers which examine the concept of well-being from renowned academic databases like Elsevier and ScienceDirect. This review provides a background to the complexities and variations of the concept of well-being as well as gaining an indepth understanding of existing research and opinions on the subject matter. The conclusions from the research show that subjective well-being is multi-dimensional and understanding its multi-dimensional nature can help in shaping economic policies. With respect to rural Nigeria, housing, infrastructure, community engagements and financial security are highly contributory to the subjective perception of an individual’s well-being. With a holistic grasp of these factors, local government authorities may device means to create an environment of prosperity and fulfillment in order for the inhabitants to thrive and contribute to the economic development of their communities.