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Determinants of household health expenditure in Nigeria

Author

Listed:
  • Noah Olasehinde
  • Olanrewaju Olaniyan

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of health expenditure at the household level in Nigeria with specific focus on the household and individual unique characteristics. It presents some stylised facts about the Nigerian health system and its financing options. It went further to show that household is the major financial organ of healthcare in Nigeria. The study aims to expand the domain of household health expenditure by analysing at national, urban and rural levels. Design/methodology/approach - It adopted Engel curve approach, which was estimated using ordinary least squares technique. The model was structured to take care of life-cycle implications by examining effects of age in years and age groups (0-9, 10-19, 20-39, 40-59 and 60+) on healthcare spending. Data were drawn from the 2010 Harmonised Nigeria Living Standards Survey (HNLSS) conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics and analyses were conducted nationally, for urban and rural locations. Findings - The result shows that individual characteristics like age, religion, education and household characteristics like income, size and headship commonly influence healthcare expenditure in Nigeria significantly. The household-level variables possess stronger significant effects among the rural households while marital status and employment had differential effects in both urban and rural locations. It also confirmed that Nigeria engages in intergenerational transfer of healthcare by the working population to the young and older generations. Research limitations/implications - HNLSS was only limited to those who were sick or injured in the last two weeks preceding the survey, leaving out those whose sickness preceded the two weeks before the survey. Also, the scope of health expenditure is limited to curative care spending that exclude expenses on preventive care, rehabilitative care as well as other cost-saving services. Originality/value - This paper fulfils an identified need to examine the determinants of household health expenditure at the national, urban and rural locations.

Suggested Citation

  • Noah Olasehinde & Olanrewaju Olaniyan, 2017. "Determinants of household health expenditure in Nigeria," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(12), pages 1694-1709, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijsepp:ijse-12-2015-0324
    DOI: 10.1108/IJSE-12-2015-0324
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kwame Adjei-Mantey & Charles Yuji Horioka, 2023. "Determinants of health insurance enrollment and health expenditure in Ghana: an empirical analysis," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1269-1288, December.
    2. Dawe, Mohamed, 2020. "Transfiguration Of National Health Financing To Rural Communities," International Journal of Economics Development Research (IJEDR), Research and Intellectual Development Foundation, vol. 1(3), pages 200-212, December.
    3. Sasmita Behera & Jalandhar Pradhan, 2021. "Uneven economic burden of non-communicable diseases among Indian households: A comparative analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Glenn P. Jenkins & Hope Amala Anyabolu & Pejman Bahramian, 2019. "Family Decision Making on Healthcare Spending: New Evidence for Nigeria," Development Discussion Papers 2019-12, JDI Executive Programs.

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