The impact of population pressure on global carbon dioxide emissions, 1975-1996: evidence from pooled cross-country data

In assessing and forecasting the impact of population change on carbon dioxide emissions, most previous studies have assumed a unitary elasticity of emissions with respect to population change, i.e. that a 1% increase in population results in a 1% increase in emissions. This study finds that global population change over the last two decades is more than proportionally associated with growth in carbon dioxide emissions, and that the impact of population change on emissions is much more pronounced in developing countries than in developed countries. The empirical findings are based on a data for 93 countries over the period 1975-1996. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.