The effect of population growth on environment in Iran and other countries in the MENA region

In recent decades, concern about global warming as a result of rising greenhouse gas emissions has increased. Human activities, especially energy use and fossil fuels, play a major role in the release of these gases. Considering that population growth has led to increased energy consumption and consequently higher atmospheric pollution, some believe that population growth will exacerbate environmental problems. Hence, this paper seeks to investigate the empirical and theoretical analysis of the relationship between population growth and air pollution. In this paper, using panel data method, the impact of population growth rate, per capita GDP and second-generation GDP per capita, as well as the value added of the industrial sector, the openness of the economy, urban population and per capita energy consumption has been investigated on emission of carbon dioxide for MENA countries over the period 2014-2000. The results of the empirical research indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between population growth rate and air pollution for MENA countries. Also, the results confirm the existence of Kusnet's environmental curves for the countries of the MENA region