A Note on Socio-Economic Characteristics and the Demand for Beverages in Nigeria: Does Income Matter?

The paper investigates demand characteristics of beverage consumption with a focus on the role of income in Nigeria. It uses double hurdle model to analyze the probability of purchasing beverages and the demand for beverages based on the 2003/2004 Nigeria Living Standards Survey (NLSS) data. Within this context, the empirical results show that household income increases the probability of purchasing and the demand for beverages in the study. Specifically, our results reveal that 10 percent rises in household income increases the consumption of beverages by about 17 percent. Meaning that an average household in the sample considered the demand for beverages to be luxury. But a closer look at the result across income groups show that households in the low and high-income groups considered the demand for beverages to be necessity and luxury, respectively in the study.