PERFORMANCE OF THE SERVICE SECTOR IN WORLD ECONOMIES: THE INFLUENCE OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS

Resumo

The last few decades have seen the ascension of the tertiary sector in the production of national wealth. In order to find the reasons for this growth, this study sought to identify the factors related to service sector performance in world economies. Methodologically, it is a quantitative study, operationalized through inferential statistics with correlation tests, encompassing data from 128 countries. The dependent variable is the service sector performance, measured as its participation in the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The independent variables comprise economic and sociodemographic factors that might justify the development and growth of the tertiary sector. The results reveal that innovation, internet access, human development level, economic freedom degree, urbanization rate, per capita income, and percentage of elderly population positively affect to service sector participation in the economy of countries.