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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Life-Course Epidemiology and Social Inequalities in Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1404014

The impact of energy poverty on the health and welfare of the middle-aged and elderly population

Provisionally accepted
Yibo Wang Yibo Wang You Wu You Wu Chenyu Wang Chenyu Wang Li Li Li Li *Yalin Lei Yalin Lei Sanmang Wu Sanmang Wu Zhi Qu Zhi Qu
  • China University of Geosciences, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Drawing upon data from the 2018 CHARLS , this paper utilizes MEPI and a 10% threshold indicator to respectively assess the energy poverty (EP) status among middle-aged and elderly populations in China, focusing on the unavailability and unaffordability of energy services. Additionally, a econometric model is constructed to investigate the effects of EP on the health and welfare of middle-aged and elderly populations. Regression results indicate that EP exerts a significant negative impact on the health and welfare of middle-aged and elderly populations. This conclusion remains robust after conducting endogeneity and robustness tests, demonstrating its validity. Finally, based on the calculation results, we propose relevant policy recommendations including enhancing energy services for elderly households in rural areas, integrating household energy alternatives with targeted poverty alleviation, enhancing monitoring mechanisms, and conducting energy education activities to alleviate EP and improve the quality of life of middle-aged and elderly people.

    Keywords: Energy poverty, Health, welfare, OLS regression, policies

    Received: 18 Apr 2024; Accepted: 26 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Wu, Wang, Li, Lei, Wu and Qu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Li Li, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, Beijing Municipality, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.