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Paper short abstract:

Increasing uncertainties over the years have increased our energy needs. However, not everyone has equitable access, and they face crises on various fronts of life. The paper empirically explores the relationship between multidimensional energy poverty and challenges faced by children in households.

Paper long abstract:

Increasing uncertainties over the years have increased our energy needs. However, not everyone has equitable access, and they face crises on various fronts of life, such as social, economic, and personal, such as health. Such crises often aggravate the suffering of those already vulnerable. Exploring the issue in depth, this paper empirically analyses the relationship between multidimensional energy poverty and challenges faced by vulnerable groups. The vulnerable group of this study is children. First, the paper constructs a multidimensional energy poverty index using comprehensive indicators and uses a decomposition analysis to investigate how including new indicators affects the distribution of energy poverty compared to earlier. Further, delving deeper into the implications of energy poverty, the study employs propensity score matching techniques to explore the health and educational challenges faced by children in energy-poor households. The study relies on the latest national family health surveys for analysis. The results reveal that children of energy-poor households are more vulnerable to respiratory health issues, face nutritional challenges, and lack educational attainment. These challenges vary across age groups, and evidence of social and economic inequality and inequity is also profound. In conclusion, the results highlight the severe implications of energy poverty on the future pillars of a nation, which is children, on various fronts. Hence, we advocate for a policy that reduces the deprivation of energy access across the country. Such policies will help fulfill the sustainable development goal and ease the concerns associated with it across the vulnerable population.