Energy poverty and household wellbeing in VietNam: Objective and Subjective aspects

Abstract

This is one of the few research on energy poverty in Vietnam that investigate the influence of energy poverty on household wellbeing. The findings, after treatment of endogeneity, demonstrate that energy poverty is truly a determinant of households’ wellbeing both in objective and subjective aspects. In particular, energy poverty increases the probability of a household member becoming ill compared with the household of non-energy-poor group. The results also show that energy-poor households tend to have higher probability of child’s dropout from school. In relation to the subjective aspect, energy poverty also affects household’s level of life satisfaction when they make a comparison with their status over five years ago.