Religiosity and Energy Poverty: Empirical evidence across countries

This study examines the relationship between religiosity and energy poverty using religiosity measures from the World Values Survey, waves 1 to 6 (1981 to 2014). We aggregate individual responses to religiosity measures and match them to macro-level data on energy poverty measures from the World Development Indicators. Our results suggest there is a positive relationship between religiosity and energy poverty. Specifically, we find attendance to religious activities highly associated with high levels of energy poverty, especially for residents in developing economies and rural areas. Our findings are robust to the possible endogeneity of our religiosity measures and different measures of energy poverty. Exploratory analysis suggests that the increase in energy poverty from religiosity is through reduced trust in others and the dissatisfaction in life that comes from the lack of income.