Households in Central Asia continue to bear the brunt of rising energy prices, followed by South and Southeast Asia.
The world energy crisis, unleashed after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, has raised the price of energy for “heating, cooling and mobility of homes”as well as the costs of other goods and services globally, which could push some 141 million people around the world into extreme poverty, according to a study published Thursday in Nature Energy.
The researchers modeled the direct and indirect impacts of rising energy prices on 201 spending groups in 116 countries. The nine different scenarios proposed by the authors show that people would have to spend between 62.6% and 112.9% more on energyraising total household costs between 2.7% and 4.8%.
Analysts stress that the burden of energy prices on different groups of households and in different countries varies due to differences in the structure of the supply chain, consumption patterns and energy needs. According to calculations made, between 78 and 141 million people globally could be condemned to extreme poverty.
In terms of the increase in energy costs, both direct and indirect, households in Central Asia they are still the most affected (80.7%) –the largest increase has been in Tajikistan–, followed by South and Southeast Asia (74.5%). For example, Laotians’ direct energy costs increased by 51.1%, while their total energy costs increased by 100.8%.
If only the direct impacts are considered, many countries in sub saharan africa and Central Asia face further increases in this area. The top three countries on the list are Angola (6.4%), Azerbaijan (3.5%) and Benin (3.5%).
Source: RT
