Energy affordability and trends of mortality in Cyprus

ABSTRACT

Energy affordability and climatic variability are associated to human health and this study investigates their impacts on public health for Cyprus, an eastern Mediterranean island afflicted by extreme summer heat and cold winters, especially in the Troodos mountains. Energy poverty indicators are computed through statistical analysis of mortality data and household consumption information, the latter collected through a tailored survey. Results show that almost half of the survey participants spend large proportions of their incomes towards essential energy services. Moreover, ambient temperature is significantly linked to mortality, with a 20-fold higher risk of death in winter and a major shift in mortality noticed around 2013, following a severe financial crisis which exposed rural populations to a higher mortality risk.

KEYWORDS:

• Energy expenditure
• winter mortality
• energy poverty
• urban
• rural
• excess winter death

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Health and its Health Monitoring Unit for supplying mortality records even during the pandemic, as well as the Department of Meteorology and the Water Research and Management group of the Cyprus Institute for providing the temperature data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).