Structural energy poverty vulnerability and excess winter mortality in the European Union: Exploring the association between structural determinants and health
Section snippets
Methods
We conducted an ecological cross-sectional study in which the analysis units were the 27 countries constituting the EU as of January 2013 (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom).
We obtained most of the indicators to create the index from Eurostat, the European
Structural energy poverty vulnerability index
After reviewing the databases, 47 indicators were included: 18 for the Labor Market and Welfare State dimension, 19 for the Housing Market and its Policies and 10 for the Energy Market and its Policies. According to the Spearman correlation analysis and the consensus of the expert group, redundant indicators were excluded and 29 indicators were retained (11 for the first dimension, 10 for the second and 8 for the third) (Appendix A describes the initial 47 variables and indicates those that
Conclusions and policy implications
This study contributes to the literature by providing an index that summarizes SEPV in the EU-27 and allows more nuanced and empirically rich comparisons across countries and analyses its geographical distribution. Moreover, this index was validated and can have different applications; one of them is the study of the impact of SEPV on public health. The index highlights the important role of the Labor Market and Welfare State as well as the wide distribution of its scores. Furthermore, the
Funding sources
The study is part of the PENSA Project (“Pobreza energética y salud desde multiples perspectivas: análisis individual, geográfico y temporal”), which received a research grant from the Carlos III Institute of Health, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, awarded on the 2015 call under the Health Strategy Action 2013–2016, within the National Research Program oriented to Societal Challenges, within the Technical, Scientific and Innovation Research National Plan 2013–2016, with reference
Declarations of interest
None.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful for the help provided by Carmen Trilla, expert of the Housing Market and policies dimension.
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