What’s cooking with demographic transition in poor countries in relation to global energy transition?
Quite a lot, according to a new study by researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.
A switch to modern cooking fuels such as gas or electricity can improve the well-being of women in the global South, and eventually lead to a fall in birth rates, the study said.
Information and education
“We find that the switch not only improves health, but also relieves women of the need to have many children to do time-consuming housework like fetching firewood or cooking on open fires,” says Camille Belmin, lead author and researcher at the Potsdam Institute.
This frees up time to seek information and education - and eventually helps women realise their reproductive rights - a direct line that links the switch to modern energies with demographic transition.
“Our study is relevant given that more than half of the world’s population lacks access to modern cooking fuels. This is a gendered problem, as its consequences fall mostly on women and girls.”
Health hazards at home
The time-consuming chores keep some of them off the schoolyards and modern media such as TV or the Internet. And not least, burning wood or charcoal carries health hazards for everyone at home.
Based on a panel data spanning 25 years and 44 countries, researchers applied statistical methods to find significant connection between access to modern energy and lower fertility.
The strongest effects were found in countries with initially high fertility rates, according to Helga Weisz, co-author of the study. “Education is undoubtedly key. Access to modern cooking fuels and electricity, which we sum up as modern energy, is complementary to education,” Weisz points out.
More choices for women
Both modern energy and education are paths to more choices for women about the number of children they bear. This means that expanding access to modern energy is likely to accelerate the demographic transition, too, with lower overall carbon emissions, Weisz says.
The results have policy implications. “Recognising the multiple benefits of modern energy for women’s lives opens up new avenues with respect to framing development policies.
“Such programmes would target women's well-being, self-determination, and reproductive choice, and fertility decline would merely be a consequence,” Belmin concludes.