Exploring the link between energy security and subjective well-being: a study of 22 nations

Energy has long been recognized as foundational for well-being, and recent work, has documented a link between access to energy services and health. In this analysis, we ask how worries about the energy system—in the form of access, cost, reliability, and sustainability—influence self-rated health. Using data from 22 nations and some 30,000 respondents, we find that worries about energy security reduce self-rated health. Partial proportional odds models suggest that this effect varies across thresholds of self-rated health, wherein individuals highly worried about energy security are significantly less likely to report “Very Good” self-rated health. Worries about energy security reduce subjective well-being, suggesting another avenue through which energy relates to human health.