Energy poverty indexing is only as helpful as it is instructive. Frontier analysis provides efficiency ratings which highlight underutilized input factors. This analysis compares 52 developing countries' existing infrastructure relative to their electrification rates. Hence, the results provide concerned nations not with a mere ranking, but a set of peers with which to compare themselves and specific areas to leverage to most easily increase access to electricity. This index doesn't just highlight which countries are not meeting their potential, it provides a roadmap to better energy infrastructure. The five variables in this simple model are share of population with GDP per capita, improved drinking water access, sanitation services, telephone landlines and use of solid fuels. Note that this is preliminary piece of research. Going forward, imports and domestic production of fossil fuels as well as suitability for renewable resources will be added to the analysis along with a wide range of other variables like miles of installed power lines and physical distribution of populations. Energy Poverty is defined as lack of access to reliable electricity. Hence, we focus on share of population with electricity. While simple, this statistic covers many important factors. Replacing solid fuels with electrical heat drastically reduces local pollution. Electrical lighting allows children to study at night. For homemakers it saves many hours of work in preparing food. Additionally, it permits mobile phone ownership.
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