The relationship between economic progress and energy consumption is clear. The human development index (HDI) chart (available at the QR code below) quantifies a country’s level of human development, showing a strong correlation with energy use.1
As recently as 1980, global energy use was half of what it is today and extreme poverty — living on less than $2 a day — was four times more common, afflicting over 40% of the world’s population.2
There are currently nearly 1 billion people without electricity, up to 2 billion whose electricity is inadequate and unreliable, and a total of 3 billion that use traditional low-grade fuels like firewood, dung and charcoal for cooking.3
Over 3.8 million people die annually worldwide from indoor air pollution caused by burning low-grade fuels like firewood and dung for cooking and heating their homes. That’s the equivalent of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic in 2020 and more than the total recorded deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Roughly $25 billion is invested annually in fighting these three diseases, while only $400 million is spent on improving access to clean cooking. Ten percent of what is currently being spent to fight those three diseases annually would be enough to achieve universal access to clean cooking.4
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The relationship between societal development and energy consumption is well established, with the human development index (HDI), a composite metric that quantifies a country’s level of human development, showing a strong correlation with energy use.3
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