Does vulnerability to household energy poverty affect rural children’s cognition?—Empirical study based on CFPS data

Energy poverty constrains human development and brings many negative impacts, which makes it one of the urgent global problems at present. Compared to cities, rural areas face a more severe problem of relative energy poverty, where children are the first to suffer from relative energy poverty. Thus, portraying the vulnerability of rural children to energy poverty not only helps to identify the relative state of energy poverty in rural households and provides valuable insights into sustainable rural development policies but also effectively guarantees energy security, enhances children’s well-being, and comprehensively protects children’s development as proposed by the United Nations goals. Therefore, based on summarizing China’s experience, this study innovatively constructs a framework for identifying the vulnerability of Chinese rural households to energy poverty, taking a dynamic perspective on energy poverty. It also explores the impact of vulnerability on children’s cognitive ability and the mechanism of influence. The study finds that the vulnerability of rural households to energy poverty has a significant inhibitory effect on children’s cognitive ability. Heterogeneity analysis shows that such an effect is particularly prominent among low-income households, especially in rural areas of central and western regions, and that the negative impact is greater among female children. By further exploring how the vulnerability of rural households to energy poverty affects children’s cognitive ability, it is found that years of schooling, as a mediating variable, can explain this effect. On this basis, we propose policy recommendations aimed at alleviating relative energy poverty and guaranteeing the developmental rights of rural children through macro-regulatory instruments. Based on the results of the study, appropriate countermeasures are proposed with a view to improving the level of energy use among rural children and increasing their well-being.