Energy poverty and health: findings from the Greek adults national survey “Health & Welfare 2025”

Background

Greece exhibits high rates of energy poverty which is known to relate to health, with the economic recession, the COVID-19 pandemic and the geopolitical and energy instability having exerted an ever increasing pressure. The present study examines the self-reported prevalence of energy poverty among Greek adult population and its association with health outcomes.

Methods

Data were derived from the adult national survey HEALTH AND WELFARE collected through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) in June-July 2025, with random selection of telephone numbers after stratification for area of residence, the sample being 2.001. Descriptive statistics are reported after weighing for age. Poor health outcomes were tested for association with energy poverty variables by Prevalence Ratios (PR) and their 95% Confidence Intervals, estimated by Poisson regression analysis with robust variance. Models were run separately for males and females, adjusting for age as a continuous variable, as well as for country of birth, family status, number of persons in the household, education, occupation, financial difficulties, spending over 50% of monthly income on bills and debts. The SPSS 29 was used.

Results

Of respondents, feeling discomfort due to cold in winter or heat during summer in their home was reported by 486 (24.3%), difficulty in paying energy bills by 558 (28.1%), lack of financial ability to keep home adequately warm in winter by 569 (28.6%) and cool in the summer by 504 (25.3%). Among females, reporting thermal discomfort compared to no discomfort, the PR of poor self-rated health was 1.86 (95% C.I.: 1.22-2.91, p < 0.01), and for having felt health need for care during the previous year the PR was 1.08 (95% C.I.: 1.04-1.13, p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Findings of high prevalence of self-reported measures of energy poverty among the Greek population corroborate existing literature. Females are more prone to exhibit health impacts of thermal discomfort.

Key messages

• Greece exhibits high prevalence of energy poverty, which has a negative impact on health inequalities with higher probability of women’s health being affected.

• Multisectoral policies are required for alleviating energy poverty and its impact on health.