The sharply rising costs of living may push more than 140 million people around the world into extreme poverty, a recent study highlights.

35 million EU citizens, approximately around 8 per cent of the EU’s population, were unable to keep their homes adequately warm in 2020, figures released by Eurostat reveal. Since then, this number has certainly increased due to surging energy prices induced by the war and the sanctions policy.

Besides the households, companies also have to pay more for energy, so the higher tariffs are passed on to the prices of products and services, indirectly driving up inflation not only in Europe, but also across the world.

According to a recent study, the number of those facing extreme poverty due to the cost of living crisis could be 141 million more in reality, as highlighted by the oilprice.com portal. Energy costs for households around the globe are estimated to have risen by between 62.6% and 112.9% since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with overall household expenditure increasing between 2.7% and 4.8%, the portal writes.

Based on this rise, the study suggests that between 78 and 141 million people could be plunged not only into energy poverty, but into extreme poverty.

Energy poverty, ny the way, is rising all across Europe. In the Netherlands, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) mapped energy poverty and found that the number of households living in energy poverty rose by approximately 90,000 from 2020 to 2022, from over 450,000 to more than 540,000.

Energy prices in the UK increased nearly two and a half fold from an annual average of 1,258 US dollars in 2020/21 to 3,019 US dollars as of October 2022. Research from the National Energy Action (NEA) shows that over 6.7 million UK households are now living in energy poverty, a figure that has doubled since 2020.

Meanwhile, in Germany, it is thought that around one in four Germans are living in energy poverty, compared to just one in six in 2018. This is disproportionately affecting the lower classes, with a lower-middle-class person being around twice as likely to become energy impoverished than around a year ago.

„This crisis is worsening energy poverty and extreme poverty worldwide. For poor countries, living costs undermine their hard-earned gains in energy access and poverty alleviation, Klaus Hubacek, co-author of the poverty study, explained, pointing out that „short-term policies addressing the cost-of-living crisis must align with climate mitigation goals and other long-term sustainable development commitments”.

With energy shortages expected to continue throughout 2023, meaning even higher energy costs, experts can expect millions more to fall into poverty. To alleviate pressures on the consumer, governments will not only have to introduce policies to subsidise energy in the short term, but they will also have to accelerate the green transition to improve long-term energy security, experts say.