Addressing rural energy poverty and rural-urban energy access gap in developing countries: does international remittances matter?

Alleviating rural energy poverty and inequality in rural-urban energy accessibility is a panacea for
rural economic development. Researchers and policymakers have underscored the importance of
remittances in socio-economic development; however, the role of remittances on rural energy
poverty and disparity in rural-urban energy access remains under-researched area. This study,
therefore, investigates whether remittances contribute to enhance rural energy poverty and ruralurban inequality in energy access in 135 developing countries from 2000–2020. Evidence from
cross-sectional and endogeneity-corrected results supports that international remittance inflow
substantially reduces rural poverty and rural-urban inequality in energy access. The results also
indicate that the effect of remittance on rural energy poverty and rural-urban inequality in energy
access depends on the state of countries’ financial development and GDP per capita, indicating
that remittances alleviate rural energy poverty and inequality in rural-urban energy accessibility in
countries with higher access to credit and per capita GDP. We documented that these findings
differ across income groups. The policy implications are discussed.