Patterns and determinants of household use of fuels for cooking: Empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa

The use of clean sources of energy for cooking is critical for securing better health for women and children and improving the overall standard of living of people in developing countries. Despite increasing awareness and the revolution in energy sources, a vast majority of households in developing countries continue to use solid fuels for cooking, which are considered to be harmful to both the environment and human health. This paper uses the World Bank's comprehensive living standard survey measurement data from Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania to analyze cooking fuel use patterns and their determinants. The descriptive analysis shows that a significant number of households use solid fuels for cooking and only a small fraction of households use clean fuels such as electricity, liquid petroleum gas. Rural households and those situated far from markets are more dependent on dirty fuels. Multinomial logit and ordered probit model estimation results show that female-headed households, household heads with a higher level of education, urban and wealthy households are more likely to use modern energy sources such as electricity and liquid petroleum gas (LPG), and are less likely to use solid fuels.