The burden of premature adult mortality associated with lack of access to electricity in India

Background The impact of electricity access on all-cause premature mortality is unknown. Methods We use a national dataset from India to compare districts with high access to electricity (>90% of households) to districts with middle (50-90%) and low (<50%) access to electricity and estimate the effect of lack of electricity access on all-cause premature mortality. Results In 2014, out of 597 districts in India, 174 districts had high access, 228 had middle access, and 195 had low access to electricity. When compared to districts with high access, districts with low access had higher rates of age-standardized premature mortality in both women (2.09, 95% CI: 1.43-2.74) and men (0.99, 0.10-1.87). Similarly, these districts had higher rates of conditional probability of premature death in both women (9.16, 6.19-12.13) and men (4.04, 0.77-7.30). Middle access districts had higher rates of age-standardized premature mortality and premature death in women, but not men. The total excess deaths attributable to reduced electricity access were 444,225 (45,195 in middle access districts and 399,030 in low access districts). In low access districts, the proportion of premature adult deaths attributable to low electricity access was 21.3% (14.4%- 28.1%) in women and 7.9% (1.5%- 14.3%) in men. Conclusion Poor access to electricity is associated with nearly half a million premature adult deaths. One out of five premature deaths in adult women were linked to low electricity access making it a major social determinant of health.