Impacts of education on cooking fuel choice for diverse family sizes and genders in Ghana

Access to clean and efficient energy is acknowledged as a key prerequisite for sustainable development and as the most reliable way to achieve environmental sustainability. However, many people in sub-Saharan Africa continue to cook with solid fuels, which has a severe effect on the environment, health and living standards. The current research investigates the complex relationships between demographic factors (education, household size, and gender) and cooking fuel choice in Ghana by applying a multinomial logit model to the Ghana Living Standard Survey. While the influence of basic, secondary, and tertiary education on modern energy choice remains consistent across household sizes for male-headed households, secondary and tertiary education positively influenced transitional energy choice in male-headed households with larger household sizes compared to smaller ones. However, the results indicate that the effects of secondary and tertiary education on traditional energy choice are weaker for male-headed households with larger family sizes than smaller ones. Moreover, while age, access to radio, and electricity influenced cooking fuel choices, income and urbanisation positively influenced transitional and modern energies, with unemployed, self-employed, house ownership, forest, and savannah zones having negative effects on transitional and modern energies compared to traditional energy. The findings suggest that investigating the nuanced relationships between education, household size, gender, and energy choice may yield valuable insights for policies that increase access to clean cooking fuels.