Structural deprivation gradients in energy poverty across four Jordanian household surveys

<title>Abstract</title> <p>Energy poverty research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remains fragmented, existing Jordanian studies apply methodologically incommensurable frameworks to different samples, and no study has applied a consensual indicator framework to repeated primary household surveys in the region. This study addresses that gap using four Jordanian household surveys (2022–2025; N = 1,750), previously reported in the author's original publications. A harmonization protocol maps heterogeneous survey items onto six consensual indicators, applies direction-sensitive recoding to Likert-format items, and assigns each item a three-level comparability rating. Absolute prevalence rates are not comparable across waves due to sampling-frame shifts and instrument differences, whereas the direction and magnitude of deprivation gradients are. Headline energy poverty rates range from 87.8% to 54.9% across waves, reflecting survey design rather than temporal change. The income gradient, between 26.3 and 38.6 percentage points across low- and high-income households, is directionally stable across all four samples, and the rural–urban gradient (8.9–22.3 percentage points) is similarly invariant, evidencing structural deprivation inequality in Jordan. In the only wave with expenditure data (Zarqa, 2022), 72.5% of households exceed the 10% Low-Income High-Cost threshold, with 90.7% convergent validity between objective and consensual measures. The findings support income-targeted energy support over universal subsidies and recommend embedding these consensual indicators in Jordan's national survey infrastructure. Given the well-documented links between cold, damp, and energy-inefficient housing and respiratory, cardiovascular, and mental health risks, these gradients are also directly relevant to household health and social epidemiology research in the MENA region.</p>