It also enables individuals to engage in home-based, income-generating activities and use modern technology. Subsequently, poor families with limited access to clean energy are more likely to remain poor. Universal access to clean energy therefore increases productivity, reduces health disparities, and bolsters gender equality and the inclusion of marginalized people. In low- and middle-income countries, for example, household air pollution is responsible for almost 10 per cent of total mortality, compared to only 0.2 per cent of all deaths in high-income countries.33 Indoor air pollution severely affects young children the most.