Residential proximity to oil and gas development and socioeconomic conditions: a comparative analysis of 33 countries
6 affiliations
- 1University of California Berkeley School of Public Health
- 2Columbia University
- 3University of Michigan
- 4Boston University School of Public Health
- 5Environmental Defense Fund
- 6University of Washington
Abstract
Fossil fuels continue to dominate the global energy supply. As emerging technologies drive up global energy consumption (e.g. cryptocurrency mining, data centers), identifying which populations live in residential proximity to oil and gas extraction will become increasingly important. Yet, no prior study has done so on an international scale. We combine the Oil and Gas Infrastructure Mapping database with the Global Human Settlement Layer to estimate residential proximity to oil and gas wells across 33 countries in 2024. We further link these data with indicators of income and social deprivation to examine disparities in population proximity. We estimate that 150.9 million people reside within 3 km of 4.5 million oil and gas wells across 33 countries, representing 10% of their population. Country-level residential proximity to oil and gas wells is highest in the Netherlands (38.4%), Canada (33.4%), and the United States (31.3%). Of the 33 countries, 15 had populations exposed to wells across borders, including 427 thousand Mexican residents near U.S. wells, and 185 thousand U.S. residents living near wells outside national borders. This is the first large-scale, multi-country quantification of residential exposure to oil and gas extraction, providing an evidence base for future population health research and policies to reduce risks and address energy-related inequities worldwide.
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BibTeX
@article{schwarz2026residential,
title = {{Residential proximity to oil and gas development and socioeconomic conditions: a comparative analysis of 33 countries}},
author = {Lara Schwarz and Nina M Flores and David J X González and Heather McBrien and Nina Brooks and Jonathan J Buonocore and Amira Aker and Veronica Southerland and Joan A Casey and Mary D Willis},
journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/aeae53},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aeae53},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Residential proximity to oil and gas development and socioeconomic conditions: a comparative analysis of 33 countries
AU - Lara Schwarz
AU - Nina M Flores
AU - David J X González
AU - Heather McBrien
AU - Nina Brooks
AU - Jonathan J Buonocore
AU - Amira Aker
AU - Veronica Southerland
AU - Joan A Casey
AU - Mary D Willis
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - Environmental Research Letters
DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/aeae53
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aeae53
AB - Fossil fuels continue to dominate the global energy supply. As emerging technologies drive up global energy consumption (e.g. cryptocurrency mining, data centers), identifying which populations live in residential proximity to oil and gas extraction will become increasingly important. Yet, no prior study has done so on an international scale. We combine the Oil and Gas Infrastructure Mapping database with the Global Human Settlement Layer to estimate residential proximity to oil and gas wells across 33 countries in 2024. We further link these data with indicators of income and social deprivation to examine disparities in population proximity. We estimate that 150.9 million people reside within 3 km of 4.5 million oil and gas wells across 33 countries, representing 10% of their population. Country-level residential proximity to oil and gas wells is highest in the Netherlands (38.4%), Canada (33.4%), and the United States (31.3%). Of the 33 countries, 15 had populations exposed to wells across borders, including 427 thousand Mexican residents near U.S. wells, and 185 thousand U.S. residents living near wells outside national borders. This is the first large-scale, multi-country quantification of residential exposure to oil and gas extraction, providing an evidence base for future population health research and policies to reduce risks and address energy-related inequities worldwide.
SN - 1748-9326
ER -