The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described as "shocking" the fact that 17 per cent of households experience fuel poverty in a country as affluent as Ireland.
In a report on social inequalities, the WHO also found that while one woman in 47,600 died during childbirth in Ireland, the figure rose to one in eight in Afghanistan.
The WHO's comments on fuel poverty will put further pressure on the Government who have been accused of not doing enough to safeguard vulnerable members of society from rising costs.
Following a three-year investigation, the WHO report concluded that while health inequalities were rife around the world, there were "largely avoidable".
Not only was the burden of ill health and early death shared unfairly on a global scale, but also within individual countries — including affluent nations such as Ireland, said the WHO's Commission on the Social Determinants of Health.
A "toxic combination" of bad policies, economics and politics is killing people on a large scale, the report says.
The Commission brought together hundreds of researchers and other experts from universities, institutions, ministries and non-government organisations to contribute to the study.
Evidence from the UK included the fact that a boy born in the Calton suburb of Glasgow was likely to live, on average, 28 years less than one born a few miles away in Lenzie.
An example from the US recorded the fact that 886,202 deaths would have been averted between 1991 and 2000 if death rates between white and black Americans had been equal.
Highlighting inequalities between different parts of the world, a girl born in Lesotho, Southern Africa, was likely to die 42 years younger than another born in Japan.
The report, Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity Through Action on the Social Determinants of Health, stressed that the reason for such inequalities was not biology but social environment.
It concluded: "The toxic combination of bad policies, economics and politics is, in large measure, responsible for the fact that a majority of people in the world do not enjoy the good health that is biologically possible. Social
injustice is killing people on a grand scale."
The report's recommendations included providing "universal health care", and social security protection "from the cradle to the grave", full employment with a "living wage", affordable housing, and "investment in early child
years".
Commission chairman Professor Sir Michael Marmot said: "What we want policy to do is to create the conditions that empower people so that all people have the freedom to live flourishing lives.
"Following our recommendations would dramatically improve the health and life chances of billions of people."
Earlier this week, Fine Gael called on the Taoiseach to introduce measures in the forthcoming budget to alleviate fuel poverty.
The Society of St Vincent de Paul has also expressed concern over rising prices, while the Institute of Public Health has warned that failure to tackle growing rates of fuel poverty could lead to an increase in the number of excess winter deaths in Ireland.
According to a report from Sustainable Energy Ireland, which was published in June, more than 145,000 households here are experiencing fuel poverty, in which more than 10 per cent of their disposable income is spent on energy, the report finds.
The lowest earners spend an average 13 per cent on energy, compared with 1.7 per cent for high earners.
Average household electricity use increased by 62 per cent from 1990 to 2006, or 3 per cent per annum, even though fuel use fell marginally over the same period.
The situation is expected to worsen for many households shortly due to a 20 per cent increase in the price of gas, which will take effect from Monday. The increase will add an extra €150 to the average annual bill. Meanwhile, electricity prices. Moreover, a 17.5 per cent hike in electricity prices was approved at the beginning of August.
Additional reporting: PA