plate 005 · 2025 data
China makes more electricity than the US and EU combined
Electricity generation in 2025 (bar) and 2000 (marker), terawatt-hours.
China's machine
- 1. China now builds more ships than everyone else combined
- 2. China makes more electricity than the US and EU combined
- 3. China installs more robots than everyone else combined
- 4. China is building half the world's new reactors
- 5. China switched on 80% of the world's new coal power
- 6. China's vehicle exports grew sevenfold in five years
- 7. Six of the world's ten busiest ports are in China
- 8. China completed six in ten of 2025's new skyscrapers
- 9. China has more metro track than the next six combined
- 10. China refines most of the minerals of the future
- 11. China's new housing starts have fallen 74% since 2019
- 12. China is building more power capacity than everyone else combined
7.8×
China's power generation grew from 1,356 TWh in 2000 to 10,578 TWh in 2025.
1.45×
In 2025 China out-generated the US and EU together (10,578 vs 7,312 TWh). In 2000 it made a fifth of their total.
+6%
EU generation barely moved in 25 years, while India's grew 3.6×.
the numbers & method
| 2025 (TWh) | 2000 (TWh) | |
|---|---|---|
| China | 10,578 | 1,356 |
| United States + EU | 7,312 | 6,424 |
| United States | 4,520 | 3,802 |
| European Union | 2,792 | 2,622 |
| India | 2,082 | 571 |
Claim types Fact
US + EU is the sum of the two Ember values. Values as tabulated by Pew Research Center from Ember (accessed Jun 2026). Corrected 3 Nov 2026: title shortened to 10 words or fewer; no change to the data.
Published 18 Sep 2026
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