plate 194 · 2024 data

Countries mostly without electricity fell from 33 to 15

Countries where under half of people had access to electricity, 2015 and 2024. The map shows 2024.

Africa's century
  1. 1. By 2100, more than 1 in 3 people will be African
  2. 2. Nearly half the world's under-25s will be African by 2100
  3. 3. DR Congo is projected to outgrow the US by 2100
  4. 4. Kinshasa will soon be bigger than Paris and London combined
  5. 5. Two-thirds of the world's mobile money moves in Africa
  6. 6. Volcanic heat makes nearly 45% of the power Kenya generates
  7. 7. Africa's solar imports more than doubled since early 2024
  8. 8. DR Congo mines three-quarters of the world's cobalt
  9. 9. Nearly two in three people in Africa are still offline
  10. 10. Africa formally recycles less than 1% of its e-waste
  11. 11. Ethiopia added over a third of Africa's new renewable power
  12. 12. Nigeria's cities now hold more people than Japan's
  13. 13. Sudan now has the world's most people displaced at home
  14. 14. Nigeria now has almost 25 million more people than Brazil
  15. 15. Six of the ten fastest-growing big cities are African
  16. 16. Africa now has more hungry people than Asia
  17. 17. Six in ten child deaths now happen in sub-Saharan Africa
  18. 18. Rwanda spread electricity faster than any country since 2014
  19. 19. Nigeria now eats more rice than Japan
  20. 20. More sub-Saharan Africans now have mobile money than bank accounts
  21. 21. Sub-Saharan Africa's cities now hold more people than Latin America's
  22. 22. DR Congo tripled its copper mining in ten years
  23. 23. Nitrogen dioxide over Khartoum fell 39% after war began
  24. 24. Countries mostly without electricity fell from 33 to 15
  25. 25. Seven in ten West African mobile money accounts sit idle
15

Countries where fewer than half of people had electricity in 2024, down from 33 in 2015.

18

Countries that crossed the halfway mark since 2015, among them Kenya (41.6% to 77.0%), Ethiopia (29.0% to 56.6%) and Uganda (18.5% to 55.3%).

14 of 15

Of the countries still mostly without power, all but Papua New Guinea are in sub-Saharan Africa. The region as a whole crossed half in 2021.

the numbers & method
Countries mostly without electricity fell from 33 to 15. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators: Access to electricity (% of population), 2024.
CountryValue (%)
ABW100.0
ALB100.0
AND100.0
ARE100.0
ARM100.0
ATG100.0
AUS100.0
AUT100.0
AZE100.0
BEL100.0
BGR100.0
BHR100.0
BHS100.0
BIH100.0
BLR100.0
BMU100.0
BRB100.0
BRN100.0
BTN100.0
CAN100.0
CHE100.0
CHI100.0
CHN100.0
CUB100.0
CUW100.0
CYM100.0
CYP100.0
CZE100.0
DEU100.0
DMA100.0
DNK100.0
DZA100.0
EGY100.0
ESP100.0
EST100.0
FIN100.0
FRA100.0
FRO100.0
GBR100.0
GEO100.0
GIB100.0
GRC100.0
GRL100.0
GUM100.0
HKG100.0
HRV100.0
HUN100.0
IMN100.0
IRL100.0
IRN100.0
IRQ100.0
ISL100.0
ISR100.0
ITA100.0
JOR100.0
JPN100.0
KAZ100.0
KGZ100.0
KNA100.0
KOR100.0
KWT100.0
LBN100.0
LCA100.0
LIE100.0
LKA100.0
LTU100.0
LUX100.0
LVA100.0
MAC100.0
MAF100.0
MAR100.0
MCO100.0
MDA100.0
MDV100.0
MKD100.0
MLT100.0
MNE100.0
MNP100.0
MUS100.0
MYS100.0
NLD100.0
NOR100.0
NRU100.0
NZL100.0
OMN100.0
PLW100.0
POL100.0
PRI100.0
PRT100.0
PSE100.0
PYF100.0
QAT100.0
ROU100.0
RUS100.0
SAU100.0
SGP100.0
SMR100.0
SRB100.0
SVK100.0
SVN100.0
SWE100.0
SXM100.0
SYC100.0
TCA100.0
THA100.0
TKM100.0
TON100.0
TTO100.0
TUN100.0
TUR100.0
TUV100.0
UKR100.0
URY100.0
USA100.0
UZB100.0
VCT100.0
VEN100.0
VGB100.0
VIR100.0
VNM100.0
WSM100.0
IDN99.9
IND99.9
TJK99.9
BRA99.8
CRI99.8
MEX99.8
PRY99.8
BLZ99.6
BGD99.5
DOM99.5
KHM99.2
MNG99.1
CHL99.0
SUR99.0
COL98.9
SLV98.7
ECU98.5
ARG98.4
CPV98.4
NPL97.9
JAM97.7
KIR97.7
MHL97.2
BOL96.6
LAO96.5
PER96.5
PAN96.0
FJI95.9
PAK95.7
GRD95.6
HND95.5
GAB95.1
PHL94.8
TLS94.3
GUY93.0
GHA91.9
COM91.7
GTM90.9
ZAF90.2
SWZ89.3
SYR89.3
FSM88.9
NIC88.7
AFG87.8
YEM86.3
SEN82.9
SLB81.5
MMR80.4
BWA80.2
STP77.7
LBY77.4
KEN77.0
CIV72.9
CMR72.0
RWA72.0
DJI69.2
GMB69.0
SDN66.0
VUT65.5
GNQ65.1
NGA62.5
ZWE62.0
PRK61.4
TGO61.1
LSO60.6
NAM59.3
BEN59.0
ETH56.6
AGO55.5
ERI55.3
UGA55.3
SOM54.4
HTI53.9
GIN53.8
ZMB53.6
COG53.0
TZA52.4
MRT52.2
MLI49.5
GNB43.7
PNG43.3
MDG42.5
SLE39.2
MOZ36.9
LBR34.9
BFA34.0
COD22.5
NER21.3
BDI20.1
CAF18.2
MWI15.6
TCD13.4
SSD5.4

Claim types Fact · Estimate

World Bank WDI series EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS (World Bank, Tracking SDG7 data), edition last updated 2026-10-08, read from the World Bank API (api.worldbank.org/v2, country/all, 2015-2024). Counted: economies the World Bank lists as countries (aggregates excluded), 214 with values for 2015 and 2024. Below 50% in 2024 (15): South Sudan 5.4, Chad 13.4, Malawi 15.6, Central African Republic 18.2, Burundi 20.1, Niger 21.3, DR Congo 22.5, Burkina Faso 34.0, Liberia 34.9, Mozambique 36.9, Sierra Leone 39.2, Madagascar 42.5, Papua New Guinea 43.3, Guinea-Bissau 43.7, Mali 49.5. Below 50% in 2015: 33. The 18 that crossed 50%: Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Togo, Lesotho, Benin, Ethiopia, Angola, Uganda, Eritrea, Haiti, Guinea, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Mauritania. Mali was above half in 2018 and 2020-2023 (54.5% in 2023) and fell back to 49.5% in 2024. Sub-Saharan Africa first passed 50% in 2021 (48.5% in 2020). Sub-Saharan Africa: 39.2% in 2015, 50.7% in 2021, 55.1% in 2024. Access rates are World Bank estimates built from household surveys and models; values can be revised. Counts are progrss calculations. Map hover shows the 2024 access rate.

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