World | Access to electricity (% of population)

Access to electricity is the percentage of population with access to electricity. Electrification data are collected from industry, national surveys and international sources. Development relevance: Maintaining reliable and secure electricity services while seeking to rapidly decarbonize power systems is a key challenge for countries throughout the world. More and more countries are becoming increasing dependent on reliable and secure electricity supplies to underpin economic growth and community prosperity. This reliance is set to grow as more efficient and less carbon intensive forms of power are developed and deployed to help decarbonize economies. Energy is necessary for creating the conditions for economic growth. It is impossible to operate a factory, run a shop, grow crops or deliver goods to consumers without using some form of energy. Access to electricity is particularly crucial to human development as electricity is, in practice, indispensable for certain basic activities, such as lighting, refrigeration and the running of household appliances, and cannot easily be replaced by other forms of energy. Individuals' access to electricity is one of the most clear and un-distorted indication of a country's energy poverty status. Electricity access is increasingly at the forefront of governments' preoccupations, especially in the developing countries. As a consequence, a lot of rural electrification programs and national electrification agencies have been created in these countries to monitor more accurately the needs and the status of rural development and electrification. Use of energy is important in improving people's standard of living. But electricity generation also can damage the environment. Whether such damage occurs depends largely on how electricity is generated. For example, burning coal releases twice as much carbon dioxide - a major contributor to global warming - as does burning an equivalent amount of natural gas. Statistical concept and methodology: The World Bank’s Global Electrification Database (GED) compiles nationally representative household survey data, and occasionally census data, from sources going back as far as 1990. The database also incorporates data from the Socio-Economic Database for Latin America and the Caribbean (SEDLAC), Middle East and North Africa Poverty Database (MNAPOV) and the Europe and Central Asia Poverty Database (ECAPOV), which are based on similar surveys. At the time of this analysis, the GED contained 1,375 surveys for 149 countries in 1990-2021.
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
World
Records
63
Source
World | Access to electricity (% of population)
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998 73.35025033
1999 74.65785354
2000 78.36437581
2001 78.8454376
2002 79.23032594
2003 80.093097
2004 80.06355525
2005 80.83594887
2006 81.46886437
2007 82.09499719
2008 82.78812577
2009 82.98350692
2010 83.56590691
2011 84.62444758
2012 85.05866078
2013 85.8165221
2014 86.30522223
2015 87.02273081
2016 88.18963049
2017 89.01696149
2018 89.89187221
2019 90.19356224
2020 90.48270308
2021 91.41409564
2022

World | Access to electricity (% of population)

Access to electricity is the percentage of population with access to electricity. Electrification data are collected from industry, national surveys and international sources. Development relevance: Maintaining reliable and secure electricity services while seeking to rapidly decarbonize power systems is a key challenge for countries throughout the world. More and more countries are becoming increasing dependent on reliable and secure electricity supplies to underpin economic growth and community prosperity. This reliance is set to grow as more efficient and less carbon intensive forms of power are developed and deployed to help decarbonize economies. Energy is necessary for creating the conditions for economic growth. It is impossible to operate a factory, run a shop, grow crops or deliver goods to consumers without using some form of energy. Access to electricity is particularly crucial to human development as electricity is, in practice, indispensable for certain basic activities, such as lighting, refrigeration and the running of household appliances, and cannot easily be replaced by other forms of energy. Individuals' access to electricity is one of the most clear and un-distorted indication of a country's energy poverty status. Electricity access is increasingly at the forefront of governments' preoccupations, especially in the developing countries. As a consequence, a lot of rural electrification programs and national electrification agencies have been created in these countries to monitor more accurately the needs and the status of rural development and electrification. Use of energy is important in improving people's standard of living. But electricity generation also can damage the environment. Whether such damage occurs depends largely on how electricity is generated. For example, burning coal releases twice as much carbon dioxide - a major contributor to global warming - as does burning an equivalent amount of natural gas. Statistical concept and methodology: The World Bank’s Global Electrification Database (GED) compiles nationally representative household survey data, and occasionally census data, from sources going back as far as 1990. The database also incorporates data from the Socio-Economic Database for Latin America and the Caribbean (SEDLAC), Middle East and North Africa Poverty Database (MNAPOV) and the Europe and Central Asia Poverty Database (ECAPOV), which are based on similar surveys. At the time of this analysis, the GED contained 1,375 surveys for 149 countries in 1990-2021.
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
World
Records
63
Source