Sub-Saharan Africa: Electricity production from nuclear sources (% of total)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Sub-Saharan Africa's electricity production from nuclear sources (% of total) fell 0.14 percentage points on 2023 (from 1.73% to 1.6%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −0.04 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.43 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 0.89 percentage points in 1994 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.97 percentage points in 1993. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.15 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 74% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 1.34% for 2027. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2022 to 2024 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 0.4%, against 0.7% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

What this measures

The share of electricity production from nuclear sources of total electricity production. Sources of electricity refer to the inputs used to generate electricity. Nuclear power refers to electricity produced by nuclear power plants.

Limitations: IEA occasionally revises its time series to reflect political changes. For example, the IEA has constructed historical energy statistics for countries of the former Soviet Union. In addition, energy statistics for other countries have undergone continuous changes in coverage or methodology in recent years as more detailed energy accounts have become available. Breaks in series are therefore unavoidable.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average using total electricity production as weights.

All 35 values

Electricity production from nuclear sources (% of total) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 0% (2021)
• Algeria — 0% (2021)
• Bahrain — 0% (2023)
• Djibouti — 0% (2021)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 0% (2021)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 1.6% (2024)
• Iraq — 0% (2021)
• Israel — 0% (2021)
• Jordan — 0% (2021)

More environment data for Sub-Saharan Africa

• Population in the largest city (% of urban population) — 25.39% (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million (% of total population) — 16.33% (2025)
• Rural population — 731.42 million (2025)
• Rural population (% of total population) — 55.34% (2025)
• Urban population — 590.23 million (2025)
• Urban population (% of total population) — 44.66% (2025)
• Aquaculture production (metric tons) — 904,661 (2024)
• Capture fisheries production (metric tons) — 8.8 million (2024)
• Total fisheries production (metric tons)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
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• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Sub-Saharan Africa's electricity production from nuclear sources (% of total)?

1.6% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is down 2.08 percentage points from 3.68% in 1990. The highest value was 4.85% in 1998 and the lowest 1.6% in 2024.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator EG.ELC.NUCL.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: IEA Energy Statistics Data Browser, International Energy Agency (IEA), uri: https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-tools/energy-statistics-data-browser, publisher: International Energy Agency (IEA), date accessed: 2025-03-25 Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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