World: Access to electricity (% of population)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, World's access to electricity (% of population) rose 0.32 percentage points on 2023 (from 91.6% to 91.93%).

Across the 25 yearly changes before that (1999 to 2023), the average change was +0.74 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.71 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.6 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 3.72 percentage points in 2000 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.06 percentage points in 2022. 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 upward, about 0.52 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 93% 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.

What this measures

Access to electricity is the percentage of population with access to electricity. Electrification data are collected from industry, national surveys and international sources.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a population-weighted average.

All 27 values

Access to electricity (% of population) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 87.8% (2024)
• Algeria — 100% (2024)
• Bahrain — 100% (2024)
• Djibouti — 69.2% (2024)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 100% (2024)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 100% (2024)
• Iraq — 100% (2024)
• Israel — 100% (2024)
• Jordan — 100% (2024)
• Kuwait — 100% (2024)
• Lebanon

More environment data for World

• Population in the largest city (% of urban population) — 16.16% (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million (% of total population) — 25.29% (2025)
• Rural population — 3.46 billion (2025)
• Rural population (% of total population) — 42.17% (2025)
• Urban population — 4.75 billion (2025)
• Urban population (% of total population) — 57.83% (2025)
• Fossil fuel energy consumption (% of total) — 80.06% (2024)
• Aquaculture production (metric tons) — 141.41 million (2024)
• Capture fisheries production (metric tons) — 94.4 million (2024)
• Total fisheries production (metric tons)

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Questions people ask

What is World's access to electricity (% of population)?

91.93% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1998?

It is up 18.73 percentage points from 73.2% in 1998. The highest value was 91.93% in 2024 and the lowest 73.2% in 1998.

Is the latest change in access to electricity (% of population) unusual for World?

In 2024, World's access to electricity (% of population) rose 0.32 percentage points on 2023 (from 91.6% to 91.93%). Across the 25 yearly changes before that (1999 to 2023), the average change was +0.74 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.71 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.6 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Where does this data come from?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: SDG 7.1.1 Electrification Dataset, World Bank (WB), uri: https://trackingsdg7.esmap.org/downloads, note: Data is downloaded from ESMAP website. Data is released when a new Tracking SDG7 report is released., publisher: World Bank (WB), date accessed: 2024-05-16, date published: 2023 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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