Zimbabwe: Access to electricity (% of population)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Zimbabwe's access to electricity (% of population) did not change 0 percentage points on 2023 (from 62% to 62%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was +1.03 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 4.2 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 11.9 percentage points in 2023 and the biggest yearly fall was 8.3 percentage points in 2014. 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 2.66 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 87% 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 66.88% 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 6.36%, against 9.03% 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

In 2024, Zimbabwe had the 184th highest value of the 215 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Zimbabwe in the 2024 ranking

• Vanuatu — 181st of 215: 65.5%
• Equatorial Guinea — 182nd of 215: 65.1%
• Nigeria — 183rd of 215: 62.5%
• Korea, Dem. People's Rep. — 185th of 215: 61.4%
• Togo — 186th of 215: 61.1%
• Lesotho — 187th of 215: 60.6%

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 33 values

Access to electricity (% of population) in nearby economies

• Angola — 55.5% (2024)
• Benin — 59% (2024)
• Botswana — 80.2% (2024)
• Burkina Faso — 34% (2024)
• Burundi — 20.1% (2024)
• Cabo Verde — 98.4% (2024)
• Cameroon — 72% (2024)
• Central African Republic — 18.2% (2024)
• Chad — 13.4% (2024)
• Comoros — 91.7% (2024)
• Congo, Dem. Rep.

More environment data for Zimbabwe

• Population in largest city — 1.63 million (2025)
• Population in the largest city (% of urban population) — 23.79% (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million — 1.63 million (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million (% of total population) — 9.63% (2025)
• Rural population — 10.09 million (2025)
• Rural population (% of total population) — 59.5% (2025)
• Urban population — 6.86 million (2025)
• Urban population (% of total population) — 40.5% (2025)
• Aquaculture production (metric tons) — 8,224 (2024)
• Capture 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
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

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

62% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1992?

It is up 33.8 percentage points from 28.2% in 1992. The highest value was 62% in 2023 and the lowest 28.1% in 1994.

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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