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Data

Share of the population with access to electricity

World Bank
See all data and research on:
Access to EnergyEnergy

What you should know about this indicator

Electrification data are collected from industry, national surveys and international sources.

Statistical concept and methodology: Data for access to electricity are collected among different sources: mostly data from nationally representative household surveys (including national censuses) were used. Survey sources include Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Living Standards Measurement Surveys (LSMS), Multi-Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), the World Health Survey (WHS), other nationally developed and implemented surveys, and various government agencies (for example, ministries of energy and utilities). Given the low frequency and the regional distribution of some surveys, a number of countries have gaps in available data.

To develop the historical evolution and starting point of electrification rates, a simple modeling approach was adopted to fill in the missing data points - around 1990, around 2000, and around 2010. Therefore, a country can have a continuum of zero to three data points. There are 42 countries with zero data point and the weighted regional average was used as an estimate for electrification in each of the data periods. 170 countries have between one and three data points and missing data are estimated by using a model with region, country, and time variables. The model keeps the original observation if data is available for any of the time periods. This modeling approach allowed the estimation of electrification rates for 212 countries over these three time periods (Indicated as "Estimate"). Notation "Assumption" refers to the assumption of universal access in countries classified as developed by the United Nations. Data begins from the year in which the first survey data is available for each country.

Share of the population with access to electricity
World Bank
Having access to electricity is defined in international statistics as having an electricity source that can provide very basic lighting, and charge a phone or power a radio for 4 hours per day.
Source
Data compiled from multiple sources by World Bank – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
May 20, 2024
Next expected update
May 2025
Date range
1990–2021
Unit
% of population

Related research and writing

Access to Energy

Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado and Max Roser

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Max Roser

Energy poverty and indoor air pollution: a problem as old as humanity that we can end within our lifetime

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Explore charts that include this data

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the World Bank's primary collection of development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. It presents the most current and accurate global development data available and includes national, regional, and global estimates.

[Text from World Bank data catalog]

Retrieved on
May 29, 2023
Retrieved from
https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0037712/World-Development-Indicators
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
World Development Indicators, The World Bank (2023).

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Citations

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To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Share of the population with access to electricity”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado and Max Roser (2019) - “Access to Energy”. Data adapted from World Bank. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-the-population-with-access-to-electricity [online resource]
How to cite this data

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Data compiled from multiple sources by World Bank – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

Data compiled from multiple sources by World Bank – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “Share of the population with access to electricity – World Bank” [dataset]. World Bank, “World Bank World Development Indicators” [original data]. Retrieved December 12, 2024 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-the-population-with-access-to-electricity