59 Remote Electricity Access Statistics

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These remote electricity access figures cover the measurement periods and populations identified in the available source material. Estimates, surveys and forecasts retain their reported scope.

Key Remote Electricity Access Statistics

The main findings are:

  • About 600 million people in Africa lacked access to electricity in 2022, equal to 43% of the continent’s population.
  • Kenya’s national electricity-access rate rose from 37% in 2013 to 79% in 2023 (2013 and 2023).
  • Off-grid solar solutions were estimated to benefit more than 560 million people in 2023 (world).
  • In the IEA Sustainable Africa Scenario, grid extension is the least-cost option for almost 45% of people gaining access by 2030 (2022-2030).
  • The MTR estimates that only 22% of households without electricity could afford the monthly payment for a Tier 1 solar kit on PAYG terms (2023/2024 report baseline; world).
  • Kenya’s renewable sources supplied nearly 90% of electricity generation in 2023.
  • More than 80% of Africa’s electricity-deprived population lived in rural areas (2022; Africa, rural population).
  • Urban electrification in Kenya reached 100% in 2023 (Kenya, urban).
  • More than 50 million off-grid-solar products were sold across 2022 and 2023 (2022-2023; world).
  • The IEA projected that mini-grids and stand-alone systems would be central to rural access because over 80% of Africa’s unelectrified population lived rurally (2022; Africa, rural).
  • In conflict-affected areas, PAYG prices were estimated to be 57% higher (2023/2024 report baseline).
  • Kenya’s 2023 generation mix included geothermal 47%, hydropower 21%, wind 16% and solar 4%.
  • Universal African electricity access in the IEA Sustainable Africa Scenario requires connections for 90 million people per year through 2030 (2022-2030).
  • Kenya’s Last Mile Connectivity Project reduced the rural population without electricity from 20 million to 11 million (2015-2023; Kenya, rural).
  • Off-grid solar market turnover was USD 3.9 billion in 2022 (world).

Contents

Remote electricity access statistics: the global scale of the gap

  • About 600 million people in Africa lacked access to electricity in 2022, equal to 43% of the continent’s population. (Africa Energy Outlook 2022: Key…)
  • More than 80% of Africa’s electricity-deprived population lived in rural areas (2022; Africa, rural population). (Africa Energy Outlook 2022: Key…)
  • Universal African electricity access in the IEA Sustainable Africa Scenario requires connections for 90 million people per year through 2030 (2022-2030). (Africa Energy Outlook 2022: Key…)
  • The 90-million-per-year requirement is triple Africa’s recent annual connection rate (2022-2030 versus recent years). (Africa Energy Outlook 2022: Key…)
  • Under current policies, 660 million people are projected to remain without electricity in 2030 (world). (For the first time in…)
  • About 85% of the people projected to lack electricity access in 2030 are expected to live in sub-Saharan Africa. (For the first time in…)
  • Universal global electricity access by 2030 would require about USD 30 billion of annual investment from the IEA’s 2022 baseline (2022-2030; world). (For the first time in…)
  • About two-thirds of the estimated USD 30 billion annual global requirement is needed in sub-Saharan Africa (2022-2030). (For the first time in…)

IEA estimate; Africa-wide figure, not a remote-only count.

IEA estimate; rural classification follows the source dataset.

Scenario requirement, not an observed connection rate.

Comparison uses the IEA’s rounded recent-rate baseline.

IEA World Energy Outlook 2022 policy projection.

Share attached to the IEA current-policy projection.

IEA investment requirement, not actual spending.

Derived proportion reported by IEA; not a measured disbursement.

Rural and urban electricity access statistics across countries

IEA country profile; access is not identical to reliable or affordable supply.

IEA country profile; urban access does not describe remote communities.

IEA describes the project-associated change; attribution and timing are summarized in the country profile.

Program target, not completed connections.

Sales share, not share of people served or installed capacity.

Network-loss measure includes technical failures, theft and billing anomalies; it is not an access metric.

Customer share, not population share or remote-household share.

IEA country profile; the rural/urban values are access rates, not service-quality scores.

Connections are not the same as unique people with electricity access.

Rounded change reported by IEA from the connection series.

Generation mix is not an access measure and does not imply rural availability.

Generation mix statistic, not household access.

Resource potential is not delivered electricity or household access.

Market Trends Report estimate covering off-grid solar products; beneficiaries are not equivalent to full grid access.

Sales volume includes products, not unique users or currently operating systems.

Reported sector turnover; not investment or consumer spending alone.

Reported sector turnover; year-to-year values are not a measure of access quality.

Comparable series in the MTR figure; kit beneficiaries and grid-access definitions differ.

Tier categories are the MTR’s electricity-service tiers; these are kit beneficiaries, not all remote households.

Category is defined by the MTR; a decline can reflect product mix as well as access change.

MTR tier series; not a measure of continuous grid-quality service.

MTR/World Bank estimate; connection attribution and regional boundary follow the report.

Cost-effectiveness scenario, not a guaranteed deployment outcome.

Report’s energy-poverty framing is broader than a single electricity-access threshold.

Mini-grids and stand-alone systems for remote electricity access

Scenario result, not observed technology shares.

Population-location statistic supporting a planning conclusion, not technology adoption.

Definition excludes systems at or below 10 Wp; South Africa is excluded from this IEA regional series.

Source table is labelled thousands; figures here are converted to millions for readability, with no new comparison implied.

IRENA table value; biogas electricity is only one off-grid technology.

Cooking users are not electricity users; included to distinguish measured off-grid energy services.

Cooking-service measure, not electricity access.

Remote electricity access affordability, finance and investment

Affordability model for a Tier 1 PAYG kit; not observed purchase completion.

Report estimate; premium refers to offering PAYG, not necessarily household retail prices.

Reported sector investment, largely debt financing; excludes the full electricity-access investment need.

Scenario investment requirement linked to the 398-million opportunity.

Addressable-market estimate, not committed finance.

IEA estimate; technology and country mix vary.

IEA cites GOGLA; average market price is not a standardized system price.

IEA Sustainable Africa Scenario requirement, not actual annual spending.

IEA assessment of documented strategies; not a measure of access.

Country evidence and measured outcomes in remote electricity access

Generation mix is separate from household access.

IEA country profile; these are generation shares, not capacity shares.

Installed capacity does not equal available supply or remote access.

Installed capacity figures; not electricity actually delivered to remote households.

Combined installed capacity, not generation or access.

Installed backup/fossil capacity; not a remote-access measure.

Rounded decade figure; relates to national generation, not remote access alone.

Biogas infrastructure count, not electricity-access beneficiaries.

Clean cooking is related to energy access but is not electricity access.

Clean cooking outcome, not electricity access; population figure is rounded.

Resource estimate is not electricity access and is included only as national energy context.

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