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Number of people without access to electricity

World Bank
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About this data

Number of people without access to electricity
World Bank
Access to electricity means 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 major processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
September 8, 2025
Next expected update
September 2026
Date range
1990–2023
Unit
people

Related research and writing

Access to Energy

Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado, and Max Roser

The number of people without electricity more than halved over the last 20 years

Hannah Ritchie

Explore charts that include this data

About this data

Number of people without access to electricity
World Bank
Access to electricity means 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 major processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
September 8, 2025
Next expected update
September 2026
Date range
1990–2023
Unit
people

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

SDG 7.1.1 Electrification Dataset - World Bank – World Development Indicators

The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank 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.

Retrieved on
September 8, 2025
Retrieved from
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS
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.
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), data accessed: 2024-05-16, date published: 2023. Indicator EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS). World Development Indicators - World Bank (2025). Accessed on 2025-09-08.

The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank 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.

Retrieved on
September 8, 2025
Retrieved from
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS
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.
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), data accessed: 2024-05-16, date published: 2023. Indicator EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS). World Development Indicators - World Bank (2025). Accessed on 2025-09-08.

United Nations Population Division, Eurostat, national statistical offices, and United Nations Statistics Division, via World Bank – World Development Indicators

The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank 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.

Retrieved on
September 8, 2025
Retrieved from
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL
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.
(1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2024 Revision; (2) Statistical databases and publications from national statistical offices; (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics; (4) United Nations Statistics Division. Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years). Indicator SP.POP.TOTL (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL). World Development Indicators - World Bank (2025). Accessed on 2025-09-08.

The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank 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.

Retrieved on
September 8, 2025
Retrieved from
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL
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.
(1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2024 Revision; (2) Statistical databases and publications from national statistical offices; (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics; (4) United Nations Statistics Division. Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years). Indicator SP.POP.TOTL (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL). World Development Indicators - World Bank (2025). Accessed on 2025-09-08.

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline
Notes on our processing step for this indicator

We calculated the number of people without access to electricity by multiplying the fraction of the population without access by the total population.

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

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: Number of people without access to electricity”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado, and Max Roser (2019) - “Access to Energy”. Data adapted from SDG 7.1.1 Electrification Dataset - World Bank, United Nations Population Division, Eurostat, national statistical offices, and United Nations Statistics Division, via World Bank. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20250916-102301/grapher/number-without-electricity-by-region.html [online resource] (archived on September 16, 2025).
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

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

Full citation

Data compiled from multiple sources by World Bank – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Number of people without access to electricity – World Bank” [dataset]. SDG 7.1.1 Electrification Dataset - World Bank, “World Development Indicators 122”; United Nations Population Division, Eurostat, national statistical offices, and United Nations Statistics Division, via World Bank, “World Development Indicators 122” [original data]. Retrieved September 18, 2025 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20250916-102301/grapher/number-without-electricity-by-region.html (archived on September 16, 2025).