Energy access is measured through separate electricity and clean-cooking indicators. In 2023, electricity reached 92% of the world’s population, while clean cooking reached an estimated 74%; these measures do not by themselves establish reliability, affordability or sufficient service.
Key Energy Access Statistics
The most useful global and regional figures include:
- In 2023, 92% of the world’s population had access to electricity.
- In 2023, about 666 million people worldwide remained without electricity.
- The global population without electricity fell by 19 million between 2022 and 2023.
- In 2023, 74% of people worldwide had access to clean cooking fuels and technologies.
- In 2023, about 2.1 billion people relied on polluting cooking fuels and technologies worldwide.
- At current rates, clean cooking access is projected to reach 78% globally by 2030.
- The 2030 clean-cooking trend projection leaves nearly 1.8 billion people without clean cooking solutions worldwide.
- Since 2010, 1 billion people gained electricity access according to the IEA’s 2025 report baseline.
- Since 2010, 1.5 billion people gained access to clean cooking according to the same baseline.
- In 2023, Sub-Saharan Africa contained 85% of the world’s population without electricity.
- In 2023, 84% of people without electricity lived in rural communities worldwide.
- In 2023, 451 million rural residents in Sub-Saharan Africa lacked electricity.
- In 2023, only 21.2% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population had access to clean cooking.
- Decentralized renewable-energy technologies benefited more than 561 million people worldwide in 2023.
- Decentralized renewable energy provided 55% of new electricity connections in Sub-Saharan Africa from 2020 to 2022.
- Off-grid solar is projected to be the most cost-effective option for 41% of people without electricity by 2030.
- The off-grid solar sector attracted $1.2 billion in financing during 2022–2023.
- Household air pollution caused an estimated 2.9 million deaths worldwide in 2021.
- Household air pollution accounted for about 95 million DALYs worldwide in 2021.
- Closing the global electricity access gap requires around $23 billion per year through 2035 in the IEA ACCESS scenario.
Contents
- Global energy access gaps
- Electricity access trends and regional disparities
- Rural, urban and fragile-community energy access data
- Off-grid solar and decentralized energy access statistics
- Clean cooking access, fuels and affordability measurements
- Energy access health outcomes and investment needs
Global Energy Access Gaps
The 2023 global electricity estimate shows substantial progress alongside a large remaining deficit. The Tracking SDG 7 – The Energy Progress Report 2025 and the Sustainable Development Goals Extended Report 2024 – Goal 7 report the following measures.
| Indicator | Period | Global result |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity access | 2023 | 92% of population |
| People without electricity | 2023 | About 666 million |
| Change in people without electricity | 2022–2023 | Down 19 million |
| Clean cooking access | 2023 | Estimated 74% of population |
| People relying on polluting cooking fuels and technologies | 2023 | About 2.1 billion |
Electricity access rose in gross terms, but the net deficit changes with population growth as well as new connections. Clean-cooking access is a separate SDG 7.1 indicator, and primary reliance measures can miss households that continue to use polluting fuels occasionally through stove stacking.
The IEA reports that, since 2010, 1 billion people gained electricity access and 1.5 billion gained clean-cooking access in its 2025 report baseline. These historical estimates use the IEA’s definitions and do not mean that every connection provides reliable or affordable service.
At current rates, the IEA clean-cooking access analysis projects 78% global access by 2030, while the UN summary estimates that nearly 1.8 billion people would still lack clean cooking solutions under that trend. This is a forecast, not a guaranteed outcome.
Electricity Access Trends and Regional Disparities
The remaining electricity gap is increasingly concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2023, the region contained 85% of the world’s population without electricity, and 18 of the 20 countries with the largest electricity deficits were in Sub-Saharan Africa.
| Geography | Period | Unconnected population or deficit |
|---|---|---|
| Central and Southern Asia | 2010 | 414 million |
| Central and Southern Asia | 2023 | 27 million |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 2010 | 566 million |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 2023 | 565 million |
| Nigeria | 2023 | 86.8 million deficit |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 2023 | 79.6 million deficit |
| Ethiopia | 2023 | 56.4 million deficit |
The Goal 7 extended report estimates that Central and Southern Asia reduced its unconnected population from 414 million in 2010 to 27 million in 2023. Sub-Saharan Africa’s comparable total was nearly flat, from 566 million to 565 million, reflecting connections offset by population growth.
The Tracking SDG 7 report estimates that 35 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa gained electricity access in 2023, yet the region’s unconnected population decreased by only 5 million, from 570 million in 2022 to 565 million in 2023. Gross gains and net deficit reductions therefore describe different aspects of progress.
Rural, Urban and Fragile-Community Energy Access Data
Energy access deficits are strongly associated with rural residence. In 2023, 84% of people without electricity lived in rural communities, and 451 million rural residents in Sub-Saharan Africa lacked electricity.
The clean-cooking picture also differs by settlement type. WHO’s 2021 household-energy estimate found that 14% of urban people relied on polluting fuels and technologies for cooking, compared with 49% of the global rural population; these are reliance measures, not counts of every cooking event.
The WHO Household Air Pollution fact sheet supplies the urban and rural cooking-reliance figures. Rural and urban percentages should not be treated as equally sized populations, and the classification does not itself describe fragile or conflict-affected communities.
Sub-Saharan Africa illustrates the scale of the combined rural and cooking challenge: only 21.2% of its population had access to clean cooking in 2023, while 955.3 million people depended on polluting cooking fuels and technologies. The regional figure measures primary reliance and does not capture all secondary fuel use.
Off-Grid Solar and Decentralized Energy Access Statistics
Decentralized systems are a major part of the access mix. In 2023, decentralized renewable-energy technologies benefited more than 561 million people worldwide, and they supplied 55% of new electricity connections in Sub-Saharan Africa during 2020–2022.
The Tracking SDG 7 report projects off-grid solar to be the most cost-effective option for 41% of people without electricity by 2030. It also estimates that expanding decentralized solutions requires about $95 billion in funding through 2030; this is an investment need, not committed finance.
GOGLA’s participating-affiliate series shows how product sales and reach differ from population access:
| GOGLA-affiliate measure | Period | Reported result |
|---|---|---|
| Solar products sold | 2022–2023 | More than 50 million |
| Financing attracted by off-grid solar sector | 2022–2023 | $1.2 billion |
| People reached with improved energy access | 2024 | More than 137 million |
| Solar energy kits sold | 2024 | 9.3 million, up 4% from 2023 |
| Lanterns sold | 2024 | 5.64 million, up 3% |
| Multi-light systems sold | 2024 | More than 1.94 million, up 11% |
| Solar home systems sold | 2024 | 1.7 million, down 1% |
The GOGLA 2024 sales and impact data estimates that affiliates reached about 3.6 million people using solar energy kits for enterprise in 2024. Its 2024 solar-kit sales were 2% below the 2022 peak; lanterns are defined as 0–3 Wp, multi-light systems as 3–10 Wp, and sales units are not unique households or people.
Clean Cooking Access, Fuels and Affordability Measurements
Clean cooking access varies sharply across regions and is measured differently from broader modern-energy service tiers. Developing Asia accounted for around half of the global population without clean cooking access, with around 1.1 billion people lacking clean cooking solutions in the IEA’s 2022 context.
| Geography | Period | Clean cooking access |
|---|---|---|
| India | 2022 | 70% |
| China | 2022 | 90% |
| Indonesia | 2022 | 90% |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 2023 | 21.2% |
| Sub-Saharan African countries below 20% access | 2023 context | 29 countries |
The IEA clean-cooking analysis reports these regional and country estimates. India, China and Indonesia’s access rates are not measures of exclusive use, while the Sub-Saharan African country classification uses an access-rate threshold.
The IEA’s ACCESS scenario projects that more than 60% of households gaining clean cooking access through 2040 would use LPG, with electricity supplying a further 18%. Universal clean cooking access requires about $4 billion per year through 2040 in that scenario.
The World Bank’s State of Access to Modern Energy Cooking Services estimates $103 billion in household purchases of stoves and fuels for universal modern cooking access. Its MECS financing framework assigns $39 billion to the public sector and $11 billion to private downstream infrastructure; those boundaries are not interchangeable with the IEA’s annual scenario requirement.
Energy Access Health Outcomes and Investment Needs
Cooking with polluting fuels links energy access to household air pollution and health outcomes. The WHO estimates that household air pollution caused 2.9 million deaths worldwide in 2021, including more than 309,000 deaths among children under five, and accounted for about 95 million DALYs.
The WHO Household Air Pollution fact sheet reports that, within the modeled 2.9 million household-air-pollution deaths, 32% were attributed to ischaemic heart disease, 23% to stroke, 21% to lower respiratory infection, 19% to COPD and 6% to lung cancer. These are cause-of-death shares within a modeled estimate, not separate totals to add together with other headline figures.
WHO also associates ambient and household air pollution together with 6.7 million premature deaths annually. This combined estimate should not be added to the household-only 2.9 million deaths because the categories overlap.
In poorly ventilated homes using polluting fuels, fine-particle levels can reach 100 times acceptable levels, although exposure varies by dwelling and stove. Health figures therefore describe modeled population burden, while household conditions determine individual exposure.
The IEA’s Achieving access for all roadmap estimates that closing the global electricity access gap requires around $23 billion per year through 2035 in its ACCESS scenario. This is a projected financing requirement, alongside the separate clean-cooking and decentralized-energy investment estimates above.