These energy poverty figures cover the measurement periods and populations identified in the available source material. Estimates, surveys and forecasts retain their reported scope.
Key Energy Poverty Statistics
The main findings are:
- About 730 million people worldwide lacked access to electricity (2024/2025 assessment).
- About 1.5 billion of the 2.0 billion people without clean household energy live in rural areas (2024; rural world).
- Residential electricity consumption per household is growing at around 2% per year (current trend cited in report; world).
- 10.6% of the EU population could not keep their home adequately warm in 2023.
- EU households spent 19.7% of disposable income on housing in 2023 on average.
- Nearly two thirds of sub-Saharan Africans would need to spend more than 10% of income to adopt clean cooking (IEA ACCESS affordability assessment).
- Electricity use for cooking in Africa is projected to grow by 65 TWh through 2040 under ACCESS (2024–2040 scenario).
- Around 2 billion people lack access to clean cooking solutions (2024/2025 assessment; world).
- Urban clean-cooking access was 89% in the WHO-reported comparison (latest WHO comparison; urban world).
- Total household spending on electricity exceeded USD 1 trillion for the first time in 2024 (world).
- The EU inability-to-keep-warm rate rose 1.3 percentage points from 2022 to 2023 (2022–2023).
- EU people below 60% of national median income spent 38.2% of disposable income on housing in 2023.
- The source forecast states that reaching universal clean cooking access in Africa requires USD 37 billion of investment through 2040.
- The projected 65 TWh increase equals about 15% of Africa’s current electricity generation (2024–2040 scenario).
- Nearly 2 billion people relied on inefficient stoves and fuels for cooking in 2024 (world).
Contents
- Key Energy Poverty Statistics
- Global energy poverty statistics: electricity and clean-cooking access gaps
- Energy poverty statistics by region and rural-urban divide
- Household energy affordability and energy-burden statistics
- EU energy poverty statistics: keeping homes adequately warm
- Energy poverty statistics on arrears, housing costs and vulnerability
- Clean-cooking energy poverty statistics: costs, finance and health outcomes
- Energy poverty trends and access pathways through 2040
Global energy poverty statistics: electricity and clean-cooking access gaps
- About 730 million people worldwide lacked access to electricity (2024/2025 assessment). (Executive summary – Household Energy…)
- Around 2 billion people lack access to clean cooking solutions (2024/2025 assessment; world). (Executive summary – Household Energy…)
- Nearly 2 billion people relied on inefficient stoves and fuels for cooking in 2024 (world). (Household air pollution)
- Global primary reliance on clean cooking fuels and technologies reached 74% in 2023 (world). (Household air pollution)
- Global primary reliance on clean cooking fuels and technologies was 49% in 2000 (world). (Household air pollution)
- The clean-cooking reliance rate increased by 25 percentage points between 2000 and 2023 (2000–2023; world). (Household air pollution)
IEA global estimate; access is distinct from affordability and reliability.
Clean cooking access is not the same as exclusive use or affordability.
WHO describes reliance on inefficient/polluting cooking fuels and technologies.
WHO modelled estimate with 70–77% uncertainty interval.
WHO historical modelled estimate with 45–53% uncertainty interval.
Simple difference between WHO modelled endpoint estimates.
Energy poverty statistics by region and rural-urban divide
- About 1.5 billion of the 2.0 billion people without clean household energy live in rural areas (2024; rural world). (Household air pollution)
- Urban clean-cooking access was 89% in the WHO-reported comparison (latest WHO comparison; urban world). (Household air pollution)
- Uganda had around 30% electricity access (2023 report, latest cited country data). (Executive summary – Uganda 2023)
- Less than 6% of Uganda’s population had access to clean cooking fuels (2023 report, latest cited country data). (Executive summary – Uganda 2023)
- In Uganda in 2022, about 20% of people had electricity from the national grid. (Executive summary – Uganda 2023)
- In Uganda in 2022, a further 10% received electricity from solar home systems providing a basic energy-service package. (Executive summary – Uganda 2023)
- In Uganda in 2022, 20% benefited from limited access through small solar lighting devices such as lanterns. (Executive summary – Uganda 2023)
- About 50% of Uganda’s health centres had electricity access through grid or off-grid solutions (2022). (Executive summary – Uganda 2023)
- About 20% of Uganda’s schools had electricity access through grid or off-grid solutions (2022). (Executive summary – Uganda 2023)
- Around 95% of Ugandan households relied on wood or charcoal as their primary cooking energy source (2023 report, latest cited country data). (Executive summary – Uganda 2023)
WHO global statement; denominator is people without clean household energy.
Access rate is modelled and refers to clean household energy/cooking context.
IEA country assessment; electricity access includes the report’s stated access concept.
IEA country assessment; clean cooking fuels are distinct from electricity access.
Country estimate; grid access is only one component of total reported access.
Basic-package solar-home-system access is not equivalent to full grid service.
Limited lighting access is narrower than electricity access for household appliances.
Facility access, not household access.
Primary reliance does not measure exclusive use or exposure intensity.
Household energy affordability and energy-burden statistics
- Residential electricity consumption per household is growing at around 2% per year (current trend cited in report; world). (Executive summary – Household Energy…)
- Total household spending on electricity exceeded USD 1 trillion for the first time in 2024 (world). (Executive summary – Household Energy…)
- In sub-Saharan Africa, 40% of people without electricity are unlikely to afford a basic level of electricity provision (IEA affordability assessment). (Executive summary – Household Energy…)
- Nearly 60% of households without clean cooking access would need to spend over 10% of income on upfront costs (IEA affordability assessment; world/IEA model scope). (Executive summary – Household Energy…)
- The richest 10% of households in advanced economies spend about 5% of income on energy (latest WEO assessment). (Security, affordability and sustainability –…)
- The poorest 10% of households in advanced economies consume about half as much residential energy and transport fuel as the richest 10% (latest WEO assessment). (Security, affordability and sustainability –…)
IEA broad trend; it is consumption growth, not an energy-poverty rate.
Aggregate spending is not adjusted here for population, income or inflation.
IEA affordability model; basic provision is not a single universal service level.
Upfront-cost affordability test; not a measured annual energy-bill burden.
Income-group comparison; energy definition follows IEA report.
Comparative ratio is rounded and combines residential energy with transport fuels.
EU energy poverty statistics: keeping homes adequately warm
- 10.6% of the EU population could not keep their home adequately warm in 2023. (10.6% of EU population struggled…)
- The EU inability-to-keep-warm rate rose 1.3 percentage points from 2022 to 2023 (2022–2023). (10.6% of EU population struggled…)
- Spain recorded a 20.8% inability-to-keep-warm rate in 2023. (10.6% of EU population struggled…)
- Portugal recorded a 20.8% inability-to-keep-warm rate in 2023. (10.6% of EU population struggled…)
- Bulgaria recorded a 20.7% inability-to-keep-warm rate in 2023. (10.6% of EU population struggled…)
- Lithuania recorded a 20.0% inability-to-keep-warm rate in 2023. (10.6% of EU population struggled…)
- Greece recorded a 19.2% inability-to-keep-warm rate in 2023. (10.6% of EU population struggled…)
- Luxembourg recorded a 2.1% inability-to-keep-warm rate in 2023. (10.6% of EU population struggled…)
- Finland recorded a 2.6% inability-to-keep-warm rate in 2023. (10.6% of EU population struggled…)
- Slovenia recorded a 3.6% inability-to-keep-warm rate in 2023. (10.6% of EU population struggled…)
- The EU inability-to-keep-warm rate was 9.3% in 2022, up from 6.9% in 2021 (2021–2022). (Key figures on European living…)
- In 2022, EU country rates ranged from 1.4% in Finland to 22.5% in Bulgaria (EU Member States). (Key figures on European living…)
- The share unable to keep warm increased in 21 EU Member States between 2021 and 2022 (2021–2022). (Key figures on European living…)
- Romania’s inability-to-keep-warm rate increased by 5.1 percentage points from 2021 to 2022 (2021–2022). (Key figures on European living…)
- France’s inability-to-keep-warm rate increased by 4.9 percentage points from 2021 to 2022 (2021–2022). (Key figures on European living…)
EU-SILC self-reported indicator; it measures inability to keep warm, not a universal energy-burden threshold.
Year-to-year survey indicator change.
EU-SILC country estimate.
Eurostat EU-SILC; the measure is self-reported economic strain.
Range uses national EU-SILC estimates.
Count of countries with an increase, not a population-weighted measure.
Eurostat country change.
Energy poverty statistics on arrears, housing costs and vulnerability
- EU households spent 19.7% of disposable income on housing in 2023 on average. (Housing in Europe – 2024…)
- EU people below 60% of national median income spent 38.2% of disposable income on housing in 2023. (Housing in Europe – 2024…)
- EU people above 60% of national median income spent 16.2% of disposable income on housing in 2023. (Housing in Europe – 2024…)
- Greece had the highest EU housing-cost share at 35.2% in 2023. (Housing in Europe – 2024…)
- Denmark had a 25.9% housing-cost share in 2023. (Housing in Europe – 2024…)
- Germany had a 25.2% housing-cost share in 2023. (Housing in Europe – 2024…)
- The EU share of people in households with arrears on mortgage, rent or utility bills fell from 12.4% in 2010 to 9.3% in 2023 (2010–2023). (Housing in Europe – 2024…)
- Greece had the highest EU combined-arrears rate at 47.3% in 2023. (Housing in Europe – 2024…)
- Bulgaria had an 18.8% combined-arrears rate in 2023. (Housing in Europe – 2024…)
- Romania had a 14.4% combined-arrears rate in 2023. (Housing in Europe – 2024…)
- The Netherlands had the lowest EU combined-arrears rate at 2.6% in 2023. (Housing in Europe – 2024…)
Housing costs are broader than energy costs.
Housing-cost burden is a related vulnerability measure, not an energy-only burden.
Housing-cost burden is a related vulnerability measure.
Housing costs include more than energy bills.
Combined arrears indicator includes mortgage, rent and utility bills, not utilities alone.
Combined arrears indicator, not utility arrears alone.
Clean-cooking energy poverty statistics: costs, finance and health outcomes
- Nearly two thirds of sub-Saharan Africans would need to spend more than 10% of income to adopt clean cooking (IEA ACCESS affordability assessment). (Executive summary – Universal Access…)
- The source forecast states that reaching universal clean cooking access in Africa requires USD 37 billion of investment through 2040. (Executive summary – Universal Access…)
- The source forecast states that the universal-clean-cooking investment requirement averages more than USD 2 billion per year (through 2040; Africa). (Executive summary – Universal Access…)
- Concessional finance flows to sub-Saharan Africa’s clean-cooking sector reached USD 155 million in 2023. (Executive summary – Universal Access…)
- Debt financing’s share of the clean-cooking sector is projected to rise from 35% today to above 50% in the ACCESS scenario (current to 2040 scenario; sub-Saharan Africa). (Executive summary – Universal Access…)
- The ACCESS pathway projects 4.7 million cumulative premature deaths averted in sub-Saharan Africa by 2040. (Executive summary – Universal Access…)
- At least 74 clean-cooking equipment and fuel facilities operate in sub-Saharan Africa, with 16 additional facilities in the pipeline (current inventory cited by IEA). (Executive summary – Universal Access…)
- The ACCESS scenario requires more than 460,000 permanent new clean-cooking workers in sub-Saharan Africa by 2040 (by 2040 scenario). (Executive summary – Universal Access…)
Modelled adoption-cost burden; not observed household spending.
IEA ACCESS scenario requirement, not committed funding.
Rounded annual equivalent of scenario investment need.
Reported concessional flows; not total clean-cooking finance.
Scenario projection, not an observed outcome.
Counterfactual modelled scenario versus today’s trajectory.
Facility count is an industry inventory, not household adoption.
Scenario employment requirement.
Energy poverty trends and access pathways through 2040
- Electricity use for cooking in Africa is projected to grow by 65 TWh through 2040 under ACCESS (2024–2040 scenario). (Executive summary – Universal Access…)
- The projected 65 TWh increase equals about 15% of Africa’s current electricity generation (2024–2040 scenario). (Executive summary – Universal Access…)
- Bioethanol demand for cooking is projected to reach 6.4 billion litres annually by 2040 (2040 scenario; Africa). (Executive summary – Universal Access…)
Scenario projection.
IEA comparison; current-generation baseline is rounded.
IEA ACCESS scenario projection.