Nigeria, DRC lead global ranking of countries with most people without electricity access
Solomon Ekanem
26 June 2025 04:55 PM
Africa continues to grapple with some of the world’s most severe electricity access challenges, with Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo topping the global rankings for the largest populations without power.
African nations continue to face significant electricity access shortages, particularly Nigeria and the DRC
An energy report states that Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest electricity deficits globally.
To achieve universal electricity access by 2030, substantial investment and accelerated electrification measures are required.
New data from the World Bank report titled Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report 2025, shows that a majority of the countries with the highest electricity deficits are in sub-Saharan Africa, further emphasizing the continent’s persistent infrastructure gaps and the urgent need for investment in energy access and grid expansion.
Despite efforts to improve electrification, millions remain in the dark, hindering economic growth, education, and health outcomes.
According to the report, nearly 92% of the world’s population now has basic access to electricity, a notable improvement since 2022, when the number of people without power declined for the first time in a decade.
However, more than 666 million people still lack access, underscoring that current progress is insufficient to meet the goal of universal electrification by 2030.
This challenge is especially pronounced in Africa, where millions of people continue to live without electricity, highlighting persistent regional disparities in energy access.
While electrification efforts have gained momentum across the continent, access remains uneven and deeply constrained in many regions, with some countries even experiencing reversals due to population growth and infrastructure challenges.
“The electricity access challenge is greatest in rural areas, where 84 percent of the world’s people without electricity live."
"While overall progress in rural electrification was greater than that in urban areas, the gain was largely driven by advancements in Central and Southern Asia, where the number of rural people without access was cut from 383 million in 2010 to just under 25 million in 2023."
"By contrast, in SubSaharan Africa, rural population growth outstripped electrification efforts, leaving 451 million people in rural areas without electricity in 2023.” the report added
While electrification efforts have gained momentum across the continent, access remains uneven and deeply constrained due to population growth and infrastructure challenges.
While electrification efforts have gained momentum across the continent, access remains uneven and deeply constrained due to population growth and infrastructure challenges.
According to the World bank’s Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report 2025, the list below shows the African countries with the most people without electricity.
Rank Country People Without Electricity Access
1 Nigeria 86,860,905
2 DRC 79,633,583
3 Ethiopia 56,400,131
4 Tanzania, United Rep. of 34,862,880
5 Uganda 23,546,203
6 Niger 21,735,388
7 Mozambique 21,691,568
8 Madagascar 18,391,299
9 Burkina Faso 18,202,023
10 Angola 17,945,445
11 Malawi 17,669,934
12 Sudan 16,364,686
13 Chad 16,081,007
14 Kenya 13,138,184
15 Myanmar 12,687,720
16 Burundi 11,704,300
17 Pakistan 10,701,612
18 Mali 10,606,683
19 South Sudan 10,490,001
20 Zambia 10,060,384
Rest of world 157,648,778
The 20 countries with the largest electricity access deficits accounted for 76 percent of the global total—an increase from 75 percent the previous year. Once again, 18 of these countries were in Sub-Saharan Africa.
For the third consecutive edition of the report, Nigeria (86.8 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo (79.6 million), and Ethiopia (56.4 million) topped the list, collectively representing nearly one-third of the global electricity access deficit.
The lowest national access rates were recorded in South Sudan (5 percent), followed by Chad and Burundi (both at 12 percent), all of which have seen minimal annual progress since 2010.
According to the World Bank, closing the electricity access gap in Sub-Saharan Africa remains particularly challenging.
While 35 million people in the region gained access to electricity in 2023, population growth offset much of the progress, resulting in a net reduction of just 5 million—from 570 million people without access in 2022 to 565 million in 2023.
As a result, Sub-Saharan Africa now accounts for 85 percent of the global population without electricity—up sharply from 50 percent in 2010.
To meet the goal of universal access by 2030, electrification efforts in the region must accelerate significantly.
Solomon Ekanem
Solomon Ekanem
Solomon is an Editor at Business Insider, with a keen focus on African development and global economic trends
Re: 57 Million Ppl In Failed State Ethiopia R Without Electricity.(((HAHAHA))).!!! WEEY GUUD !!!
The Ferenjis are trying to keep Ethiopians in dark, but they are actually doing us a favor. Our people are still intact because they could not corrupt us with their devilish media. The devil can never win, no matter what it does
We will deliver the power to them and exclude the devilish info, time will come
We will deliver the power to them and exclude the devilish info, time will come
Re: 57 Million Ppl In Failed State Ethiopia R Without Electricity.(((HAHAHA))).!!! WEEY GUUD !!!
That is going to change, tarik. In fact, the very purpose we Ethiopians self-financed to build the dam, not to punish Egypt like Isayes has said, has been to spread out the light throughout Ethiopia, and sell with reasonable price to neighboring countries who had been living in the dark as we had been.
The whole statistics that you relied upon is going to be outdated pretty soon.
Do You know, tarik, how important electricity is in implementing industrialization.
Stay tune my friend, a new statistic in many areas is going to change in the coming years, and we hope every African is going to be proud of such changes.
The whole statistics that you relied upon is going to be outdated pretty soon.
Do You know, tarik, how important electricity is in implementing industrialization.
Stay tune my friend, a new statistic in many areas is going to change in the coming years, and we hope every African is going to be proud of such changes.
Last edited by Affable on 27 Jun 2025, 14:36, edited 1 time in total.
Re: 57 Million Ppl In Failed State Ethiopia R Without Electricity.(((HAHAHA))).!!! WEEY GUUD !!!
This is exactly the figure I talked about the other day. One pooritrean stated that 95% of the Ethiopian population lacked electric light. I asked AI to give me the true statistic and I reported that out of 135.5 million Ethiopian population 80 million had electric light. This is precisely what World Bank reported today. 56.5 million lack light means exactly 80 million enjoy electric light.Affable wrote: ↑27 Jun 2025, 12:02That is going to change, tarik. In fact, the very purpose we Ethiopians self-financed to build the dam, not to punish Egypt like Isayes has said, has been to spread out the light throughout Ethiopia, and sell with reasonable price to neighboring countries who had been living in the dark as we had been.
The whole statistics that you relied upon is going to be outdated pretty soon.
Do York now, tarik, how important electricity is in implementing industrialization.
Stay tune my friend, a new statistic in many areas is going to change in the coming years, and we hope every African is going to be proud of such changes.
The 2nd point I told that pooritrean was this. As we speak, Ethiopia may be producing more electric power than we are able to distribute to each household because production of electricity is totally different from the national grid system and distribution capacity. I also stated that Ethiopia has about 30 million urban population and more than 95% receive electric light. In other words, just the Bank report states, our challenge is the electrification of rural Ethiopia.
All of this will be history in the coming few years. Leave alone Ethiopia, we will be shining light on the entire South Sudan which 95% dark right now. The east African grid is going to reach South Africa!
Hopefully, pooritreans focus on their own destitute entity rather than wasting their purposeless life talking about Ethiopia 24/7



Re: 57 Million Ppl In Failed State Ethiopia R Without Electricity.(((HAHAHA))).!!! WEEY GUUD !!!
gala Horus
No, the dam is now OLD. It has used 30 percent of its life span but they Ethiopians never seen the fruit of their hard earned money spent on the dam.
The country needs to be free first. The ferenjis make sure they use the dam for their infrastructure they are building to loot the country and the people. They will not allow the ordinary people to benefit from the dam. The only people that would be allowed to have electricity in their home are those that are working for the system. Period. The country is not free and it's run by the ferenjis. It's been almost two decades but nothing but all talk....and you still say wait and see.
You can wait all day everyday you won't see a change. Let alone having power in everyone's home, you will see more and more doctors starving to death. The purpose of starving the doctors is of course to make people give up with the country and be slaves to the ferenjis who are building the infrastructure to get the people be slaves.
The Chinese still pay 3000 birr per month for their workers
That is why Fano is fighting to free us all.

No, the dam is now OLD. It has used 30 percent of its life span but they Ethiopians never seen the fruit of their hard earned money spent on the dam.
The country needs to be free first. The ferenjis make sure they use the dam for their infrastructure they are building to loot the country and the people. They will not allow the ordinary people to benefit from the dam. The only people that would be allowed to have electricity in their home are those that are working for the system. Period. The country is not free and it's run by the ferenjis. It's been almost two decades but nothing but all talk....and you still say wait and see.

You can wait all day everyday you won't see a change. Let alone having power in everyone's home, you will see more and more doctors starving to death. The purpose of starving the doctors is of course to make people give up with the country and be slaves to the ferenjis who are building the infrastructure to get the people be slaves.
The Chinese still pay 3000 birr per month for their workers







That is why Fano is fighting to free us all.
Affable wrote: ↑27 Jun 2025, 12:02That is going to change, tarik. In fact, the very purpose we Ethiopians self-financed to build the dam, not to punish Egypt like Isayes has said, has been to spread out the light throughout Ethiopia, and sell with reasonable price to neighboring countries who had been living in the dark as we had been.
The whole statistics that you relied upon is going to be outdated pretty soon.
Do York now, tarik, how important electricity is in implementing industrialization.
Stay tune my friend, a new statistic in many areas is going to change in the coming years, and we hope every African is going to be proud of such changes.
Re: 57 Million Ppl In Failed State Ethiopia R Without Electricity.(((HAHAHA))).!!! WEEY GUUD !!!
Nobody listen to a gala educated fool aka Horus
He is a stupid as it can get
Oh, what a time we live in






He is a stupid as it can get

Oh, what a time we live in

Re: 57 Million Ppl In Failed State Ethiopia R Without Electricity.(((HAHAHA))).!!! WEEY GUUD !!!
Affable, I understand your optimism, but this will not happen during idiot Galla-Abiy leadership. This moran showoff spent billions of aid money to build a useless not even 10 mile fake economy corridor instead of helping poor Ethiopians, instead of working for peace he ignited wars everywhere in Ethiopia and now he wants to spread it to my Eritrean and Djibouti and Sudan. Ethiopia must get rid of this child called Galla-Abiy or else Ethiopia will soon cease to exist.Affable wrote: ↑27 Jun 2025, 12:02That is going to change, tarik. In fact, the very purpose we Ethiopians self-financed to build the dam, not to punish Egypt like Isayes has said, has been to spread out the light throughout Ethiopia, and sell with reasonable price to neighboring countries who had been living in the dark as we had been.
The whole statistics that you relied upon is going to be outdated pretty soon.
Do You know, tarik, how important electricity is in implementing industrialization.
Stay tune my friend, a new statistic in many areas is going to change in the coming years, and we hope every African is going to be proud of such changes.