Access to electricity, rural in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea: Access to electricity, rural was 39.0% in 2024. ◆ Volatile
Access to electricity, rural in Papua New Guinea, 1996–2024
Source: SDG 7.1.1 Electrification Dataset, World Bank (WB). Measured in % of rural population.
Analysis
The most recent figure for access to electricity, rural in Papua New Guinea is 39.0%, measured in 2024. That is the highest value across all 26 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 191.0% on the previous year and up 261.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, access to electricity, rural in Papua New Guinea peaked at 39.0% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 2.6%, in 1996.
That places Papua New Guinea 190th out of 215 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The series is highly variable year to year, so single readings are best treated with caution.
Access to electricity, rural in Papua New Guinea, year by year
| Year | % of rural population | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 2.6% | — |
| 2000 | 4.4% | +70.0% |
| 2001 | 4.8% | +9.1% |
| 2002 | 5.2% | +8.3% |
| 2003 | 5.6% | +7.7% |
| 2004 | 6.0% | +7.1% |
| 2005 | 6.5% | +8.3% |
| 2006 | 5.0% | -23.1% |
| 2007 | 7.4% | +48.0% |
| 2008 | 7.9% | +6.8% |
| 2009 | 9.3% | +17.7% |
| 2010 | 11.8% | +26.9% |
| 2011 | 9.5% | -19.5% |
| 2012 | 9.9% | +4.2% |
| 2013 | 10.3% | +4.0% |
| 2014 | 10.8% | +4.9% |
| 2015 | 11.3% | +4.6% |
| 2016 | 5.6% | -50.4% |
| 2017 | 12.3% | +119.6% |
| 2018 | 10.5% | -14.6% |
| 2019 | 17.1% | +62.9% |
| 2020 | 13.6% | -20.5% |
| 2021 | 14.0% | +2.9% |
| 2022 | 14.2% | +1.4% |
| 2023 | 13.4% | -5.6% |
| 2024 | 39.0% | +191.0% |
Papua New Guinea compared with similar countries
- Papua New Guinea's 39.0% is below the median for lower middle income countries, which is 81.1%, 48% of the median. (47 countries reporting)
- Papua New Guinea's 39.0% is below the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 100.0%, 39% of the median. (35 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Access to electricity, rural in Papua New Guinea changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | +191.0% | 13.4% | 39.0% |
| 2017 | +119.6% | 5.6% | 12.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 2.6% | 2.6% | 2.6% | 1 |
| 2000s | 6.2% | 4.4% | 9.3% | 10 |
| 2010s | 10.9% | 5.6% | 17.1% | 10 |
| 2020s | 18.8% | 13.4% | 39.0% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Papua New Guinea
More agriculture & rural data for Papua New Guinea
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), annual 0.3264 % change on previous year (2024)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 0.1702 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 495.76 current US$ per person (2024)
- Rural population, annual growth rate 1.31 % change on previous year (2025)
- Rural population, per unit of GDP 0.0003 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Rural population, per capita 0.8422 units per person (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 17.0% (2024)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 17.0% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 2.6% (2023)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 0.5% (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is access to electricity, rural in Papua New Guinea?
- Access to electricity, rural in Papua New Guinea was 39.0% in 2024, according to SDG 7.1.1 Electrification Dataset, World Bank (WB).
- What is the highest access to electricity, rural recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The highest recorded value was 39.0% in 2024.
- What is the lowest access to electricity, rural recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The lowest recorded value was 2.6% in 1996.
- How does Papua New Guinea rank for access to electricity, rural?
- Papua New Guinea ranks 190th out of 215 countries with data for 2024.
- Is access to electricity, rural rising or falling in Papua New Guinea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 261.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this Papua New Guinea data come from?
- The figures come from SDG 7.1.1 Electrification Dataset, World Bank (WB), published as part of Access to electricity, rural (% of rural population). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 26 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Access to electricity, rural is the percentage of rural population with access to electricity.