Access to electricity, rural in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)
Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income): Access to electricity, rural was 35.7% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Access to electricity, rural in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income), 2000–2024
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 Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) is 35.7%, measured in 2024. That is the highest value across all 24 years on record.
That represents a change of up 7.9% on the previous year and up 84.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, access to electricity, rural in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) peaked at 35.7% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 11.7%, in 2000.
Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) ranks 45th of 47 groups on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 24 years of available data.
Access to electricity, rural in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income), year by year
| Year | % of rural population | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 11.7% | — |
| 2001 | 13.9% | +18.7% |
| 2003 | 14.1% | +1.1% |
| 2004 | 13.1% | -6.4% |
| 2005 | 12.8% | -2.4% |
| 2006 | 14.5% | +13.4% |
| 2007 | 14.2% | -2.5% |
| 2008 | 15.2% | +7.3% |
| 2009 | 16.8% | +10.4% |
| 2010 | 16.8% | +0.1% |
| 2011 | 18.2% | +8.3% |
| 2012 | 19.1% | +4.7% |
| 2013 | 20.3% | +6.3% |
| 2014 | 19.3% | -4.7% |
| 2015 | 18.5% | -4.4% |
| 2016 | 25.3% | +37.0% |
| 2017 | 24.6% | -3.0% |
| 2018 | 27.3% | +11.1% |
| 2019 | 28.1% | +2.9% |
| 2020 | 28.8% | +2.6% |
| 2021 | 30.4% | +5.5% |
| 2022 | 30.9% | +1.7% |
| 2023 | 33.1% | +6.9% |
| 2024 | 35.7% | +7.9% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 14.0% | 11.7% | 16.8% | 9 |
| 2010s | 21.7% | 16.8% | 28.1% | 10 |
| 2020s | 31.8% | 28.8% | 35.7% | 5 |
More agriculture & rural data for Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)
- Rural population, per capita 0.5534 units per person (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 395.90 billion current US$ (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 17.9% (2025)
- Rural population 731.36 million (2025)
- Rural population growth 1.5% (2025)
- Rural population 55.3% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 1.0% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 2.6% (2024)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 0.1792 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Rural population, per unit of GDP 0.0003 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is access to electricity, rural in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
- Access to electricity, rural in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) was 35.7% in 2024, according to SDG 7.1.1 Electrification Dataset, World Bank (WB).
- What is the highest access to electricity, rural recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
- The highest recorded value was 35.7% in 2024.
- What is the lowest access to electricity, rural recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
- The lowest recorded value was 11.7% in 2000.
- How does Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) rank for access to electricity, rural?
- Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) ranks 45th out of 47 groups with data for 2024.
- Is access to electricity, rural rising or falling in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
- Over the last ten years it is up 84.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) 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 — 24 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.