Energy access

Access to electricity (share of world population)

Name: Access to electricity (share of world population)
Creator: Factrail

Share of the global population with access to electricity. A foundational welfare indicator: electricity access underpins health care, education, refrigeration, communications and economic opportunity, and the remaining gap is concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa.

current value91.6% of population

Worse than normalImproving(+0.31)

GlobalAbove normal = betterimportance: 0.90unit: % of population3 active driversUpdated Jan 2023

How to read it

Readings above the normal line are better than normal; readings below it are worse.

Indicator & its drivers over time

Measured value over time. Its norm (100 % of population) is far off this scale, marked at the top edge, so the series stays worse than normal throughout — the deviation badge shows the gap.

Norm 100 % of population— above this scale

Each driver linked to this indicator, strongest pull first, on the same timeline above. Markers are the facts that moved that driver. These are modelled influences — treat them as correlational unless a documented causal edge is shown.

Energy Security

Raises welfareStrengthensEnergy and Natural Resources

weight 0.85

50%

Renewable-Energy Deployment

Raises welfareStrengthensEnergy and Natural Resources

weight 0.30

40%

Distributed solar and mini-grids extend electricity access in off-grid regions, modestly improving global access over a multi-year horizon.

Population Ageing

Raises welfareStrengthensHealth, Demography, and the Humanitarian Environment

weight 0.16

40%

Peer-calibrated public path from a documented driver onto an indicator that already carries public data and a NormalLine.

Fact markers
Initiating
Strengthening
Neutralizing
Weakening

Causal network

This indicator’s slice of Factrail’s verified causal web — the people, facts, drivers and welfare indicators it connects to. Select any node to trace a path.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed 30 June 2026