A new World Bank report released yesterday reveals that Nigeria remains the country with the highest number of people without access to electricity for the third consecutive year.
The report, titled “Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report 2025,” covers data from 2023 and highlights ongoing energy challenges in developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2023, only 61% of Nigeria’s population had access to electricity, and just 26% had access to clean cooking energy, underscoring a major infrastructure and policy gap.
The report places Nigeria (86.8 million people without electricity), the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia at the top of the global electricity access deficit, accounting for about one-third of the global shortfall.
Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the most affected region, with 18 of the 20 countries with the weakest electricity access located there, now representing 85% of the world’s population without electricity.
Despite 35 million people in the region gaining access in 2023, rapid population growth meant the net access gap shrank by only 5 million—from 570 million in 2022 to 565 million in 2023.
The lowest national electricity access rates were recorded in South Sudan (5%), followed by Chad and Burundi (12%), all of which have shown minimal improvements since 2010.
In contrast, Central and Southern Asia significantly improved electricity access, reducing their deficit from 414 million in 2010 to just 27 million in 2023.
The World Bank warns that under current policies, about 645 million people worldwide will still lack electricity by 2030, making the Sustainable Development Goal 7 (universal energy access) increasingly difficult to achieve.
This stark data calls for urgent investment, reforms, and international cooperation to accelerate electricity access, particularly in Nigeria and across Sub-Saharan Africa.