Solar share of electricity — all countries

Solar share of electricity — Low-income countries

Solar share of electricity in low-income countries in 2024 — 2.95%. Since 2000, the indicator has risen by 2.95 pp.

2024 2.95% +0.23 pp vs 2023
World rank
Period maximum 2.95%2024
Period minimum 0%2000

Trend over time

2000–2024 · % of generation

Solar share of electricity — Low-income countries, 2000–202401232000200320062009201220152018202120242000: 0%2001: 0%2002: 0%2003: 0%2004: 0%2005: 0%2006: 0.01%2007: 0.01%2008: 0.02%2009: 0.02%2010: 0.03%2011: 0.04%2012: 0.1%2013: 0.13%2014: 0.17%2015: 0.32%2016: 0.39%2017: 0.48%2018: 0.76%2019: 0.84%2020: 1.01%2021: 1.85%2022: 2.78%2023: 2.72%2024: 2.95%
Change over the period: +2.95 pp Annual average: 0.12 pp

Comparison, 2024

How the value compares with the world and the groups this territory belongs to: Low-income countries

Low-income countries 2.95%
World computed 6.94%
Solar share of electricity — Low-income countries, by year Low-income countries All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2024 2.95 +0.23 pp
2023 2.72 −0.06 pp
2022 2.78 +0.93 pp
2021 1.85 +0.84 pp
2020 1.01 +0.17 pp
2019 0.84 +0.08 pp
2018 0.76 +0.28 pp
2017 0.48 +0.09 pp
2016 0.39 +0.07 pp
2015 0.32 +0.15 pp
2014 0.17 +0.04 pp
2013 0.13 +0.03 pp
2012 0.1 +0.06 pp
2011 0.04 +0.01 pp
2010 0.03 +0.01 pp
2009 0.02 −0 pp
2008 0.02 +0.01 pp
2007 0.01 −0 pp
2006 0.01 +0.01 pp
2005 0 +0 pp
2004 0 +0 pp
2003 0 +0 pp
2002 0 +0 pp
2001 0 +0 pp
2000 0

About the indicator

The share of electricity generated by solar plants in a country's total generation. The fastest-growing series in all of energy statistics: where twenty years ago the share was measured in hundredths of a percent, it now runs into tens. The figure depends less on how much sun there is than on policy and prices: the leaders are not the sunniest countries but those that started building earlier. The flip side of that growth is the daily cycle: at noon solar pushes out the other sources, and in the evening it is gone altogether.

Important: The World Bank has no separate series for solar — there it sits inside “other renewables” together with biomass and geothermal. Aggregates for groups of countries are weighted by generation in terawatt-hours and computed from 2000 onward: there is no weight before that.

Source: Yearly Electricity Data (Ember), license CC BY 4.0.