Solar share of electricity — all countries

Solar share of electricity — Lower-middle-income countries

Solar share of electricity in lower-middle-income countries in 2024 — 5.6%. Since 2000, the indicator has risen by 5.6 pp.

2024 5.6% +0.86 pp vs 2023
World rank
Period maximum 5.6%2024
Period minimum 0%2000

Trend over time

2000–2024 · % of generation

Solar share of electricity — Lower-middle-income countries, 2000–202402462000200320062009201220152018202120242000: 0%2001: 0%2002: 0%2003: 0%2004: 0%2005: 0%2006: 0%2007: 0.01%2008: 0.01%2009: 0.01%2010: 0.01%2011: 0.06%2012: 0.13%2013: 0.18%2014: 0.23%2015: 0.34%2016: 0.59%2017: 0.97%2018: 1.45%2019: 1.78%2020: 2.69%2021: 3.51%2022: 4.28%2023: 4.75%2024: 5.6%
Change over the period: +5.6 pp Annual average: 0.23 pp

Comparison, 2024

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

Lower-middle-income countries 5.6%
World computed 6.94%
Solar share of electricity — Lower-middle-income countries, by year Lower-middle-income countries All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2024 5.6 +0.86 pp
2023 4.75 +0.47 pp
2022 4.28 +0.77 pp
2021 3.51 +0.82 pp
2020 2.69 +0.91 pp
2019 1.78 +0.33 pp
2018 1.45 +0.48 pp
2017 0.97 +0.38 pp
2016 0.59 +0.26 pp
2015 0.34 +0.1 pp
2014 0.23 +0.05 pp
2013 0.18 +0.05 pp
2012 0.13 +0.08 pp
2011 0.06 +0.04 pp
2010 0.01 +0.01 pp
2009 0.01 +0 pp
2008 0.01 +0 pp
2007 0.01 +0 pp
2006 0 +0 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.