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Africa: Persistent Access and Connectivity Gaps Leave Majority of Africans Without Reliable Power

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Africa: Persistent Access and Connectivity Gaps Leave Majority of Africans Without Reliable Power


Almost one-fourth of citizens use sources of electricity other than the main grid, mostly solar panels.

Key findings

  • About seven in 10 Africans (72%) live in areas served by an electric grid, ranging from just 29% in Chad to 100% in Tunisia, Mauritius, Eswatini, and Cabo Verde.
  • o Rural residents (49%) and the poorest citizens (60%) are far less likely to have access to an electric grid than their urban (93%) and well-off (91%) counterparts.
  • Six in 10 African households (60%) are connected to an electric grid. Mauritians (98%) and Seychellois (98%) enjoy nearly universal coverage, but fewer than one-fourth of respondents are connected in Sierra Leone (24%), Chad (16%), and Malawi (14%).
  • o Like access, connectivity shows huge disadvantages for rural households (37% vs. 83% in urban areas) and poor households (46% vs. 86% among the well-off).
  • Only 43% of Africans enjoy a supply of electricity that works “most” or “all” of the time, while 41% have no connection or say their connection never works.
  • o Fewer than one in 10 respondents in Madagascar (9%), Sierra Leone (8%), Guinea (7%), Mali (6%), Zambia (4%), and Chad (3%) report having a reliable supply of electricity.
  • Almost one-fourth (23%) of citizens use sources of electricity other than the main grid, mostly solar panels (70% among those who rely on alternative sources of electricity).
  • o Rural residents (31%) are twice as likely as their urban counterparts (15%) to use sources of electricity other than the national grid.
  • The provision of electricity ranks eighth among the most important problems that Africans want their government to address.
  • o Fewer than half (45%) of Africans are satisfied with their government’s performance on electricity provision.


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Universal access to reliable, affordable, and clean energy is a precondition for improving health care, education, and economic productivity. Despite rapid electrification growth in the 2010s, Africa has a significant energy deficit: Roughly 600 million people lack electricity, including 565 million in sub-Saharan Africa (Kennedy, 2025; Baskaran & Coste, 2024). Energy demand continues to outstrip supply, driven by rapid population growth, urbanisation, and industrial ambition (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2025).

United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 includes commitments to “ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services” and to “increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix” (United Nations, 2018, 2024). In pursuit of the latter goal, African countries have expanded energy sources to include renewable sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower (Khoza, 2024). Several countries have also implemented green economic policies,

including tax incentives (e.g. customs-duty and VAT-import exemptions) on selected renewable-energy equipment to improve affordability and consumer uptake (Mwangi, 2025; Mungai, 2024).

Scholars argue that off-grid renewable-energy sources have the capacity to rapidly and affordably increase rural electrification (Dalla Longa & van der Zwaan, 2021). But investment is lacking: Africa is home to 60% of the world’s solar-power potential yet receives less than 3% of global energy financing (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2025).

Multilateral partners are, however, helping African governments in their pursuit of universal access to electricity. One example of a large-scale development project is Mission 300, a joint programme by the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Sustainable Energy for All initiative to provide access to electricity for 300 million Africans by 2030 (United Nations Sustainable Development Group, 2025).

Afrobarometer survey findings from across 38 African countries indicate that advancements in electrification are sluggish and inconsistent, leaving many people – particularly in rural areas and in low-income households – without access to power.