World · Electricity Generation per Person

## What this measures

Electricity generated in the world in a year, divided by the number of people living there, in kilowatt-hours (kWh) per person. One value per calendar year from 2000, dated December 31. A Palanor calculation from two published series.

## Why it matters

Total generation grows with population, so it can't show whether people actually have more power to use. Per person, it puts large and small countries on one scale and shows how electrified daily life and industry are: heating, cooling, factories, data centres and electric cars all add to it.

## How to read it

Kilowatt-hours per person per year. Higher means more electricity made per resident. It falls when heavy industry closes or efficiency gains outrun new demand, and rises with industrialisation and electrification.

## What it does not say

It is generation, not consumption: a country that imports power (the UK, Italy) looks lower than what its people use, and an exporter (France, Norway) looks higher. It counts electricity used by industry and lost in the grid, not just homes. The latest year is partly Ember estimates and is revised as national statistics land.

## Source

Palanor calculation: Ember total generation (TWh, power.ember.generation_twh.world; Ember electricity data, CC BY 4.0, attribution "Ember (CC BY 4.0)") × one billion ÷ World Bank total population (SP.POP.TOTL, World Development Indicators, CC BY 4.0). Recomputed each time Ember's yearly file is read (/api/cron/ember-sync?freq=yearly), so revisions to either input carry through. Only years where both inputs exist are written.