Electricity generation reached 31,255.9 TWh worldwide in 2024, while electricity access reached 92% of the global population in 2023. Together, these measures show both the scale of the power system and the continuing gap between generation capacity and participation.
Key Electricity Generation Statistics
The most useful headline measures are:
- 31,255.9 TWh of electricity was generated worldwide in 2024.
- Global electricity generation increased 4.0% in 2024 worldwide.
- Low- and zero-carbon sources supplied more than 40% of global electricity generation in 2024 worldwide.
- Fossil fuels supplied nearly 60% of global electricity generation in 2024 worldwide.
- Coal supplied 35% of global electricity generation in 2024 worldwide.
- Solar PV supplied 7% of global electricity generation in 2024 worldwide.
- The Asia-Pacific region generated 16,132.4 TWh in 2024, or 51.6% of world generation.
- The United States generated 4,634.8 TWh in 2024, or 14.8% of world generation.
- Global electricity demand increased 4.3% in 2024 worldwide.
- Buildings accounted for nearly 60% of global electricity-consumption growth in 2024 worldwide.
- Renewables and nuclear power provided more than 80% of global electricity-generation growth in 2024 worldwide.
- About 700 GW of renewable power capacity was added globally in 2024.
- Global installed solar PV capacity reached an estimated 2.2 TW at the end of 2024.
- Global access to electricity reached 92% of the population in 2023.
- About 666 million people remained without electricity access worldwide in 2023.
- 91% of newly commissioned utility-scale renewable capacity in 2024 delivered electricity below the cheapest new fossil-fuel alternative.
- New utility-scale onshore wind had a global weighted-average LCOE of USD 0.034/kWh in 2024.
- Emissions from global electricity generation rose 1.2% to about 13.9 gigatonnes of CO2 in 2024.
Contents
- Global electricity generation scale and trends
- Global electricity generation mix by fuel
- Regional and country electricity generation data
- Electricity demand and end-use trends
- Renewable and nuclear generation deployment
- Electricity access and participation
- Generation costs, investment and emissions outcomes
Global Electricity Generation Scale and Trends
The Statistical Review of World Energy 2025 reports gross world electricity generation of 31,255.9 TWh in 2024. Generation increased 4.0% that year and grew at an average 2.6% per year from 2014 to 2024.
Over the same 2014–2024 period, total global energy demand grew at an average 1.3% per year, half the electricity-generation growth rate. The comparison uses the Energy Institute’s reported measures and periods.
The Electricity – Global Energy Review 2025 reports a related 2024 picture in which low- and zero-carbon sources supplied more than 40% of global electricity, while fossil fuels supplied nearly 60%.
Global Electricity Generation Mix by Fuel
Fuel shares describe the composition of world generation in 2024. The IEA cautions through its rounded reporting that these shares should be read as source-specific rounded measures, not recombined into a new total across accounting systems.
| Fuel or source | 2024 generation measure | Geography and source |
|---|---|---|
| Coal | 10,613 TWh; 35% of generation | World; Energy Institute and IEA |
| Natural gas | 2.5% generation growth; more than 20% share for over two decades | World; IEA |
| Hydropower | 14% of generation | World; IEA |
| Wind | 8% of generation | World; IEA |
| Solar PV | 7% of generation | World; IEA |
| Bioenergy and waste | 3% of generation | World; IEA |
| Nuclear | 9% of generation | World; IEA |
Coal-fired generation reached 10,613 TWh after growing 1.2% in 2024. Natural-gas generation grew 2.5%, while the IEA describes its share as more than 20% for over two decades through 2024 rather than as one exact percentage.
Regional and Country Electricity Generation Data
The 2024 distribution was concentrated in Asia-Pacific, which generated 16,132.4 TWh, equal to 51.6% of world generation. OECD economies generated 11,449.7 TWh, or 36.6%, while non-OECD economies generated 19,806.2 TWh, or 63.4%.
| Region or economy | 2024 generation | Share of world generation |
|---|---|---|
| Asia-Pacific | 16,132.4 TWh | 51.6% |
| North America | 5,626.8 TWh | 18.0% |
| Europe | 3,887.6 TWh | 12.4% |
| Commonwealth of Independent States | 1,570.2 TWh | 5.0% |
| South and Central America | 1,506.3 TWh | 4.8% |
| United States | 4,634.8 TWh | 14.8% |
| Brazil | 745.7 TWh | 2.4% |
All regional and country figures in the table come from the Statistical Review of World Energy 2025, whose table reports gross generation and its own 2024 world shares.
Electricity Demand and End-Use Trends
Global electricity demand increased 4.3% in 2024, compared with an average annual increase of 2.7% from 2010 to 2023. The IEA’s Global Energy Review 2025 puts the 2024 increase in global electricity consumption at about 1,080 TWh.
Buildings were the largest reported source of demand growth: their electricity consumption rose by more than 600 TWh, or 5%, and accounted for nearly 60% of total global electricity-consumption growth. Industry accounted for nearly 40% of demand growth, with industrial electricity use rising by nearly 4% globally.
Transport electricity consumption grew by more than 8% globally in 2024. Advanced-economy consumption increased by 230 TWh after declining by 140 TWh in 2023, while Southeast Asian consumption grew by more than 7% in 2024, compared with about 4% in 2023.
Renewable and Nuclear Generation Deployment
Renewables and nuclear power provided more than 80% of the growth in global electricity generation in 2024, according to the Key findings – Global Energy Review 2025. Nuclear output increased by nearly 4%, boosted by new projects and restarted reactors in France and Japan.
The Electricity – Global Energy Review 2025 records increases of about 480 TWh for solar PV, about 180 TWh for wind and 190 TWh for hydropower in 2024.
Renewable capacity deployment was also substantial, though some capacity figures are estimates:
- About 700 GW of renewable power capacity was added globally in 2024, the 22nd consecutive annual record; the IEA says this figure is estimated and partly based on actual additions.
- Solar PV accounted for more than three-quarters of renewable capacity additions, with about 550 GW added; this is also an IEA estimate.
- Estimated installed solar PV capacity reached 2.2 TW worldwide at the end of 2024.
- More than 7 GW of nuclear capacity came online in 2024, 33% more than in 2023, and total installed nuclear capacity reached 420 GW.
Electricity Access and Participation
Generation volume and population access measure different parts of the electricity system. Tracking SDG 7 – The Energy Progress Report 2025 reports that global access reached 92% of the population in 2023, leaving about 666 million people without electricity access.
Sub-Saharan Africa contained 85% of the global population without electricity in 2023. Although 35 million people gained access there during the year, the access gap fell by only 5 million to 565 million.
| Access measure | Period | Population and result |
|---|---|---|
| Global access | 2023 | 92% of world population |
| People without access | 2023 | About 666 million worldwide |
| Sub-Saharan Africa share of global gap | 2023 | 85% of people without access |
| Sub-Saharan Africa rural residents without access | 2023 | Estimated 451 million |
| Central and Southern Asia access gap | 2010–2023 | Fell from 414 million to 27 million |
Rural communities contained 84% of people without electricity access globally in 2023. Decentralized renewable-energy technologies benefited an estimated more than 561 million people worldwide in the same year, while the report estimates that 451 million rural residents in Sub-Saharan Africa lacked access.
Generation Costs, Investment and Emissions Outcomes
Cost figures for new utility-scale projects are plant-level measures. The Renewable power generation costs in 2024 – Executive summary reports that 91% of newly commissioned utility-scale renewable capacity in 2024 produced electricity at a lower cost than the cheapest new fossil-fuel alternative under IRENA’s LCOE methodology.
| Technology | 2024 global weighted-average LCOE |
|---|---|
| Utility-scale onshore wind | USD 0.034/kWh |
| Utility-scale solar PV | USD 0.043/kWh |
| New hydropower | USD 0.057/kWh |
These LCOE estimates are weighted averages for newly commissioned utility-scale projects in 2024 and exclude transmission and distribution costs beyond the plant busbar. IRENA also estimates that new utility-scale solar PV had a global total installed cost of USD 691/kW in 2024.
Utility-scale battery-storage installed cost fell an estimated 93%, from USD 2,571/kWh in 2010 to USD 192/kWh in 2024. IRENA estimates that renewable generation avoided USD 467 billion in fossil-fuel costs in 2024, based on modeled fuel-price and displacement assumptions.
Investment measures require a separate qualification. The Overview and key findings – World Energy Investment 2024 projected that global energy investment would exceed USD 3 trillion in 2024, including about USD 2 trillion for clean-energy technologies and infrastructure; solar PV power-sector investment was projected to exceed USD 500 billion.
These IEA 2024 investment values are estimates or projections rather than final audited outturns. Finally, the Power – Breakthrough Agenda Report 2025 reports that emissions from global electricity generation rose 1.2% in 2024 to about 13.9 gigatonnes of CO2.