Fewer than half of Africans enjoy a reliable supply of electricity from the national grid, with rural and low-income households particularly underserved, the latest Afrobarometer Pan-Africa Profile shows.
The reach of national electric grids varies widely across 38 African countries surveyed in 2024/2025, as does the share of households with an electricity connection that works most or all of the time.
These shortcomings are reflected in citizens’ evaluations of their governments’ performance on electricity provision: On average, a majority offer negative assessments.
Almost one-quarter of citizens report that they use alternative sources of electricity, most frequently solar power.
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.
Six in 10 households (60%) have a connection to the electric grid (Figure 2). Rural residents (37%) and poor citizens (46%) are far less connected than urbanites (83%) and well-off respondents (86%).
Only 43% of respondents enjoy a supply of electricity that works “most” or “all” of the time, including just 26% of rural residents and 27% of poor citizens.
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.
On average, only 45% of respondents say their government is performing “fairly well” or “very well” on the provision of a reliable supply of electricity, while 54% say it is doing a poor job.
Mauritius (92%), Morocco (84%), Seychelles (80%), and Botswana (75%) stand out with high approval ratings.
In contrast, only one in eight citizens give their government passing marks on electricity in Zambia (13%), Nigeria (12%), and Chad (12%).
Almost one-fourth (23%) of Africans use sources of electricity other than the main grid, mostly solar panels (70% among those who rely on alternative sources of electricity).
Afrobarometer surveys
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, nonpartisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life. Ten survey rounds in up to 45 countries have been completed since 1999. Round 10 surveys (2024/2025) cover 38 countries.
Afrobarometer’s National Partners conduct face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice that yield country-level results with margins of error of +/-2 to +/-3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more on our sampling methodology, click here (https://apo-opa.co/4cV0frx).
GIK/APA