In 2012, the United Nations launched its worldwide effort to fight energy poverty , marking the
“International Year of Sustainable Energy for All”. Energy poverty is considered a
lack of energy infrastructure and resources. Roughly one in seven people around the world
lack access to electricity, almost exclusively in developing countries. Although things are
improving, many have said that too little change is happening too slowly. So we wanted
to know, which countries don’t have electricity?
Well, it is estimated that anywhere from 1.1 to 1.3 billion people live without electric
power. To make up for a lack of deliverable energy, nearly 3 billion people around the
world use coal or wood fuel for heat and cooking, contributing to deadly pollution. This pollution
is thought to be responsible for more than 4 million deaths every year.
The overwhelming concentration of energy poverty is found in rural India and sub-Saharan Africa.
Over the past few years, India has dramatically improved its power infrastructure, and in
2014, was the third largest electricity producer in the world. Yet, roughly 300 to 400 million
people without electricity live in rural Indian states. And even for those who do have power,
the energy grid is notoriously unreliable. In 2012, a nationwide blackout affected more
than 600 million people. Although the Indian government has launched efforts to provide
24-hour power to the entire country, some have accused politicians of only directing
energy to politically important districts.
While India has made some progress, sub-Saharan Africa is still struggling. Altogether, Africa
has about twice as many people without power as India – roughly 600 million. The country
with the least access to electricity in the world is South Sudan, which also has one of
the lowest education and literacy rates. The World Bank notes that in 2012, only 5% of
the country’s 11-million-person population had electricity. In fact, across all of sub-Saharan
Africa only about a quarter of the population has access to electric energy. What’s worse
is that the lack of electricity means that power is considerably more expensive, with
electricity costing three time as much as it might in the rest of the developing world.
Additionally, on average, African manufacturers suffer nearly 2 months’ worth of power outages
a year, severely disrupting economic progress. In the past two decades, as energy dependence
has become increasingly important, Africa has only received about $600 million dollars
annually in energy assistance from foreign countries.
The UN’s Sustainable Energy Goals are focused on providing universal access to power and
clean fuel, doubling the amount of renewable energy, and doubling the rate of energy efficiency.
Efforts like President Barack Obama’s Power Africa initiative are focused on bringing
foreign advisors and financial help to figure out how best invest in Africa’s energy infrastructure.
Still, despite these efforts, the World Bank has said that there needs to be considerably
more sustained investment to even consider meeting those goals.
To see my recent report from Tanzania and the different ways in which the people there
are hacking the energy crisis, check out this video. An to learn more about energy poverty,
visit One.org/energy. Thanks for watching TestTube News! Be sure to subscribe for new
videos every day.