Electricity Statistics
Detailed, comprehensive annual data on electricity and heat
The IEA’s Electricity Information contains time series of electricity and heat data for 36 OECD countries, from 1960 to 2017. Annual statistics are available for detailed supply/demand balances, end-use consumption, electricity trade by partner country, specific autoproducer electricity and heat consumption data, as well as electricity generation capacity by generation type.
Data service Electricity Information 2019 Overview 2019Documentation
Electricity Information 2019 overview
Electricity production
In 2017, world gross electricity production was 2.5% higher than 2016. Year-on-year, global electricity production has grown continuously since 1974, except for between 2008 and 2009, when the global financial crisis caused an appreciable decline in production.
In 2017, the share of production of non-OECD countries reached 57.0% of world electricity generation – more than double the share they held in 1974. Annual production growth between 2000 and 2010 averaged 1.1% in OECD countries, compared with 6.4% in non-OECD countries.
OECD Non-OECD 1974 4533 1766 1975 4621 1908 1976 4941 2055 1977 5147 2171 1978 5385 2322 1979 5576 2463 1980 5684 2615 1981 5750 2721 1982 5708 2850 1983 5920 3002 1984 6209 3213 1985 6443 3378 1986 6544 3573 1987 6819 3784 1988 7094 3974 1989 7495 4119 1990 7736 4164 1991 7922 4257 1992 7985 4305 1993 8163 4417 1994 8388 4500 1995 8643 4687 1996 8890 4868 1997 9013 5037 1998 9239 5170 1999 9437 5381 2000 9824 5695 2001 9709 5928 2002 9992 6258 2003 10109 6736 2004 10358 7258 2005 10607 7771 2006 10683 8405 2007 10880 9040 2008 10911 9406 2009 10530 9720 2010 11001 10615 2011 10960 11366 2012 10947 11882 2013 10954 12547 2014 10902 13040 2015 10945 13455 2016 11023 14072 2017 11051 14670
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In 2017, generation from combustible fuels accounted for 66.8% of total world gross electricity production.
Combustible fuels include coal and coal products, oil and oil products, natural gas, biofuels including solid biomass and animal products, gas/liquids from biomass, industrial waste and municipal waste.
2017 Coal 9863338.544 Oil 841877.591 Natural gas 5882824.768 Nuclear 2636029.84 Hydro 4197299.483 Geothermal, tidal, other 122413.903 Wind 1127319.438 Solar 454401.658 Biofuels and waste 595571.644
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Electricity generation from total combustible fuels accounted for 58.6% of total OECD gross electricity production (compared to 72.3% for non-OECD).
Electricity generation from renewable sources such as wind (+7.0%) and solar (+19.8%) registered robust growth.
OECD gross electricity production by source, 1974-2018 provisional
Coal Oil Natural gas Nuclear Hydro Solar, wind, geothermal, etc. Biofuels and waste 1974 36.20 23.80 11.70 5.30 22.60 0.20 0.20 1975 36.50 22.30 11.30 7.30 22.30 0.20 0.20 1976 38.10 22.90 10.60 7.80 20.10 0.20 0.20 1977 37.90 22.40 10.60 9.30 19.40 0.20 0.20 1978 36.90 22.00 10.40 10.40 19.90 0.20 0.20 1979 38.30 19.90 11.00 10.30 20.10 0.20 0.20 1980 40.80 17.50 10.90 10.90 19.50 0.20 0.20 1981 41.30 15.60 10.40 12.70 19.60 0.20 0.20 1982 42.10 13.50 9.80 13.70 20.30 0.20 0.40 1983 42.70 12.20 9.10 14.90 20.50 0.20 0.40 1984 42.00 11.00 9.70 17.00 19.60 0.30 0.40 1985 42.70 9.10 9.20 19.50 18.80 0.30 0.40 1986 42.10 9.20 8.50 21.00 18.40 0.30 0.50 1987 42.20 8.80 8.90 21.70 17.70 0.30 0.50 1988 41.90 9.20 8.40 22.60 17.20 0.30 0.50 1989 40.90 9.80 9.90 22.10 15.80 0.40 1.20 1990 40.10 9.10 10.10 22.60 15.90 0.70 1.60 1991 39.50 9.00 10.30 23.20 16.10 0.70 1.20 1992 39.20 8.90 10.60 23.30 15.90 0.70 1.30 1993 38.90 8.10 10.90 23.60 16.40 0.70 1.30 1994 38.40 8.50 11.90 23.70 15.40 0.70 1.30 1995 37.90 7.50 12.50 23.90 16.10 0.70 1.30 1996 38.50 7.30 12.30 23.90 16.00 0.70 1.30 1997 38.50 7.00 13.30 23.20 15.80 0.70 1.40 1998 38.40 7.00 14.10 23.30 15.00 0.70 1.40 1999 37.70 6.60 15.30 23.60 14.70 0.80 1.40 2000 38.50 6.00 15.80 23.00 14.40 0.90 1.50 2001 37.90 5.80 16.70 23.60 13.50 0.90 1.50 2002 37.80 5.50 17.50 23.00 13.60 1.10 1.60 2003 38.40 5.70 17.70 22.20 13.30 1.20 1.60 2004 37.40 5.20 18.50 22.60 13.20 1.40 1.70 2005 37.30 5.10 19.00 22.30 13.00 1.60 1.80 2006 36.90 4.00 20.20 22.20 13.10 1.80 1.90 2007 36.70 4.20 21.60 21.00 12.50 2.10 1.90 2008 35.90 3.60 22.10 21.00 12.90 2.50 2.00 2009 34.10 3.10 22.90 21.40 13.30 3.00 2.20 2010 34.00 2.80 23.50 20.80 12.90 3.40 2.40 2011 33.20 3.30 24.40 19.00 13.30 4.30 2.50 2012 32.00 3.60 25.50 17.80 13.30 5.00 2.70 2013 32.30 3.10 24.30 17.90 13.50 5.90 2.90 2014 32.00 2.60 24.10 18.20 13.50 6.70 3.00 2015 29.60 2.40 26.00 18.00 13.20 7.60 3.20 2016 27.60 2.20 27.40 17.80 13.40 8.30 3.20 2017 27.20 2.00 27.00 17.70 13.30 9.60 3.30 2018p 25.60 1.80 27.90 17.70 13.40 10.40 3.30
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Much of the growth in OECD electricity consumption since 1974 has taken place in the residential, and commercial and public service sectors. In 2017, industry was still the largest end-use sector for electricity consumption, but its share of consumption has been in long-term decline.
The remaining consumption sectors – transport, agriculture and fishing – are relatively small consumers of electricity. However, road transport has recently experienced strong growth in electricity consumption as electric vehicles gain market share across OECD countries, in particular in Europe.
1974-2000 2000-2010 2010-2017 Industry 2.2 -0.8 0.2 Transport 2 -0.6 2.3 Residential 3.2 2 -0.5 Commercial and public services 4.5 2.1 0.3 Others 3 5.2 2.9
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The four largest non-OECD consumers of electricity in 2017 were China, India, Russia and Brazil, which together represent 37.2% of global consumption. Among these countries, China has the largest share, at 46.7% of total non-OECD consumption.
Electricity use outside the OECD is dominated by industrial demand which accounts for half of consumption.
Consumption China 5537.189089 United States 3738.117378 India 1164.006002 Japan 963.903364 Russia 760.884818 Korea 523.237313 Germany 518.959 Canada 508.721333 Brazil 498.512915 France 436.862945
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Electricity trade
Electricity trade between neighbouring countries has become much more common in recent years. In the OECD, imports of electricity grew from 89 TWh in 1974 to 490 TWh in 2018, representing an average annual growth rate of 4.0%, compared to the 2.1% growth in overall electricity supply.
Substantial trade in electricity occurs in OECD Europe, where electricity imports grew at an average annual rate of 4.1% between 1974 and 2018.
Imports Exports Net Trade 1974 70.494 -63.06 7.434 1975 73.734 -68.682 5.052 1976 76.475 -71.329 5.146 1977 81.762 -76.511 5.251 1978 91.551 -86.318 5.233 1979 102.295 -91.43 10.865 1980 106.547 -90.906 15.641 1981 117.063 -101.077 15.986 1982 114.042 -98.635 15.407 1983 139.8 -121.169 18.631 1984 146.618 -125.998 20.62 1985 147.995 -127.388 20.607 1986 145.087 -124.594 20.493 1987 163.6 -138.933 24.667 1988 183.235 -154.901 28.334 1989 202.126 -176.433 25.693 1990 229.353 -222.572 6.781 1991 202.964 -202.733 0.231 1992 201.998 -202.764 -0.766 1993 204.45 -201.801 2.649 1994 199.542 -196.007 3.535 1995 212.293 -209.521 2.772 1996 239.041 -234.452 4.589 1997 236.897 -231.37 5.527 1998 230.647 -228.381 2.266 1999 254.052 -249.711 4.341 2000 289.5714 -287.426 2.145524 2001 296.6553 -286.636 10.01946 2002 319.1906 -308.62 10.57072 2003 332.9772 -323.287 9.689769 2004 321.1893 -311.382 9.807728 2005 365.8924 -350.996 14.89687 2006 352.8713 -335.996 16.87529 2007 354.4031 -351.572 2.831482 2008 336.9522 -325.627 11.32529 2009 321.5118 -310.877 10.63493 2010 333.5521 -311.945 21.60739 2011 361.5947 -348.57 13.02441 2012 385.3661 -383.235 2.131619 2013 379.6843 -363.946 15.73865 2014 411.7329 -399.426 12.30657 2015 436.1845 -424.033 12.15145 2016 406.0388 -390.926 15.11275 2017 408.4693 -407.902 0.567661 2018 estimated 416.4882 -396.232 20.2559
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