New research suggests that the true number of people around the world who lack reliable and regular access to electricity is many times higher than previously estimated.
Why it matters: Access to affordable, reliable and sustainable electricity is a requirement for modern life, and enshrined in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. But fair access needs to go beyond a few lightbulbs and enable full participation in an electrified world.
Background: According to the UN — which has the goal of achieving universal energy access by 2030 — the number of people without access to electricity declined from 1.2 billion in 2010 to 789 million in 2018.
- That still leaves 1 in every 10 people around the world in the dark. But gaining access to electricity doesn't necessarily mean you can rely on it.
What's happening: In a paper published this week in The Electricity Journal, researchers tried to calculate global numbers around what they termed "reasonably reliable" access to electricity.
- The researchers examined the frequency and duration of power outages around the world to determine what they categorize as a base level for electricity service.
- Based on their calculations, more than 3.5 billion people — most of them concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia — lack reasonably reliable access to electricity.
Yes, but: That number includes the population of India, which has uneven but improving electricity service.
- Even with a more generous definition of electricity access that would include India, the researchers still conclude that more than 1.6 billion lack reasonably reliable service — twice the UN figures.
Of note: Even these numbers don't get at the yawning gap in energy access between rich countries and poorer ones.
- The development expert Todd Moss, one of the authors of the new paper, noted in a piece last year that Californians alone use more electricity for video gaming than the entire country of Kenya uses for everything.
- " The data shows that basic access is just the very first step," says Moss. "Nearly half the planet is still being held back."
The bottom line: The future will be electrified, and those who can't plug in will be left behind.