1.2 Billion People Still Live Without Electricity

One in seven people on Earth live without electricity. While official estimates put this figure at 730 million, satellite data reveals a starkly different reality: 1.18 billion people — 60% more than previously counted — show no evidence of electricity use.

Nearly 150 years after Edison's light bulb, and in an era when AI data centers are driving unprecedented energy demand, more than a billion people still rely on kerosene, sticks, animal dung, and even plastic for heating, lighting, and cooking.

The Hidden Scale of Darkness

Brian Min and his team at the University of Michigan spent seven years analyzing satellite imagery, photographing regions of the world nightly to track lighting patterns. Their findings, published in 2024, exposed a massive blind spot in how we count the energy poor.

The problem isn't just about connection — it's about actual use. 447 million people are technically connected to power grids but don't actually use electricity. Many more face frequent outages, load shedding, or simply can't afford to keep the lights on.

Sub-Saharan Africa bears the heaviest burden. Between 2020 and 2023, 35 million people in the region gained electricity access, but population growth of 30 million meant net progress was just 5 million people. By 2054, the region's population is projected to reach 2.2 billion — a 70% increase from today's 1.29 billion.

"It used to be that we thought about energy-poor countries versus energy-rich countries," Min explains. "Most of the communities where access is low are in countries where there is evidence of pretty significant or robust working grids."

Politics Determines Power

Energy poverty isn't just about poor countries — it's about power distribution within them. Wealthier cities with more political influence direct investment their way, particularly in less democratic societies.

Kenya offers a compelling counter-example. The nation jumped from single-digit electrification rates in the 1990s to over 75% today, coinciding with improved democratic institutions and public accountability. "Democracies actually do a better job at reaching more remote and rural communities," Min notes.

This reveals that connecting communities to electricity isn't simply about technology and money — it's about governance.

Cooking: The Real Game Changer

Simple battery-powered lights won't transform lives. "That is not transformative energy access," Min emphasizes. The real breakthrough comes with cooking.

In the poorest regions, women spend most of their days gathering fuel, then cook indoors over open flames. It's a massive time drain that creates dangerous indoor air pollution. "If you look at the environmental health impacts of anything anywhere, cooking with biomass is one of the biggest killers," says Valerie Thomas, a professor at Georgia Tech.

But electric cooking demands serious power. "If you're going to make a piece of toast with a toaster, that's 1,000 watts right there," Thomas points out. That power must be consistent and affordable — a tall order for fragile grids.

The Solar Promise and Reality Check

Why haven't renewable energy and microgrids enabled the same "leapfrogging" that mobile phones achieved over landlines? Early-generation renewable systems weren't as reliable or affordable as hoped. "A PV panel on your roof is cheaper and does kind of what people want, but they're often not maintained well," Thomas explains.

However, solar-plus-storage combinations are rapidly improving and dropping in price. As hardware costs plummet and battery technology advances, this creates a genuine pathway for reliable, affordable electricity in remote regions.

The challenge remains massive investment requirements and climate disasters that undermine progress. At recent international climate negotiations, countries pledged $1.3 trillion in financing for developing nations. But donor countries have a poor track record of meeting climate financing targets, leading some developing nations to invest more heavily in extracting their own coal, oil, and gas.

The Governance Gap

To truly reach the last people living in darkness, countries need institutions that give everyone a voice. Technology and capital alone aren't enough — democratic governance ensures power reaches all communities, not just politically connected ones.

The trend lines are moving in the right direction, but thoughtful investments, better governance, and continued technology improvements could accelerate progress significantly.