Sub-Saharan Africa H2R

Among the 560 million people living without access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, many are concentrated in 16 of the region’s least-developed countries.

Energy

A region without reliable electricity, by the numbers.

of the world's unelectrified live in sub-Saharan Africa

people without electricity live in the 16 Hardest-to-Reach countries

of them could be reached by off-grid solar technologies

Nearly 700 million people live without electricity today, and more than 80% of them reside in sub-Saharan Africa.

While nearly 500 million people have gained energy access from off-grid solar products since 2012, in Africa these gains have been concentrated in lower-risk, established markets in East Africa. Hardest-to-Reach countries, with below average energy access rates and high rates of poverty, are at risk of falling behind on the path to universal electrification.

We invest in solar solutions that increase access to affordable, clean energy and support inclusive economic growth in the region. Nascent markets with low electricity rates attract only a fraction of the investment flowing into the off-grid solar sector. Western, Central, and Southern Africa account for 71% of the region’s unelectrified population but received just 24% of cumulative off-grid solar investment between 2012 and 2019.

Across the 16 Hardest-to-Reach geographies, there are approximately 278 million people who do not have access to modern electricity services. The Hardest-to-Reach target countries are Benin, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia.