SHARE OF HOUSEHOLDS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY OR OTHER MODERN
ENERGY SERVICES
Poverty Access to energy Core indicator
1. INDICATOR
(a) Name: Share of households without electricity or other modern energy services
(b) Brief Definition: Share of households with no access to commercial energy services
including electricity, or heavily dependent on ‘traditional’ non-commercial energy
options, such as fuelwood, charcoal, agricultural wastes and animal dung
(c) Units of Measurement: Percentage
(d) Placement in the CSD Indicator Set: Poverty/Access to energy
2. POLICY RELEVANCE
(a) Purpose: To monitor progress in accessibility and affordability of modern energy
services including electricity.
(b) Relevance to Sustainable Development: Modern energy services are an essential
component of providing adequate food, shelter, water, sanitation, medical care,
education and access to communication. Lack of access to modern energy services
contributes to poverty and deprivation and limits economic development. Furthermore,
adequate, affordable and reliable energy services are necessary to guarantee sustainable
economic and human development.
It is estimated that 2.5 billion people, or about one-third of the world’s population,
depend mainly on traditional biomass sources of energy; 1.6 billion are without
electricity. About 300 million people have been connected to electricity grids or have
been provided with modern biomass or other forms of commercial energy options since
1993. However, in the absence of adequate measures, the number of people with no
access to modern energy services will remain stable or continue to grow as demographic
growth outpaces electrification in some parts of the world.
(c) International Conventions and Agreements: None.
(d) International Targets/Recommended Standards: The Johannesburg Plan of
Implementation (JPOI) of the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in 2002
includes the aim of improving access to reliable and affordable energy services. The JPOI
also includes the commitment to support Africa’s efforts to implement the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) objectives on energy, which seek to
secure access for at least 35 per cent of the African population within 20 years, especially
in rural areas.
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(e) Linkages to Other Indicators: This indicator is linked to the use of traditional fuels,
to energy prices and to several indicators of the social dimension, such as income
inequality, share of household income spent on fuel and electricity, energy use relative to
income level, urbanization, etc. The indicator might indirectly reflect a related use of
forest resources as fuelwood, which in turn could cause deforestation.
3. METHODOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION
(a) Underlying Definitions and Concepts: Consumption of traditional fuels refers to the
consumption of fuelwood, charcoal, agricultural wastes and animal dung. Total
household energy use might comprise modern (commercial) energy as well as
traditional (non-commercial) fuels.
Households choose among energy options on the basis of fuel accessibility and
affordability, the household’s socioeconomic characteristics and attitudes, and the
attributes of the different fuels. Lack of access to modern energy services implies
unsatisfied energy requirements or the use of traditional fuels. If electricity and other
commercial fuels and are available, income is the main characteristic that appears to
influence a household’s choice of fuel. Different income groups use different fuels, and
the poor in many developing countries to a great extent meet their energy demand using
traditional biomass fuels, either because of a lack of access to commercial energy
services or because of limited disposable income. National shares of traditional fuel in
total energy use do not accurately reflect this indicator, as the average figures may
strongly differ from corresponding figures for each income group of the population.
Therefore, the preferred indicator is the percentage of households or population with no
access to modern commercial energy options, or heavily dependent on ‘traditional’ non-
commercial energy options, such as fuelwood, agricultural wastes and animal dung.
(b) Measuring Methods: This indicator is defined by the share of households without
access to modern energy or electricity and by the share of households that are heavily
dependent on ‘traditional’ non-commercial energy options. Where possible, the share of
households without access to electricity should be calculated separately from the share
of households that rely on traditional fuels as their primary energy option for cooking
and heating. The indicators should be calculated for both urban and rural households
where this is relevant.
(c) Limitations of the Indicators: Availability of current and historic data may be a
limitation. Heavy dependence on non-commercial energy is defined as relying on
traditional fuels as the primary energy option for cooking and heating and is subject to
interpretation. The ‘access to electricity’ could reflect different concepts, like the exact
physical access to electricity (connectivity to the grid) or the financial access to electricity
(ability to pay the electricity bill).
(d) Alternative Definitions/Indicators: An alternative indicator that may be useful is
‘Per capita consumption of non-commercial or traditional energy’. However, this does
not really capture the essence of the issue. Population rather than households could be
used as reference in calculating this indicator.
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4. ASSESSMENT OF DATA
(a) Data Needed to Compile the Indicator: The number of urban and rural
households without access to electricity, those urban and rural households that are
heavily dependent on traditional fuels, and the total number of urban and rural
households in a specific country or a region.
(b) National and International Data Availability and Sources: The most important
source of data on commercial and traditional fuel and electricity consumption is
household surveys. The results of these surveys can be obtained from reports published
by government statistical agencies. About two-thirds of the developing countries have
conducted sample household surveys that are representative nationally, and some of
these provide high-quality data on living standards. International agencies such as the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also carry out their own surveys of
households.
Data on household fuel and electricity consumption by average population are available
from the International Energy Agency (IEA) Energy Balances of OECD Countries and
Energy Balances of Non-OECD Countries.
The United Nations Regional Commissions for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and for
Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) publish data on access to electricity in their
member countries in their electricity surveys (ESCAP) and statistical yearbooks
(ECLAC).
(c) Data references
IEA: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/stats/prodresult.asp?PRODUCT=Balances
ESCAP: http://www.unescap.org/esd/energy/information/electricpower/
ECLAC: http://websie.eclac.cl/sisgen/ConsultaIntegrada.asp
5. AGENCIES INVOLVED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDICATOR
(a) Lead Agencies: The International Energy Agency (IEA) is the lead agency.
(b) Other contributing organizations: International Atomic Energy Agency.
6. REFERENCES
Chen, S., Datt, G., Ravallion, M., 1992. POVCAL: A Program for Calculating Poverty
Measures from Grouped Data. Washington DC, USA: World Bank, Poverty and Human
Resources Division, Policy Research Department.
IAEA, UN DESA, IEA, EUROSTAT and EEA, 2005. Energy indicators for sustainable
development: guidelines and methodologies. Vienna, Austria: International Atomic
Energy Agency.
IAEA and UN DESA, 2007. Energy Indicators for sustainable development: country
studies on Brazil, Cuba, Lithuania, Mexico, Russian Federation and Thailand. New York,
USA: United Nations.
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IEA, various editions. Energy Balances of Non-OECD Countries. Paris, France:
International Energy Agency.
IEA, various editions. Energy Balances of OECD Countries. Paris, France: International
Energy Agency.
IEA, various editions. Energy Statistics of Non-OECD Countries. Paris, France:
International Energy Agency.
IEA, various editions. Energy Statistics of OECD Countries. Paris, France: International
Energy Agency.
UNICEF. MICS Household Surveys. New York, USA: United Nations Children’s Fund.
Available at http://www.childinfo.org.
UNSD, 1991. Energy Statistics: A Manual for Developing Countries. New York, USA: United
Nations Statistics Division.
WEC, 2000. Energy for Tomorrow’s World — Acting Now. London, UK: World Energy
Council.
World Bank, various editions. World Development Indicators. Published annually.
Washington DC, USA: World Bank.
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