Six African nations achieve full electricity access in 2026 ranking

What happened

According to the WorldStats 2026 electricity-access rankings reported by Tuko News, six African countries have achieved a 100.0% grid connection rate. Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius and Seychelles jointly top the continental table. North African economies dominate the leading tier alongside the two island nations.

Cape Verde ranks seventh with 98.4% access, while Gabon records 95.1% in eighth place. The data shows that the top eight nations on the continent all surpass 95% coverage. Ghana and Comoros follow at ninth and tenth positions with 91.9% and 91.7% respectively. South Africa, despite being among the continent's most industrialised economies, sits in eleventh place with 90.2% coverage.

Further down the top 15 list, Eswatini records 89.3%, followed by Senegal at 82.9%, Botswana at 80.2% and São Tomé and Príncipe at 77.7%. While these top 15 countries all maintain access rates above 77%, the figures underline a severe regional disparity. Several other African nations remain below 25% electricity access, pointing to a persistent infrastructure gap across parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Why it matters

For energy investors and policymakers, mature electricity markets reduce operational and investment risks. However, the wide disparity across the continent demonstrates that universal energy access remains a major challenge. Data from the World Bank indicates that global electricity access stood at 91.9% in 2024, with a worldwide renewable share of electricity output at 27.8% in 2021. Within the leading group, countries exhibit varying generation profiles; for instance, Algeria recorded a renewable share of 0.9% and electricity use of 1917.9 kWh per person in 2024, while Mauritius recorded a 21.7% renewable share and 2587.9 kWh per person in the same period, according to World Bank figures. Bridging the infrastructure gap in lower-ranked African regions will require targeted capital deployment to support both grid expansion and decentralised energy solutions.