China
CHNChina is first in the world for how much electricity it makes.
10,583 TWh a year.
What this grid depends on
Three measures that say more about a country than how much power it makes. Open “what this means” on any of them if the term is new.
Cleaner than 4 in 10 grids worldwide.
What this means
How much planet-warming gas is released to make one unit of electricity. Two countries can generate exactly the same amount and one of them be ten times dirtier doing it. Lower is better.
China generates almost exactly what it uses, with next to nothing crossing its borders.
What this means
Electricity can be sold across a border like anything else, through high-voltage lines connecting one country's grid to the next. Buying it in means leaning on a neighbour to keep the lights on. Selling it means generating more than the country needs.
Almost everything this grid runs on comes from inside the country.
What this means
How much of what this grid runs on the country can supply itself. Sun, wind and water count fully, because nobody can cut them off; coal, gas and oil only as far as the country digs them up. A high score is not the same as a good grid: mining your own coal scores well, importing uranium scores badly.
Also true of China
China is second in Asia for wind.
Wind supplies 11% of its electricity.
China uses far more electricity per person than countries at its income level.
7,460 kWh a year, against a median of 3,862 across the 26 upper-middle-income countries here.
China's electricity is dirtier than the world average.
525 grams of CO2e a kilowatt-hour against a world figure of 458 — 15% above.
China’s neighbours
IndiaIndia is third in the world for how much electricity it makes.
RussiaCoal overtook nuclear on Russia's grid in 2025.
VietnamVietnam uses far more electricity per person than countries at its income level.
PakistanSolar overtook coal on Pakistan's grid in 2025.
KazakhstanGas overtook hydro on Kazakhstan's grid in 2011.
Figures are for 2025, the most recent year reported for China. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.