Madagascar
MDGMadagascar has about as many people as Saudi Arabia, and 176 times less electricity to share between them.
32 million people against 34 million, but 76 kWh per person a year against 13,386.
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 5 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.
Madagascar 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.
Also true of Madagascar
Madagascar's grid has been getting more carbon-heavy, not less.
331 grams of CO2e a kilowatt-hour in 2014, 432 in 2024.
Madagascar has no dominant fuel at all.
Its largest single source supplies just 37% of the grid.
Madagascar's grid has been getting dirtier, not cleaner.
Low-carbon electricity went from 53% to 42% in 10 years.
Madagascar’s neighbours
ComorosThe Comoros is first in the world for oil.
MauritiusOil overtook coal on Mauritius' grid in 2022.
MozambiqueMozambique has about as many people as Saudi Arabia, and 23 times less electricity to share between them.
MalawiMalawi has about as many people as Taiwan, and 148 times less electricity to share between them.
SeychellesThe Seychelles is among the world's biggest wind and solar producers and still burns fossil fuels for most of its power.
Figures are for 2024, the most recent year reported for Madagascar. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.