Nigeria
NGANigeria has about as many people as Brazil, and 20 times less electricity to share between them.
238 million people against 213 million, but 175 kWh per person a year against 3,527.
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.
Nigeria generates a surplus and sells it on.
What this means
The share of what this country generates that is sold abroad rather than used at home. A country can only export if it produces more than it needs, which usually means plentiful hydro, nuclear or wind.
Also true of Nigeria
Nigeria uses far less electricity per person than countries at its income level.
165 kWh a year, against a median of 1,255 across the 18 lower-middle-income countries here.
Nigeria's electricity is about as carbon-heavy as the world's.
456 grams of CO2e a kilowatt-hour, against a world figure of 458.
Nigeria has cleaned up its grid faster than most people realise.
Low-carbon electricity went from 21% to 31% in 5 years.
Nigeria’s neighbours
CameroonCameroon has about as many people as Australia, and 43 times less electricity to share between them.
BeninGas overtook oil on Benin's grid in 2019.
NigerNiger has about as many people as Taiwan, and 355 times less electricity to share between them.
ChadChad uses less electricity per person than any other country in the world.
Equatorial GuineaEquatorial Guinea gets next to none of its electricity from oil, in a region built on it.
Figures are for 2025, the most recent year reported for Nigeria. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.