What is the difference in fossil fuel supply by source between United States and USSR?

4,091 terawatt-hours, with United States ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for United States and USSR?

20 years are reported by both, from 1965 to 1984.

Where does this data come from?

Energy Institute - Statistical Review of World Energy (2026); Smil (2017) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Fossil fuel supply by source. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

United States vs USSR: Fossil fuel supply by source

United States

9,134 terawatt-hours

in 2025

USSR

5,043 terawatt-hours

in 1984

United States rank

1st

USSR rank

2nd

Fossil fuel supply by source over time

United States
USSR

How they compare

United States currently reports 9,134 terawatt-hours against 5,043 terawatt-hours in USSR, a difference of 4,091 terawatt-hours.

That makes United States's figure about 1.8 times USSR's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 20 shared years of data; in 1965 it was United States ahead.

United States ranks 1st and USSR ranks 2nd of 77 countries.

United States has averaged higher in every one of the 3 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade	United States	USSR	Difference	Ahead
1960s	4,779 terawatt-hours	1,481 terawatt-hours	3,298 terawatt-hours	United States
1970s	5,594 terawatt-hours	2,712 terawatt-hours	2,882 terawatt-hours	United States
1980s	4,956 terawatt-hours	4,348 terawatt-hours	608.44 terawatt-hours	United States

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher fossil fuel supply by source, United States or USSR?: United States, at 9,134 terawatt-hours against 5,043 terawatt-hours in USSR as of 2025.
What is the difference in fossil fuel supply by source between United States and USSR?: 4,091 terawatt-hours, with United States ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for United States and USSR?: 20 years are reported by both, from 1965 to 1984.
How do United States and USSR rank globally for fossil fuel supply by source?: United States ranks 1st and USSR ranks 2nd of 77 countries.
Where does this data come from?: Energy Institute - Statistical Review of World Energy (2026); Smil (2017) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Fossil fuel supply by source. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

United States vs USSR: Fossil fuel supply by source. Statizoid, drawing on Energy Institute - Statistical Review of World Energy (2026); Smil (2017) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 27 August 2026, from https://energy.statizoid.com/compare/global-fossil-fuel-consumption/united-states/ussr/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://energy.statizoid.com/compare/global-fossil-fuel-consumption/united-states/ussr/">United States vs USSR: Fossil fuel supply by source</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Fossil fuel supply by source
Unit: terawatt-hours
Source: Energy Institute - Statistical Review of World Energy (2026); Smil (2017) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 79 places, 4,176 data points, 1965–2025
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Measured in terawatt-hours of total energy supply.