China vs India: Primary direct energy consumption by source

China
8,964 terawatt-hours
in 2024
India
3,029 terawatt-hours
in 2024
China rank
2nd
India rank
3rd

Primary direct energy consumption by source over time

  • China
  • India
02.0k4.0k6.0k8.0k10.0k196519942024

How they compare

China currently reports 8,964 terawatt-hours against 3,029 terawatt-hours in India, a difference of 5,935 terawatt-hours.

That makes China's figure about 3.0 times India's.

The two have swapped places 3 times across 60 shared years of data; in 1965 it was India ahead.

China ranks 2nd and India ranks 3rd of 79 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Primary direct energy consumption by source
Unit
terawatt-hours
Source
Energy Institute - Statistical Review of World Energy (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
82 places, 4,605 data points, 1965–2024
Last refreshed

Energy consumption is measured in terawatt-hours, in terms of direct primary energy. This means that fossil fuels include the energy lost due to inefficiencies in energy production.