China vs India: Primary energy from solar
China
1,173 terawatt-hours
in 2025
India
168.58 terawatt-hours
in 2025
China rank
1st
India rank
3rd
Primary energy from solar over time
- China
- India
How they compare
China currently reports 1,173 terawatt-hours against 168.58 terawatt-hours in India, a difference of 1,004 terawatt-hours.
That makes China's figure about 7.0 times India's.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 61 shared years of data; in 1965 it was India ahead.
China ranks 1st and India ranks 3rd of 77 countries.
China has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | China | India | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0 terawatt-hours | 0 terawatt-hours | 0 terawatt-hours | — |
| 1970s | 0 terawatt-hours | 0 terawatt-hours | 0 terawatt-hours | — |
| 1980s | 0 terawatt-hours | 0 terawatt-hours | 0 terawatt-hours | — |
| 1990s | 0.0074 terawatt-hours | 0.0025 terawatt-hours | 0.0049 terawatt-hours | China |
| 2000s | 0.0965 terawatt-hours | 0.0288 terawatt-hours | 0.0677 terawatt-hours | China |
| 2010s | 66.35 terawatt-hours | 13.81 terawatt-hours | 52.54 terawatt-hours | China |
| 2020s | 601.97 terawatt-hours | 108.27 terawatt-hours | 493.7 terawatt-hours | China |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher primary energy from solar, China or India?
- China, at 1,173 terawatt-hours against 168.58 terawatt-hours in India as of 2025.
- What is the difference in primary energy from solar between China and India?
- 1,004 terawatt-hours, with China ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for China and India?
- 61 years are reported by both, from 1965 to 2025.
- How do China and India rank globally for primary energy from solar?
- China ranks 1st and India ranks 3rd 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 Primary energy from solar. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Measured in terawatt-hours of total energy supply.