China vs India: Primary energy from renewables
China
4,141 terawatt-hours
in 2025
India
597.94 terawatt-hours
in 2025
China rank
1st
India rank
4th
Primary energy from renewables over time
- China
- India
How they compare
China currently reports 4,141 terawatt-hours against 597.94 terawatt-hours in India, a difference of 3,543 terawatt-hours.
That makes China's figure about 6.9 times India's.
The two have swapped places 4 times across 61 shared years of data; in 1965 it was China ahead.
China ranks 1st and India ranks 4th of 77 countries.
Across the 7 decades both report, China averaged higher in 5 and India in 2.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | China | India | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 22.02 terawatt-hours | 23.23 terawatt-hours | 1.21 terawatt-hours | India |
| 1970s | 39.03 terawatt-hours | 40.07 terawatt-hours | 1.04 terawatt-hours | India |
| 1980s | 88.59 terawatt-hours | 53.74 terawatt-hours | 34.85 terawatt-hours | China |
| 1990s | 172.05 terawatt-hours | 76.65 terawatt-hours | 95.4 terawatt-hours | China |
| 2000s | 435.99 terawatt-hours | 117.19 terawatt-hours | 318.81 terawatt-hours | China |
| 2010s | 1,436 terawatt-hours | 242.73 terawatt-hours | 1,194 terawatt-hours | China |
| 2020s | 3,113 terawatt-hours | 453.87 terawatt-hours | 2,659 terawatt-hours | China |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher primary energy from renewables, China or India?
- China, at 4,141 terawatt-hours against 597.94 terawatt-hours in India as of 2025.
- What is the difference in primary energy from renewables between China and India?
- 3,543 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 renewables?
- China ranks 1st and India ranks 4th 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 renewables. 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.